892: Trapped on a Bus
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hey, it's Ray from Car Talk. Are you tired of all the depth and thoughtful care that goes into NPR shows? Want some good old-fashioned goofing around and stumbling to figure out what's going on? Well, I've been taking occasional car questions again. You can hear them by signing up for NPR Plus, along with lots of other bonus content. Just go to plus.npr.org.
A quick warning, there are curse words that are unbeaped in today's episode of the show. If you prefer a beeped version, you can find that at our website, thisamericanlife.org. From WBEZ Chicago, it's This American Life. I'm David Kestenbaum, sitting in for Hourglass.
This morning on the subway, this guy brought his own chair. He was sitting next to him, but he was in like a fold-out chair.
That's Aviva de Kornfeld, apparently our transportation correspondent. She came in the studio to tell me a story about a woman on a bus ride that went very strangely.
Her name's Duck, or that's her nickname. That's what we're going to call her. Okay. She takes this bus between New York and D.C. a lot, back and forth. So on this trip, she's going from New York to D.C., Union Station, and she's leaving around 6 p.m. at night. And she has this whole routine around the bus because she's done this trip a million times. This is duck. I'll go get a margarita, get on the bus, take a nap, wake up back home in D.C. You know, I boarded the bus as normal. They checked me in. You know, the guy had the app with all the passengers. He made a little announcement. And they even I remember distinctly they said there's no stops planned. You know, great. Are you good at sleeping in public transit?
I can pretty much sleep anyway. Oh, my God. You're so lucky. My parents would always joke that I could sleep through anything. So she goes to sleep. And then she wakes up around 9 p.m. to a bunch of commotion. And all the passengers are talking on the bus about what's going on. And what's going on is really odd. And so odd that Duck starts writing a thread about this online, which is how I heard about it. Here's the first post she writes. I just woke up from a nap and somehow while I was asleep, everyone on the bus has figured out that we are not going to the right place.
Aviva, do they think there's like a mistake or something?
Well, the driver of the bus is apparently telling passengers, like, I'm not going to the wrong place. You're on the wrong bus. This bus isn't going to Washington, D.C. It's going further south to Virginia, and we're not going to stop. Sadak writes another post. He's refusing to talk to anyone while he's driving and is now driving really fast. I think this is when it starts to, the attitude on the bus starts to turn a little bit towards maybe we're not in a safe situation.
And what do they think is going on? Like, is it possible they just got on the wrong bus?
No, because every person on the bus has been checked in by the driver as going to Washington, D.C.
What happened when a New York–to–D.C. bus driver refused to stop and how did passengers react?
And all their tickets say to D.C.
Yeah.
So this is the situation. They're all basically trapped on a bus. And the driver is not doing what bus drivers have typically done in the history of bus driving. I'm not sure exactly how to say this, but whatever you think of President Trump, maybe this is a feeling you have been experiencing. He's made hundreds of millions of dollars selling meme coins to his fans and other people. He is bombing boats off Venezuela. He's tearing down the East Wing and building a giant ballroom. Maybe this makes you feel like everything's out of control. Or maybe you're fine with it. Maybe the bus driver is a genius and you think we should all just sit back and see. In this case, though, the passengers are not into it.
And when a person has so completely left the normal script of things, the question is, what do you do?
So the first thing they try to do is reason with the bus driver, reassert the normal facts and rules for the bus ride. Duck said that two guys went up to him at the front of the bus and said, man to man, we're going to Union Station.
And?
He said, no, we're not.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–3:06
2
What happened when a New York–to–D.C. bus driver refused to stop and how did passengers react?
3:06–16:56
3
How did passengers try to regain control when the bus driver sped toward Virginia?
16:56–30:29
4
What was the bus company's response and what happened after passengers were left in Vienna, Virginia?
30:29–40:38
5
How did a reporter's bipolar diagnosis shape his reaction to a neighbor arrested as a spy in Greece?
40:38–1:00:50