Bus driver in central Taiwan receives customer complaint for leaving bus to buy lunch box

中台灣巴士司機因下車買便當而被客投訴

A passenger thought it was harsh to make complaints against drivers fulfilling their needs


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A passenger has recently made a complaint to media outlets about a bus driver leaving the vehicle while on duty to buy a lunch box, to which the bus company said they will assess the severity of the rule violation and punish the driver accordingly, CNA reported.

According to the complaint, the passenger took a Taichung City Route 79 bus on Friday (March 18), and after the bus stop at the Han-Kou Junior High School, the driver left the vehicle to buy a lunch box after making an abrupt announcement of the intended move to the passengers. The complaint claimed that the driver came back 10 minutes later to continue driving.

Hsu Shih-hua (徐世樺), section chief at Taichung’s Public Transportation & Rapid Transit System Office, told CNA that the bus driver’s behavior of leaving the bus to buy a lunch box had adversely affected passengers’ rights and interests, and for which, the city’s Transportation Bureau had handed down a punishment to United Highway Bus Co, which operates the route, and demanded the company to strengthen education and training for their drivers.

The bus company’s Taichung city bus department director Lin Yuan-kai (林元凱) told CNA during a telephone interview that footage of onboard surveillance cameras showed that the bus driver left the bus for three minutes and 25 seconds. He said bus drivers usually have breaks and meal times at the terminal stations of their routes, and that the terminal for the bus driver that day was the Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau.

The driver claimed to be a vegetarian and that he left the bus to get the lunch box because there were no vegetarian restaurants around the terminal, CNA cited Lin as saying.

The company’s rules prohibit drivers from leaving their buses to shop, but allow them to answer the call of nature after notifying passengers, he said, adding that the company was investigating the case and would mete out a punishment based on the severity of the violation.

A teacher surnamed Huang (黃), who is a regular bus rider, said the need for bus drivers to go to the bathroom or buy meals is understandable and usually doesn’t take long, per CNA. Huang thought it was harsh to make complaints against drivers fulfilling their physical needs.

Another passenger, a college student surnamed Lee (李), said that instances of bus drivers leaving their vehicles to buy meals showed that either their rest time was insufficient or they were delayed by their work; otherwise, it’s rare for them to do so, per CNA. Lee hoped that the driver would not be punished in this case.