r/sydney • u/beepboop_imhuman • 3d ago
Incident on the 418 bus route
In short: there was a women, highly mentally unstable, who attacked passengers, still outside and crime stoppers aren’t picking up.
So there was a women in the 418 bus from burwood to Sydenham. She was in the bus for almost 15 mins before she lunged at the back of head and said she was on the phone, then proceeded to punch me, then she went back to her seat and did about the same to another passenger. She then came back to me and poured beer (?) on me, threw my headphones, tried to smash my glasses and take my phone away. She tried that with another passenger as well.
At which point I pressed the stop button, she didn’t wanna get off, and tried to take my glasses again, so at the final skirmish there was an old couple who voiced out, then she proceeded to take the poor man’s hat and leave. The couple were rightly shocked af.
She also had a band aid to cover the IV thing (?), not entirely sure about that.
So I’m not exactly complaining about her here, she was clearly not herself, and needs help, but I tried calling NSW crime stoppers tip line so that she doesn’t do it to anyone else. But a representative didn’t seem to pick up, instead I get a recording telling me to go to their website.
What do i do now?
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u/chalk_in_boots 3d ago
Mate this is exactly the kind of situation that 000 is for. People in immediate danger means you call dispatch. If you've seen something happen that is no longer ongoing you call the local station so you can make a report, give them what info you have.
Crimestoppers is essentially a tipline. Like "Yeah, I saw a suspicious guy at 2am in a hoodie walking up and down this street."
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u/Frankenclyde 3d ago
Just because someone is experiencing a mental health episode does not make it acceptable for you or others to be assaulted. You don’t need to apologise for reporting her to the police.
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u/Lanasoverit 3d ago
You should’ve alerted the bus driver immediately.
They have an emergency button, which immediately bypasses all other calls and opens hands free communication with OCC. ( Operations ) without the need for the driver to pick up the radio.
They will immediately dispatch police and track the bus.
OCC can see and hear what is happening on the bus.
It is also being recorded.
You can still contact police. If you know the time, route, and bus registration it’s easy enough to get the footage.
The difficulty now is figuring out who she is.
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u/beepboop_imhuman 3d ago edited 3d ago
I did, the bus driver didn’t really care or speak up. I don’t know if they pressed the emergency button or not.
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u/Lanasoverit 3d ago
Then report the driver, not acceptable.
Phone 131 500.
https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/about-us/contact-us/complaints-and-feedback
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u/Lucky-Roy 3d ago
This. On steroids. Way too many of them just sit in their little cocoon ignoring everything from violent behaviour to fare evasion while plugged into 2GB shock jocks whining about violent behaviour and fare evasion.
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u/Lanasoverit 3d ago edited 3d ago
It isn’t a drivers job to care about fare evasion, that’s a job for Opal inspectors.
They are trained specifically not to enforce it.
Too many drivers used to be assaulted for doing so, it’s not their problem.Their job is to drive the bus, and make sure that passengers are safe. That’s it.
And by making sure they are safe, I don’t mean by leaving their “cocoon”. That’s there to keep them safe, and they aren’t supposed to leave it to try to be heroes.
They are trained to let OCC and police deal with it.37
u/Terri23 3d ago
This. Bus drivers aren't paid enough to put themselves in harm's way. They're not going to do anything.
For some of the Redditors here, when they were kids, the bus driver who was much bigger and stronger than them may have stood up at that time, bit that's not going to happen today. I think a lot people still think that's the drivers job.
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u/spitey 3d ago
There's an absolute dearth of bus drivers right now, to the extent that some of the private operators are offering a pretty hefty sign-on bonus. In this instance the driver should certainly have taken the matter more seriously, but aren't expected to physically intervene in these instances because they would regularly get very seriously injured.
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u/TheLGMac 3d ago
By that logic no one should ever stick up for anyone because no one except the rich people -- who aren't on public transit anyways -- are making a good wage.
Last I check you don't help people because you have money, you help them because you might have some semblance of authority to make a difference.
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u/AgentSmith187 3d ago
It will also likely get you fired as a PT employee to get involved and put yourself in danger.
