Commuter tells Stomper to ‘take Grab’ and wants bus to go police station after being confronted over loud music
A dispute broke out on a bus in Yishun after a passenger asked another commuter to lower her volume.
Stomper D said the incident occurred on bus service 807 on March 29 at about 12pm.
The Stomper said she had boarded the bus at the stop near Block 456 Yishun Street 41 and sat in front of a group of passengers who were “talking and laughing loudly” while playing songs from their mobile phone.
“I turned around and asked them to lower their volume,” she said.
According to the Stomper, a woman in a black and white dress then began shouting at her and told her to “take a Grab” instead.
D said the woman repeatedly accused her of saying “shut up”, which the Stomper denied.
“I didn’t ask her to shut up, I only asked her to lower her volume,” she said.
The Stomper alleged the woman “threatened” her by asking her to get off the bus with her to talk, but she declined.
She also claimed the woman continued shouting and at one point asked the bus driver to drive to a police station, which she found “really childish”.
D said she did not manage to capture the entire incident on video, but filmed the latter half.
In a video shared with Stomp, the woman can be heard saying: “Take the bus to police station now.”
The Stomper replies: “Okay, by all means.”
The woman also says to her companions: “Who is she to ask me to shut up?”
D responds: “She can’t differentiate between shut up and keep your volume down.”
Another exchange heard in the video includes the woman saying “No manners”, to which the Stomper replies: “No manners people will scold people’s parents.”
D said an elderly passenger later asked the woman to calm down, but the argument continued. D eventually ignored the woman and the shouting stopped. Both of them later alighted at the same bus stop.
The Stomper described the woman as “unreasonable, rude and ill-mannered”.
D did not report the incident to the bus operator or authorities, noting there was no physical confrontation.
The incident comes amid ongoing discussions about commuter etiquette on public transport.
Stomp previously reported on a similar dispute, in which a passenger playing videos loudly on a bus got into an argument with a Stomper after being asked to lower the volume.
In a poll conducted by The Straits Times, playing videos or music at high volume was the top pet peeve among commuters, cited by 48.6 per cent of respondents.
The report also noted that commuters often find loud conversations and noise from mobile devices disruptive, though some prefer not to confront others to avoid conflict.
Signs on buses and trains also remind passengers to keep their volume down as part of efforts to encourage gracious behaviour on public transport.
Last year, the Government passed the Transport Sector (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill on Oct 14 to penalise disruptive and inconsiderate bus passengers, such as those who play loud music and videos on their phones. The regulations will be made later and take reference from the Rapid Transit Systems Act.
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