Bus Captain Who Was Abused In Neck Gaiter Incident Receives Suitcase Of Goodies Hoping To Cheer Him Up

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’d probably have heard all about the SBS bus captain who was abused and humiliated for trying to do his job.

Reader Bao: Erm, there are many, which one are you referring to.

One word. Neck. Gaiter.

Reader Bao: Oohhh! By the way, that’s two words.

…

Anyway, it turns out that the incident has ended beautifully, with a capital B.

SBS Transit took to their Facebook page to share about a heartwarming care package sent to the driver who was involved in the neck gaiter incident.

According to their Facebook post, it seems that a member of the public, Mr Daniel Tan, took the time and effort to pack a suitcase of goodies for the bus captain, Xu, to cheer him up.

It came along with a card, which is written in Chinese.

Here’s a direct translation:

To: The bus captain of bus service 196

In the fight against Covid-19, we are thankful for the sacrifices made by our frontliners.

Personally, I feel that being a bus captain is already not an easy job, especially since you have to drive and ensure the safety of the passengers as well.

I would like to commend your professionalism and applaud the calm manner in which you dealt with a difficult situation.

Thank you for your contributions!

All the best!

Signed, 28 Aug 2020

Based on the image taken by SBS Transit, it seems that Mr Tan has thoughtfully included gifts that should be useful to everyday living in Singapore.

Besides the card and Superman plushie, there are also shampoo, toothpaste, heat patches, toothbrushes, snacks, wet wipes, instant coffee and more.

SBS Transit also took the chance to thank all other supporters who have stood up for their bus captains when incidents like the one BC Xu was involved in pop up.

You can read their full post below:

The Neck Gaiter Incident

In case you missed the entire saga, a bus driver on bus service 196 stopped a passenger from boarding the bus.

The reason? Because he was wearing an improper mask.

Triggered, the man pulled out his phone and started a live-stream, accusing the bus captain of being a racist and repeatedly highlighted the fact that the bus driver can’t speak English.

Police officers had to be called to the scene to pacify matters and even they were unsure if the cloth neck gaiter is a “proper mask”.

When this incident happened, it seems that a neck gaiter is considered a mask according to the Covid-19 (Temporary Measures) (Control Order) Regulations 2020, a mask includes:

“any paper or textile covering designed or made to be worn over the nose and mouth to provide the wearer protection against infections or air pollution, but excludes a face shield.”

However, a few days later, a new study said wearing a neck gaiter as a mask is even worse than having no mask.

Later, MOH updated the regulations to indicate that face coverings like “neck gaiters, bandannas, scarves or handkerchiefs are not considered as masks”.

Throughout this period, SBS Transit came out to defend their Bus Captain, and while many had voiced support for him, there are some who pointed out that since he was working in Singapore, he should have learnt how to speak English.

TL; DR: Yeah, it got ugly really fast.

Thankfully, this ugly incident has a beautiful ending.

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