'Bring it out!': Bus driver and passenger in heated argument at Woodlands Interchange, allegedly over durians
A heated argument between a bus driver and a passenger at Woodlands Interchange arose after the latter allegedly insisted on bringing durians onto the bus.
Sylvia William, a 36-year-old banker, posted a video of the incident, garnering over 583,500 views and 8,000 likes. Ms William said the altercation took place at 9.44pm on Dec 28.
The 20-second clip, captioned "Incident at Woodlands Interchange today", shows a driver of bus service 911, operated by SMRT, standing at his seat in the bus. He engages in a heated exchange with a woman dressed in red, as other passengers crowd around them.
"Bring it out," the driver says twice, pointing towards the exit. The woman jabs a finger in his face, and a scream is heard from one of the passengers.
The driver then sits back down as other passengers attempt to coax the woman off the bus.
Ms William told Stomp that she was not aware of what triggered the argument. "A few people tried to calm (the woman) down. But it did not work," she said. "Everyone went there to find out what's going on."
She added that the bus driver resumed his duties and did not engage with the woman.
The incident was reposted on @fyisingapore_, with a caption suggesting that the dispute started "after a passenger attempted to bring a durian onto the bus". However, based on the TikTok clip, it is unclear if the woman was indeed carrying durians.
SMRT regulations state that bus passengers are not allowed to carry durians that are not in vacuum-sealed packaging, or are in any form that may hurt other passengers or soil public buses.
Stomp has reached out to SMRT and fyisingapore_ for comment.
Netizens urge compassion, support driver
In the comments, many netizens expressed outrage at the incident, calling the woman's behaviour was "selfish" and "embarrassing".
"'No durian' has been known for ages, why still need to argue?" one netizen asked.
Others commended the bus driver for standing his ground. "Good job captain. Not all like durian smell," one said, while another agreed that he did the right thing.
"Bus captains have the authority to ask passengers to leave the bus if they bring prohibited items like durians," a netizen pointed out.
Several urged the woman to be considerate to passengers and the bus driver, while others suggested increasing fines for bringing durians onto public transport.
"At [sic] the bus and mrt can't bring durian so need [sic] respect lah.... must follow the rules," another netizen said.
