STM driver tosses everyone off city bus after one passenger allegedly raises voice
Montreal public transit riders are wondering if an STM driver went too far after he kicked all the passengers off a bus when one rider allegedly raised their voice at the driver for missing a stop.
Video, captured by another passenger, shows the moment the STM driver stops the bus, gets off and argues with a passenger.
The man then tells everyone to get off the bus. The passengers seem confused and upset.
"I'm not moving. He needs to take us home," one person is heard saying.
When they try to get an explanation, he tells them it's due to a passenger that yelled at him.
"I'm just a bus driver. I get screamed at, I'm a bus driver. Thank you," he said on video.
One by one, they are forced to leave, including an elderly passenger using a mobility device. The driver then takes off, leaving them by the side of road to wait for another bus.
STM passengers kicked off Montreal busThe person who filmed the video asked to remain anonymous but asked CTV News to find out if drivers are allowed to instruct riders to get off the bus.
The STM did not want to comment, but Simon Mathura, one of the directors of Syndicat CA.OM.SC., the bus drivers' union, did.
Mathura speaks for more than 8,000 bus drivers in the province and said they're dealing with more aggressive passengers than ever before.
"We're vulnerable as bus drivers. We don't know who we pick up," he said. "When a situation escalates, he might have been afraid that he would have been hit."
Mathura said the union is investigating, but the video reinforces their call for a barrier between passengers and drivers.
"We've been asking the STM for driver protection cabins for exactly that reason. And probably if the driver had been behind the cabin, he would have kept going because he would have felt safe," said Mathura.
He said it was an unconventional way of dealing with a situation, but, "in this case, we believe that the driver took the best interest to protect everyone."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'I just can't believe that it took so long': Body found in wreckage 3 months after deadly fire
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
No proof man lied to brother about number of kittens born in litter, B.C. tribunal rules
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
Snakes almost on a plane: U.S. TSA discovers a bag with small snakes in passenger's pants
According to an X post by the Transportation Security Administration, officers at the Miami International Airport found the small bag of snakes hidden in a passenger's trousers on April 26 at a checkpoint.
Russia puts Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on its wanted list
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.
The pros and cons of discussing mental health issues in the workplace
A group of lawyers has written what they call a groundbreaking book about how mental health is perceived in the legal profession.
Explosion at train station leads to discovery of stolen car on Montreal's South Shore: police
Police are investigating after a BMW exploded in the St-Lambert Exo train station parking lot on Montreal's South Shore.
A Chinese driver is praised for helping reduce casualties in a highway collapse that killed 48
A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country's mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.
A candidate for Germany's key party was beaten up while campaigning for European elections
A candidate for Chancellor Olaf Scholz's center-left party in next month's election for the European Parliament was beaten up and seriously injured while campaigning in an eastern city, the party said Saturday.
Two killed after collision with truck on Hwy. 417 near Limoges, Ont.
Ontario Provincial Police say two people were killed after a car and a transport truck collided in the westbound lanes of Highway 417 near Limoges, Ont. on Tuesday afternoon.