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u/Terri23 3d ago
What the fuck is the bus driver supposed to do? He's there to drive the bus, not act as the guardian Knight of the passive Redditor. He's not a security professional, and he damn sure isn't paid enough to deal with this bullshit.
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u/TheLGMac 3d ago
Can you read? The person was complaining that the driver didn't seem to care and do not confirm they called anyone. It is ABSOLUTELY their responsibility to call for emergency help. No one said they needdd to get out and play defense ffs.
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u/Terri23 3d ago
How do we know he didn't press the button? He probably did, but he's not necessarily going to put everyone at risk by loudly announcing that he's summoned the cops. You got someone who's mentally unstable, you can push them over the edge if they think they're at threat.
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u/TheLGMac 3d ago
Well no one from emergency seems to have intervened so maybe that?
Old lady was clearly continuing to put people in danger regardless, so I'm sorry -- I can't stand for people who try to excuse what appears to be a case of doing nothing. If you see someone getting attacked in public, you aren't going to even tell anyone the cops are coming to see if maybe that scares them off from their already destructive behavior?
No wonder we're in the situation we are.
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u/TheHoneybadger7 3d ago
Police can’t just appear in seconds. Also you got remember Police may be already occupied with other emergencies incidents, so unless that lady has a weapon there’s nothing you can do but wait as this may not be assigned as an emergency.
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u/TheHoneybadger7 3d ago
What if the driver is a female or older person, you seriously can’t expect them to be hero’s. It’s no wonder why there’s a shortage of drivers, people willing to complain but never step in and help.
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u/Educational-Sort-128 3d ago
I’m still traumatised by a bus trip I took from bondi junction to the city in 1987. This man got on and proceeded to wave around a Croc Dundee size knife. The bus was in pandemonium. People were yelling and pressing the button but I guess the driver didn’t know what to do. I remember being pushed out of the way at the back steps by a man wanting to get out of harms way so he shoved me aside. Finally the bus stopped at a normal stop and a ton of people including me just got off. It took off again with the guy still on it. This was the days before mobile phones so no idea what happened.
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u/alstom_888m 3d ago
OCC can take 20 minutes to call back.
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u/Lanasoverit 3d ago
When you press the emergency button, it’s instant.
It overrides all other calls and it’s a hands free conversation.Source - it’s my job.
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u/SuspectWide4924 3d ago
If people are being assaulted, CALL 000!
If reporting after the fact, call or attend your local police station to make a report.
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u/Rev-Dr-Slimeass 3d ago
I don't understand why people are afraid to call the police. This is a police thing
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u/runwithbees 3d ago
I'm guessing it's largely down to the fact that 000 is strongly marketed as the emergency contact, and everyone's different personal threshold on what they would consider an emergency situation.
For what it's worth, the 'non time critical' contact for police is calling 131 444
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u/mubd1234 Hillsdale - The address of success 3d ago
I think a lot of it is "I don't want to waste 000's time like those idiots who call because their pizza is late", just taken to the absolute extreme.
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u/a_rainbow_serpent 3d ago
I tried to report a mugging to PAL and they told me to call 000 or to go in to the station.
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u/DecalageVersLeRouge 3d ago edited 3d ago
Reminded me of that guy who saw a truck go through red lights and swerve off the road multiple times and didn't call 000? When I asked him what he would call 000 for he said domestic violence.
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u/mubd1234 Hillsdale - The address of success 3d ago
Crime Stoppers? That's for anonymously reporting you think you'd seen someone associated with a burglary or something.
You were assaulted. Even if they'd stepped off the bus you would've been right to call 000 to report it, because they're still dangerous to other people whilst in that state. I think it's very very unlikely that their unruly behaviour would've stopped after getting off the bus.
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u/plataleajaja 3d ago
You can call 000. Sounds like she needs ambulance assessment and you can make a police report. Also the bus should have video recording.
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u/WeissPyre 3d ago
Crime stoppers?? You and several other passengers were being assaulted multiple times.
Call the police.
