Aug. 12, 2020 By Allie Griffin
Dozens of unmasked partiers took over a MTA bus and turned it into an ad hoc hookah lounge and dance soirée over the weekend, wild video shows.
Video posted to World Star Hip Hop on Tuesday shows a large group of young people on board a MTA bus drinking, smoking hookah, singing and gyrating to loud music. No one in the video is wearing a face covering, which are required onboard buses and subways.
The rowdy group also appears to have taken over the entire bus, including the restricted area near the bus driver’s seat.
The B48 bus had just departed the Grand Avenue Depot near 49th Place in Maspeth early Sunday morning when it was ambushed by the partying crew at 3:35 a.m.
The party-goers jumped on board the bus when the MTA driver was attempting to get by double parked cars that were blocking the bus from moving. The party only lasted about 15 minutes.
The MTA condemned the young people for putting the bus driver at risk.
“This group not only put themselves at risk, based on the fact that no one was wearing a mask, but more important to me, they put my bus operator at risk,” said Craig Cipriano, President, MTA Bus and SVP, NYCT Department of Buses. “Bus operators are out there moving the city – they’ve been doing so since March.”
MTA workers and specifically bus drivers were hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic at its height. Dozens of bus drivers were lost to the deadly disease.
