Bad behaviour on Winnipeg buses common

Transit riders are cutting a Winnipeg Transit driver some slack in an incident last weekend.

An altercation between a driver and a passenger Saturday morning left the driver facing possible assault charges.

Police say the rider was intoxicated and refused instructions to take her feet off the seat, and then to get off the bus.

Passenger Darcy Hall told CBC News that's the only thing that sometimes spoils her daily ride: intoxicated people.

"They're ignorant (and) rude," she said.

Hall said she's siding with the driver in Saturday's incident.

"You're asked to get off the bus because you're being rude and obnoxious and you're intoxicated. Just get off the bus," she said.

'They are ignorant (and) rude.' —Passenger Darcy Hall

Another passenger, La Donna Ogungbemi-Jackson, said drivers have to contend with a lot of bad behaviour such as people swearing, or playing music loudly.

No one from Winnipeg Transit or the union representing its workers would comment directly on the incident last weekend, but a City of Winnipeg spokesperson says operators are expected to provide good customer service even in challenging situations, and that all operators are trained to resolve problems and avoid escalation, and to call police or the Transit Control Centre when they can't.

The national body that sets the professional code for the industry, the Motor Carrier Passenger Council of Canada, says in its code of conduct that a bus operator encountering a difficult situation as a last resort may ask the passenger to leave the vehicle.