Greyhound Leaves the Driving to Passenger

A passenger on a Greyhound bus Friday discovered that she couldn’t leave the driving to the company’s rookie driver, so she took the wheel herself.

“Our driver did not know how to drive a bus with a stick shift transmission. They’d only gone a short distance when it became painfully obvious that our driver did not know how to do that,” spokesman George Gravley said.

Gravley said that the New York-bound bus left Newark, Del., Friday afternoon and traveled for a few minutes when a passenger offered to show the driver the ropes. She turned out to be a licensed bus driver on a personal trip.

“She was going to show him how to operate the shift, but finally she just drove it all the way to the Port Authority,” he said.

“She knew what she was doing. It’s not like if you or I decided to take over. It’s unfortunate, but at the same time it’s just one of those crazy things,” said Gravley.

He said Greyhound had offered her payment for driving.

The driver, who had been employed since April 3, was fired, Gravley said. Greyhound’s drivers have been on strike since March 2.