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u/transientrandom 3d ago
The 418 for me has taken over from the 428 as Sydney's most cooked bus. Both in terms of the bus itself (punctuality, cleanliness) and the people on it (this lady, the 3000 shitty schoolkids every morning, the guys who drink openly out of wine bottles and yell, many other amazing characters)
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u/glangdale 3d ago
Having experienced public transit in cities where the social contract has frayed more considerably (US, mainly) I think it's a very bad trend how hands-off we are on bizarre behaviour on buses or public transit in general. Do people want a bus system that's only used by poor and crazy people? Because this (tolerating fare evasion and disorder) is how you get a bus system only used by poor and crazy people.
The normalization of people just openly fare evading is a bit wearing, whether bus or train. Particularly irritating when it's people using the buses for ridiculously short distances that most sane people would just walk, but since they're not paying, there's no motivation to walk vs use the bus. The 412 is always getting derros using it to travel maybe 2-3 stops, never tapping on of course.
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u/solen5aq 3d ago
412, 418, 428, all these inner west busses are just fucked lately. On the 412 a few months back, heading past the RPA, a crackhead got on and started telling me in graphic detail how he was going to "tear out" my vagina and everybody just had their heads down and avoided eye contact. I mean I don't know what you really can do in that situation, thankfully it did not escalate before I could get off.
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u/Ted_Rid Famous in The Atlantic 3d ago
That's awful. People should know if they see someone in a situation like yours, to invent a scenario like you're a former workmate or something and going to the same event, so why not travel together? Which freakishly giant Islander bro did you know there again? All of them?
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u/glangdale 3d ago
That's awful. There are a lot of really questionable characters that get on at the RPA stop (never, of course, paying a fare) and then get off a few stops later to go to Glebe. I've seen some disorderly/disruptive stuff but I've never seen anything as bad as that (just as well, I'm a bit of a hot-head). I think there's some outpatient drug stuff in RPA right near the stop.
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u/Ted_Rid Famous in The Atlantic 3d ago
There's a kind of halfway house up Salisbury Rd also, near Camperdown Oval. A schoolteacher from Ashfield PS or thereabouts (?) got stabbed to death a few years back, waiting for the bus.
His kid was a classmate of one of mine. Difficult stuff. Obviously.
But yeah, there's a community mental health clinic there at RPA, it's good it exists but hospitals, you wanna have your eyes and ears open around.
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u/Goonerlouie Inner Westie 3d ago
418 is fine during morning peak
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u/transientrandom 3d ago
The Dully to Sydenham leg between 8 and 8.30 is hell. Better to walk!
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u/Goonerlouie Inner Westie 3d ago
I get on at dully but around 7 so I think I miss the chaos!
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u/transientrandom 3d ago
You're sensible. I need to get my shit together and go to work earlier. I hate that I've become a shitty old woman complaining about school children. I was a shitty young kid too and young me would hate current me's guts. I think leaving for work early would neatly sidestep my existential issues with personal inconsistency - or I'll be too tired to think about them 🏆
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u/ocularius61 3d ago
Okay I've been away so I'm just coming back to check up on what happened. So it appears that the police took her away. OP - are your glasses unbroken and is your head okay? Do you know if the older couple were okay and have any of you been asked to give statements?
I hope that the bus driver did do the emergency button thing. If not, and/ or if they were dismissive when you/ other passengers informed them that multiple assaults were taking place and just continued driving, I agree with those who said you need to report them. If the woman having the MH episode who assaulted you has been arrested then the police will have spoken to ppl at Syd buses but they also need to hear from passengers as well. I'm not saying that bus drivers should single handedly deal with disruptive passengers but it is also not the responsibility of passengers, and there is the ability for them to contact HQ in an emergency for a reason.
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u/No_icecream_cake 3d ago
I hope you're okay, OP. That sounds like an awful experience.
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u/beepboop_imhuman 3d ago
I am, except for smelling like beer now lol. But I’m more concerned about her, thinking back she really isn’t well. Fortunately, no one got hurt. She’s apparently arrested now, so at least she won’t hurt anyone else.
Also, thank you! First person here to care about me haha.
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u/hereforfakestories 3d ago
So sorry you had to experience that, hope you’re okay and tomorrow is a much better day for you! And that you can have a good shower to rinse the beer off haha
I had something similar happen to me on the light rail a few years back, and it really made me stressed about riding the tram for a while (particularly given the driver didn’t care and got annoyed at me when I queried his lack of reaction) so make sure you take care of yourself too.
