The Transport Bureau (DSAT) has urged bus operators to improve the training of drivers in handling incidents and reinforcement timely assistance mechanisms to drivers after two recent cases of driver attacked by passengers angry about being made to comply with facemask policies on local buses.
‘DSAT stresses that bus drivers, when driving, take responsibility for ensuring the safety of passengers’ lives, and must be respected during the provision of services, especially with regard to safeguarding their personal safety,’ the department announced
The first incident took on September 11 with a local man in his 50s not wearing a mask refused to comply with a request by the bus driver to put one on.
After the bus driver parked the at the Centro de Actividades Juvenis do Bairro do Hipódromo bus stop in Avenida Norte do Hipódromo and contacted his company for assistance the man punched him and ran out of the vehicle.
A similar incident took place on September 12 by a local man in his 60s who boarded a bus at Mercado Municipal do Patane without wearing a facemask and later got into an argument with the driver.
Both men have already been detained by the Public Security Police Force (PSP).
‘Citizens are urged to comply with the guidelines issued by the Macao SAR Government on epidemic prevention and control, with the use of masks on public transport being mandatory,’ the DSAT underlined
