Passenger · On the Road
A rider becomes intoxicated and disruptive during a run. What does passenger-vehicle guidance say about putting that rider off the bus?
Explanation
A disruptive rider still has to be left somewhere that is safe for them, which generally means a well-lit place with other people present, or the next stop on the schedule, rather than wherever the bus happens to be at that moment. The driver's duty runs to this rider as well as to everyone else aboard, so the decision is about where the discharge happens rather than whether it is justified. 49 CFR 383.117(a)(3) names proper responses to such emergency situations as fires and unruly passengers as a required knowledge area, and the paragraph names the subject directly, but it states no procedure, so the practice is attributed to the manual, and many carriers set their own guidelines on top of it. The wrong options sit at the two extremes or hand the decision away, since discharging immediately anywhere ignores this rider's safety, refusing to discharge at all before the final stop ignores everyone else's, and waiting at the roadside for law enforcement strands a full bus over one passenger.
Source: 49 CFR 383.117(a)(3)
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