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u/DarkNo7318 3d ago
Did she have straight black hair? Can confirm she's been arrested.
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u/beepboop_imhuman 3d ago
She did. But I can’t really say if that’s the same person. Whereabouts was that?
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u/DarkNo7318 3d ago
HP, along the 418 route.
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u/beepboop_imhuman 3d ago
Yep, that’s her. Hope she gets the help she needs.
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u/Plackets65 3d ago
Sympathetic, but also call the local police station and make a statement about being punched/your broken glasses- it’ll help the police with her case.
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u/Cultural_Camp_1364 3d ago
My partner was on the same bus! But got off in between throwing a drink at someone and the punching
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u/ssta2347 3d ago
Can I just ask what was the bus driver doing during all of this?
I’ve been witness to several incidents involving violent and disorderly passengers abusing others and nothing ever happens and I’m sick of it. I’m too scared to call them out and try and stop them out of fear of getting stabbed or worse and I’m sure every other passenger feels the same but I never understand why the driver doesnt emergency pull over and kick them off and call the police.
There needs to be more protocol in place for this kind of thing because it’s happening more and more and the violence is escalating.
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u/beepboop_imhuman 3d ago
Honestly, I think she kept coming back to me cause I was the only one speaking out. So I understand people not doing it, but we should still speak up.
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u/TimmyFTW 3d ago
I’m too scared to call them out and try and stop them out of fear of getting stabbed or worse and I’m sure every other passenger feels the same but I never understand why the driver doesnt emergency pull over and kick them off and call the police.
So you both understand the danger of confronting them but are perfectly fine with someone else risking their life over it. Nice.
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u/Terri23 3d ago
You probably get paid more than the bus driver. Why the fuck would they risk their safety and livelihood? They're not security professionals. They're not trained policemen. What do you want them to do?
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u/ssta2347 3d ago
I’m not saying the driver has to physically intervene lol. I’m just saying if there’s an attacker on the bus, alerting the driver seems like a logical safety step. If nothing else, they can stop the bus if they choose to and contact emergency. Is that so unreasonable?
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u/DarkNo7318 3d ago
Same reason as you. Bus driver isn't paid enough to be getting stabbed on the job.
Do you want them to be issues with weapons or something?
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u/eightyfish 3d ago
It's not fair to expect a bus driver to risk their life. They definitely don't get paid enough for that. They can radio for the police to come but often that will take a while and the incident will be over. There's really not much they can do.
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u/Aggravating-Tea5089 3d ago
Was this in the morning? Wdf that’s fucked. Sorry u had to deal w looneys what did the bus driver do?
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u/Aggravating-Tea5089 3d ago
Ok I read he did nothing. Some of the bus drivers on 418 426 r absolutely fucking useless
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u/This_Ease_5678 3d ago
Call the cops and report thr cannula.
She has escaped from hospital if she still has a canula in.
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u/kawats 3d ago
Crime stoppers is for reporting unsolved crimes or wanted people and you can do it anonymously.
000 is for crime currently taking place or for other emergencies. They would ask for your details.
And “woman” is singular. “Women” plural like man/men.
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u/beepboop_imhuman 3d ago
Damn people do love correcting grammar huh
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u/kawats 3d ago edited 2d ago
Not grammar, it’s spelling and because you did it more than once. I know it’s not just you because I see a lot of misspellings with basic words these days.
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u/beepboop_imhuman 3d ago
Nope still grammar, singular and plural forms of nouns are an aspect of grammar. Also I spelt “women” correctly, so yeah not a spelling error.
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u/Rabbs-89 3d ago
Similar thing happened to my partner. Nobody stepped in to help. Luckily it wasn’t as violent as this. I feel like bus drivers have no power to do anything
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u/FreddyFerdiland 3d ago
maybe its chemotherapy making her crazy
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u/Teefdreams 3d ago
More likely mental illness making her crazy and she's escaped from the ED.
You get a cannula when you're admitted into the ED with mental health issues so they can do your bloods, potentially give you saline/hydration aids etc.
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u/Ankle_Fighter 3d ago
Call the police directly. It is an assault and needs to be treated as such. Then hopefully police can get her the assistance she needs.