An SBS Transit bus captain halted the bus to help an elderly passenger who had fainted on bus service 502 on Jan. 10.

However, his actions were met with complaints from some passengers on board.

In response to the incident, an SBS Transit spokesperson said the bus captain acted according to the company's standard procedure, including updating passengers on the situation and giving them the option to alight from the bus.

The delay

A female passenger shared with Shin Min Daily News (Shin Min) that she was at Marina Bay with her family on the night of Chinese New Year's eve to watch the drone show.

They boarded the bus around 9pm.

When the bus arrived at Downtown MRT station, it stopped for nearly 40 minutes, according to the passenger.

She said none of the passengers knew what was happening at that time, and that the bus was filled with people who were just waiting.

To wait or not to wait

The passenger said several passengers ended up alighting without tapping out, as the card readers were not activated.

As for her, she was among around 30 passengers who chose to remain on the bus.

She said she boarded the express bus to save time, but ended up reaching home close to 11pm.

Speaking to Mothership, SBS Transit spokesperson Grace Wu confirmed that an elderly passenger on board was feeling unwell and had fainted when the bus reached the bus stop at Downtown MRT station at around 9:15pm.

However, she shared a slightly different account of what happened, saying that the bus doors were open at the time for passengers who wished to alight from the bus, and that the card readers were in operation.

Wu said that based on CCTV footage at the time, the bus captain managed the situation according to their standard operating procedure.

Wu said the bus captain went to the elderly's aid immediately, contacted the operations control centre to activate an ambulance, and updated the passengers on board about the situation.

The captain also notified passengers that he was unsure when the ambulance would arrive, and that they could take another bus if they wished to, Wu said.

The captain helped the elderly off the bus with the help of other passengers and took care of him prior to the ambulance's arrival, she added.

SBS Transit also said the duration of the incident was "less than 40 minutes".

The female passenger told Shin Min that she felt it was good that the elderly man was taken care of, but said the bus captain should have settled the waiting passengers on the bus first.

She added that after the ambulance arrived, the captain returned to the bus and continued driving without any explanation, which left some passengers angry.

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Top photos from Google Maps and Mothership file photo.