Egged Bus Driver Fired for Insulting Chareidi Passenger

An Egged bus driver who insulted a chareidi passenger has been fired, Army Radio reported. The report said that the dismissal came after an “intense meeting” between the victim, the driver and the bus company.

The incident occurred several weeks ago, when a chareidi individual – who happened to be on active duty in the IDF – entered a bus via the back door, in a perfectly legal manner, as the back entrance has a mechanism by which bus tickets can be examined. As an active duty soldier, the individual was able to use a special card exempting soldiers from paying bus fare.

The soldier was not required to wear a uniform off-base, and in fact was clothed in “a typical chareidi outfit,” the bus driver told investigators after the incident – which was one reason why he began railing against the victim. After seeing that the passenger did not pass his ticket through the reader, the driver started yelling at him – and continued even after the card allowing free passage was shown. Eventually, the “conversation” broke down into invectives and insults, with the driver impugning the passenger’s sense of cleanliness, among other things.

The passenger complained, leading to a hearing within the company – and this week’s firing. In a statement, Egged spokesperson Ron Ratner said “the driver no longer works for us because of several complaints about his behavior. This behavior does not match the requirements we have from our drivers.”