A viral post that recounted a bus driver’s frustration against his passengers — and “walked out” of the very bus he was driving — after commuters insisted on overcrowding the vehicle sparked mixed reactions online.
A Facebook user named Bea Bermal humorously shared her commute experience as she tried to hail a bus.
According to her post, the driver pleaded with his passengers not to fill up the bus as it was already overloaded, as she superimposed the photos with captions of the supposed exchange.
“‘Wag na sumakay, tama na (Don’t come up anymore, that’s enough),” the driver was heard telling the commuters.
As passengers continued to insist and elbow their way through the bus, even taking over his seat, the driver supposedly had enough.
“Sige, ayaw niyong bumaba? Ako ang bababa (Okay, you don’t want to get off the bus? Then I’ll get off the bus),” the driver reportedly said.
“If you don’t want to listen, you’re on your own. You drive the bus!” He supposedly yelled at the passengers.
“Why are we like this in the Philippines? We pack the buses to the point that my seat has gotten occupied. Go and be late, then. How do you think I can get aboard the bus to drive you?” he reportedly lamented.
“While waiting a while ago going to shit! I didn’t know if I should get annoyed but because of you manong (uncle) driver YOU MADE MY DAY,” the netizen wrote, filling up her post with laughs.
“Don’t get mad at us anymore. Don’t walk out. P.S. I will show you this post if I end up riding with you again and show you how you emoted,” she added, ending the post with more laughter.
The post quickly went viral, racking up over 87,000 shares as of writing.
But while several found the post funny and referred to the driver as dramatic, not everyone shared the same sentiments.
On Reddit, users pointed out that it highlighted the sad reality of the country’s mass transport system.
“Not funny, it’s sad actually,” one said.
“Indeed not funny, they even climbed onto the driver’s seat. This is proof that there is a transportation crisis in the Philippines,” another agreed.
“That’s what public transportation drivers should do — they should decline passengers if the bus is already full. It becomes unsafe when it’s overloaded,” one user commented, referring to the common practice of overloading passengers on buses.
“[Drivers] are also at risk when accidents happen. Companies should be held liable but drivers are forced to quit their job as consequence from the company,” another chimed in.
While a sad reality, this comes as no surprise: Manila was revealed to have the fifth worst public transportation system in the world, according to the 2022 Urban Mobility Readiness Index.
In December, news anchor Atom Araullo went viral after he lamented about his inability to get a ride from the airport, which he attributed to a “broken transport system.”
