Another incident of a BC Transit bus displaying a concerning message across it’s screen in Victoria drew a police response on Sunday.
At around 11 a.m. Sunday December 1st, a member of the public noticed a ‘Call 911’ message being shown on the bus’ destination screen and called police.
According to an anonymous Facebook post accompanied by a video, the incident took place on the 27 bus, which operates between downtown Victoria and Gordon Head.
The individual who shared the video stated they were on the bus when the driver of a vehicle pulled up to the main passenger door at a red light to inform the bus driver about the message.
The incident turned out to be a false alarm, triggered when the emergency alarm switch was accidentally activated.
While police did respond to the call, the bus was reset and continued on for the day.
A similar incident occurred in Langford earlier this year when a glitch in a security feature caused warning messages about a potential “incident” to appear on a double-decker bus.
A BC Transit bus heading to Langford Exchange prompted a police response after its route name displayed “Call Police”.
At the time, a spokesperson with BC Transit confirmed to Victoria Buzz that the display on the front of the bus was not an emergency but rather a false alarm caused by a technical malfunction on the bus.
The use of an emergency display on a BC Transit bus is extremely rare and is only activated when circumstances prevent the driver from communicating for emergency assistance.
This display is visible only on the outside of the bus.
