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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, September 25, 2008

Another city bus driver in trouble

By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser Staff Writer

O'ahu Transit Services has suspended a city bus driver after an alarmed passenger shot a cell phone video of him playing a handheld video game while at the wheel Tuesday.

It was the second case of alleged bus driver misbehavior in less than a month. Police on Aug. 28 arrested a veteran driver of TheBus who was seen with an open container of alcohol and driving erratically in Waimanalo. He was arrested on suspicion of driving while under the influence.

Tuesday's incident involved a bus driver who was seen playing a handheld video game while driving his usual route, Route 54, which goes from Alapa'i to lower Pearl City, said Roger Morton, OTS president and general manager. At one point the passenger's video shows the driver putting his right food up on the dashboard.

The passenger waited until she was off the bus to call TheBus offices at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday. TheBus sent out a road supervisor to stop the bus and admonish the driver, Morton said.

"We have a no-electronics-devices rule," Morton said. "This would be an inattention to driving. It's an embarrassment for us to have two cases in a month. But I think it's an aberration."

Morton declined to give the driver's name, but said he is an 18-year veteran of TheBus with a clean record. The driver was suspended yesterday morning, he said.

After the road supervisor contacted the driver, Morton said, the driver was allowed to complete his route and told to report to the office the next morning.

"I believe the supervisor made the right call," Morton said. "Obviously it's an egregious event. But nothing that required immediate action, like being impaired."

The driver in the Waimanalo case is Searle Pestana, 61, a bus driver for 36 years. OTS officials said passengers called 911 after the bus scraped a branch along its right side. He was arrested at 7:30 p.m. in Waimanalo, and suspended without pay pending an investigation.

Morton has said that was only the third time a bus driver has been investigated for driving while under the influence.

Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com.