A female bus driver was suspended from work Wednesday, a week after an online video that showed her kicking a garbage collector off the bus in Shanghai’s Pudong New Area caused public uproar, said the local bus company in charge of the employee.
The State-owned Pudong Public Transport Company said that the bus driver will remain under suspension until authorities have concluded their investigation and determined a fitting penalty for her actions.
The video shot by a passenger pictured the No.82 bus driver fighting with an old man, who was carrying four large nylon garbage bags on Saturday. The driver cursed at him, saying that his cumbersome bags would get in the way of passengers, before threatening to call police, if he failed to get off.
But the man refused, and the bus driver finally drove off.
When the driver stopped a little later at another bus stop, one of the passengers, who had been helping the bus driver kick the man off the bus, threw his bags out the bus – and the man rushed off to fetch his garbage.
“Her attitude was terrible and has damaged the reputation of the company,” a customer service employee from the Pudong Bus Company surnamed Zhao, told the Global Times Wednesday. “We’ll have a close look at the video surveillance on the bus to see whether it matches that of the one put online.
She said that authorities are not sure whether the size of the man’s bags violated public transport regulations, which since last year have prohibited passengers from carrying luggage exceeding 0.2 cubic meter, longer than 1.7 meters, or heavier than 50 kilograms. But she said that passengers are permitted to bring garbage bags on buses so long as the surfaces of the bags are clean.
The passenger, who shot the video, supported the bus driver, saying on the video that the man smelt so horrible, adding that passengers should be provided with a clean and safe environment when taking public transportation.
The majority of the some 2,000 Internet users, who have since responded to the post on youku.com, however, sympathized with the old man, and questioned the harsh attitude of the bus driver.
Global Times