Bus driver says passengers misunderstood
The driver of a Peter Pan bus from New York to Boston, in which passengers complained they were held captive during a layover, acknowledged keeping passengers on the bus, but said the incident was misunderstood.
"The whole thing was just taken totally out of context, and the people didn't understand what was really going on," said Neil Bryant, 33, of Malden, a bus driver with three years' experience.
Peter Pan is investigating whether Bryant held passengers for about 30 minutes during a stopover in Framingham on Sunday without letting people off in retaliation for a complaint a passenger had phoned in about his driving. Three passengers told the Globe that Bryant told them they would stay longer during the layover as punishment. The passengers painted a frightening picture, saying the driver taunted them.
Bryant, who has been suspended, said he faces a disciplinary hearing Monday.
Speaking with a Globe reporter by phone last night in a three-way conversation with his union representative, Bryant said he was annoyed when a dispatcher told him a passenger had reported that he was swerving, but that he was not. Because of that, and because he believed his supervisors were watching him more closely on this trip, he skipped an optional rest stop that he usually takes at a Roy Rogers restaurant in Sturbridge. Drivers are not supposed to make the extra stop, but he usually does so as time permits, he said.
"That just ticked me off a little bit that somebody would call the [company] and say I was swerving all over the highway," Bryant said. ". . . If the people want to aggravate me, I'll aggravate them by not stopping."
If he had stopped in Sturbridge, the subsequent wait in Framingham would have been much shorter, Bryant said. In addition, passengers would have had a chance to get off the bus for a break.
But they did not, making the stopover in Framingham last more than a half-hour and provoking complaints from the passengers who wanted to get to Boston, he said. Company officials said Bryant did not have to wait at Framingham because it was a Sunday and the Framingham layover is required only on weekdays. Bryant contends that the schedule required him to do so and that he dropped off and picked up passengers in Framingham before driving on to Boston.
"I said: 'I'm not punishing you. I cannot leave here until 5 o'clock,' " Bryant said. "I sat on the bus with the passengers the whole time, except the part where I unloaded the bus."
Bryant acknowledged that he would not let Boston-bound passengers off to smoke, stretch, or get snacks. He said Peter Pan allows drivers to decide whether passengers can get off during layovers, and he chose to keep people on the bus.
"And I'm a smoker myself, so it wasn't like I was taunting them, or whatever," he said.
His union representative, Phil LaBranche, said drivers risk leaving passengers behind if they let them out for an unscheduled break.
Bryant also acknowledged that he refused to let one Boston-bound passenger take his luggage and disembark at the Framingham terminal. He said he was following company rules, and some Boston tickets are cheaper than Framingham tickets.
Peter Pan officials could not be reached last night following the interview with Bryant.
Bryant said the story of the bus ride, which has been reported by other media outlets, has unfairly characterized him as a "monster."
"They had to sit there for 35 minutes," Bryant said. "That's why they were all aggravated."
Noah Bierman can be reached at nbierman@globe.com. 