Drivers are not conductors and I doing one job is hard enough, now you think they should have 3?

It's probably cheaper to have a trashcan onboard than an armed driver. Yes, when you threaten people with ejection sometimes they threaten you right back.

Huh? Drivers are gatekeepers that let people onto the bus and validate that the people that enter the bus have tickets.

If people don't respect what the driver says, the driver should stop the bus, and call security and then not move until the issue is resolved. There should be no tolerance at all for people that threatens the driver.

The driver isn't a gatekeeper or tollbooth collector. They stop, you pay your fare. You don't pay the fare they aren't going to argue with you, just pull off to the next stop. Because the bus driver has a schedule to keep and if he has to stop the bus for every minor infraction (and eating on the bus is very far down that list) than the schedule becomes unreliable, people stop taking the bus, and then revenue drops.

And all of this could have been avoided with a trashcan on the bus.

If you've watched anything on youtube you'll see that people escalate a situation for some of the stupidest things. The world is full of crazy people and they drive or take the bus too.

"You don't pay the fare they aren't going to argue with you"

Where does that happen?

I see it all the time in a bunch of cities. The driver isn't going to chase you to the back of the bus if you walk by him. I've had drivers tell me to just go ahead when I didn't have the right amount of change ready.

> Huh? Drivers are gatekeepers that let people onto the bus and validate that the people that enter the bus have tickets.

There are many cities where you can enter through any of the bus' doors.

Drivers always have the authority to eject passengers. If they get resistance, they call the cops.

I'm not sure when they would clean a bus though. I'd rather have my bus driver drive than stop to pick up rubbish.

...and then when the driver of $ethnicityA kicks off a passenger of $ethnicityB, there's a lawsuit and we're back to square one.

wow, seriously? are you by chance a congressman or lawmaker of some sorts?

No, but I live in a country where this is how it works. Drivers here in sweden are responsible for cleaning the bus during the day (with a more thorough cleaning at the garage that the driver isn't responsible for, afaik), and he has enough authority to eject people off the bus if they are violating rules, or to not let them on if they would violate rules.

I like Sweden. But this has to be one of the most bureaucratic approaches to solving the problem. And it's ripe for abuse.

As I understand it, aside from the cleaning, it's the same in America. But if a driver pulled over in the middle of rush hour traffic to kick someone off a bus because they put down an empty can of soda, they'd be torn to shreds before they made it back to the driver's seat.

"they'd be torn to shreds"

Where are you taking buses that the passengers are so rage-filled?

New York City.