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Crying "Rat" Is One Way To Bring Your Bus To A Halt

By

Garth Johnston

Published Nov 2, 2011

Modified Nov 2, 2011

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Now that is a rat on a bus!

 

sad rat meets shveckle's flickr

By

Garth Johnston

Published Nov 2, 2011

Modified Nov 2, 2011

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If you've ever wanted to empty out an MTA bus and piss off your fellow commuters, this seems to do the trick. About 5 a.m. monday morning a B38 bus stopped and emptied out at Adams and Willoughby Streets after a startled straphanger screamed "rat!" A road crew was even dispatched to investigate, but "no rat was found," according to the MTA.

Apparently it isn't unheard of for rats to occasionally hop a ride on the bus, especially when they are parked in bus depots, but it seems highly unlikely in the case of this particular B38, as it had been on the road for more than three hours without anyone else complaining.

Still, there is something amusing about the fact that you can, apparently, bring a bus to a standstill just by claiming you saw one. The same seems to be true on the rails where rats and their feathered friends seem to be regular commuters.

Tagged

b38

brooklyn

bus

cry wolf

MTA

rat

Garth Johnston

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