S'pore mother, 28, claims bus driver closed door on stroller with kids inside & made rude remarks

A Singaporean mother of two was left incensed after a bus captain allegedly made a rude remark to her when she confronted him about having the bus door shut on her two kids in a stroller.

Bus door closed on kids in stroller

The mother-of-two, Athirah Khairwan, 28, told Mothership that she was travelling alone with her two kids in a double stroller at the time of the incident.

She boarded bus 145 at Trellis Towers on Jan. 12 at about 10:26am.

As she was in the midst of getting her kids in the stroller onto the bus, the door suddenly shut.

Her kids and the stroller were caught in between.

According to Athirah, she and others on the bus were shocked.

She yelled at the bus captain, but he did not respond.

Second inconvenience

Things were made worse when the bus arrived at Toa Payoh interchange.

There, the driver had parked the bus so far from the kerb that it made it difficult for her to alight her two kids in the stroller on her own, Athirah alleged.

Angered, she confronted the bus captain.

According to her, the captain showed no remorse and replied, "You tell me, what I do?"

When she continued pressing the captain about what happened, he allegedly made an inappropriate remark to her.

"He then answered me, 'Your husband never give you last night, that's why you very angry?" she claimed.

Mutual respect

In a TikTok video, Athirah commented, "So, we must respect the bus captain, when they don't even respect the commuters?"

She has since sent feedback to SBS Transit, and its customer service staff has said they will look into the matter, according to Athirah.

SBS Transit apologises

Responding to queries from Mothership, Grace Wu, SBS Transit spokesperson, said that SBS Transit has looked into the incident and empathises with Athirah for the difficulties she faced.

"Our bus captain could have done better. He should have exercised better judgment by parking his bus closer to the kerb at the interchange berth to enable easier alighting for her with the stroller," Wu said.

"This is definitely not in line with the service standards we expect of our employees and we extend our sincere apologies to Ms Athirah for the distress and inconvenience caused," she continued.

SBS Transit is taking action against the bus captain.

Wu also advised commuters travelling with strollers to inform bus captains of their intention to board from the rear before doing so.

This will avoid the situation of the rear door closing on them or their stroller after the last passenger has alighted.

"We also would like to remind our commuters to treat our employees with respect by not using profanity which is verbally abusive," the spokesperson said.

Top image via Athirah Khairwan