Shocking moment a city bus driver is caught on camera watching videos on his phone while driving – as authorities stand him down
- A bus driver was caught appearing to watch TV as he drove
- The Brisbane transport employee was wearing earphones
- Brisbane City Council said an investigation is underway
A bus driver has been stood down after he was caught on camera while appearing to watch a video on a mobile phone on his dashboard as he drove along.
The Brisbane City Council employee was wearing white earphones with the phone lodged under the steering wheel when he was videoed by a passenger
The BCC said the man will be stood down pending an investigation and described the incident as ‘disappointing, dangerous and clearly unacceptable’.
The footage, taken from a front passenger seat, was uploaded to social media on Saturday and showed the driver travelling down a covered busway.
The Brisbane bus driver was captured on camera as vision played out on the phone lodged under the vehicle’s steering wheel while he wore white earphones (pictured)
The vision showed a large phone sitting near the speedometer playing a scene from a film or TV show (pictured)
The large phone sat near the speedometer and appeared to be playing a scene from a film or TV show.
The driver, wearing a black jacket can be seen using the indicators as he steered the Carindale-bound 222 bus and it approached a bus stop
The footage was posted with the caption: ‘A Brisbane bus driver has been filmed by a passenger using his phone while driving.’
But most social media commenters replied in defence of the driver.
‘Heaven forbid he should listen to something while driving … you can quite clearly see he is watching the road, not the phone screen,’ one online user said.
‘What else ya gonna do during that daily 700km round trip,’ another wrote.
‘He might’ve been checking how far he could go using his Netflix subscription,’ a third joked.
But the vision led another to disagree: ‘You watch things when you are home, you don’t watch something while you’re driving.’
Another asked: ‘Didn’t you do the crossword while driving the bus?’
Translink said it took the footage ‘very seriously’.
‘As soon as Translink was made aware of this video involving a driver employed by one of our delivery partners, we immediately raised the issue with them so an investigation could be undertaken,’ it said.
‘We expect all of our drivers to adhere to Queensland road rules at all times.’
The footage comes after BCC fired up a huge recruitment drive last April to fix a drastic bus driver shortage across Brisbane.
Translink cancelled 1,300 services across south-east Queensland over three weeks between March and April this year due to driver shortages.
Councillor Ryan Murphy chairman of the BCC transport committee, said at the time the council needed to hire 160 new bus drivers ‘and we need them fast’.
The driver sported a black jacket as he steered the Carindale-bound 222 bus and used the indicators as the vehicle approached a bus stop
The alarming footage comes after the Brisbane City Council fired up a huge recruitment drive last April to fix a drastic bus driver shortage across Brisbane (pictured, buses in Brisbane’s CBD)
The lack of bus drivers around the world has been due to high attrition rates, lack of clear career progression, inflexible rosters and rivalry with rideshare industries, the International Association of Public Transport said.
It also forecast an impending ‘silver tsunami’ – a surge of retirements amid the ageing bus driver labour force.
‘Drivers that have been driving with us since the start of their career are now reaching retirement age,’ Cr Murphy admitted in April.
‘They’re leaving full-time bus driving and we’re not seeing the same amount of full-time drivers coming into the system to replace them.’
Daily Mail Australia contacted BCC and Translink for comment.
