A BC Transit bus was not only delayed in Oak Bay Friday morning but was also damaged after an agitated passenger was asked to leave the bus.
According to a passenger aboard the number 11 bus, the disgruntled transit passenger smashed the bus windshield with a metal rod after the BC Transit driver asked the man to get off the bus.
After he was asked to leave, the man, believed to be in his 30s with short-cropped hair, reached behind the driver’s partition and snatched a handful of day passes.
He then jumped off the bus and threw the tickets at the bus before running off. The driver followed him off the bus and began picking up the tickets.
The eyewitness on the bus said the man returned suddenly with an orange traffic cone and began smashing the windshield with the cone. The female driver reboarded the bus as the man commenced his attack, closed the doors and prepared to drive away.
The man’s attack continued until the cone slipped out of his hands. He then darted off and found a two-foot-long metal bar that he swung into the windshield until it shattered.
The driver honked the horn twice and accelerated abruptly into traffic to avoid the man’s attack.
The incident took place on Cadboro Bay Road east of Foul Bay Road. The driver drove the bus to another stop near Oak Bay High School where she stopped and called a transit supervisor and police.
The witness said the incident occurred after the man sat next to a woman near the front of the nearly empty bus. She asked him if he would mind sitting somewhere else and the man hopped up and began moving around the vehicle in a random manner.
The driver noticed his behaviour and asked the man to get off the bus.
According to BC Transit, the bus has since been removed from service while the repairs to the windshield take place.
In response to the incident, BC Transit has underlined public safety as their top priority and expressed their gratefulness to the quick actions taken by driver of the bus, transit supervisors and police.
“Though incidents of this nature are rare on BC Transit buses, we take reports of inappropriate and illegal behaviour within our systems very seriously and work closely with police to follow the legal process for complaints,” said Tessa Humphries of BC Transit.
“If someone is the victim of an inappropriate or illegal activity, or sees something that is inappropriate or illegal on the bus, please tell the driver immediately or call the police.”
Oak Bay Police confirmed the incident with Victoria Buzz and will be providing a statement shortly.
With files from Patrick Dunne for Victoria Buzz
