Photo courtesy Unsuck Metro DC

Credit goes to the increasingly excellent local blog Unsuck DC Metro for the news that a Metrobus operator will soon be fired for talking on a cell phone while driving a bus.

The web site posted a photo it obtained from a former Red Line rider named Brian who had, ironically enough, recently switched to riding a 63 bus from Takoma to work in the morning, just as WMATA this week urged customers to consider. Here’s what Brian told Unsuck DC Metro:

When we got to the stop just outside of the Petworth Metro station, our driver got out of the bus and started talking on her cell phone. One minute goes by, 2 minutes, 3 minutes … and she’s still talking on her phone. Passengers start getting very angry. One, in particular, steps outside and yells at the driver to get moving. Yet another minute goes by before the driver bothers to get back on the bus. And she’s still talking on the phone.

If I were smarter (and more awake), I would have caught this moment on video, but she sat down and pulled out into traffic with phone to ear, and drove several hundred feet before ending her call. I got a crappy picture with my cell phone. It was the best I could get from my vantage point. If you zoom in on the driver, you can see her holding up a phone to her ear with one hand and pulling out into traffic with the other. I contacted WMATA customer service via email between 8 and 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, and I still haven’t heard back from them.

The story has since been picked up by WTOP and FOX 5, and Metro General Manager John Catoe today stated on WTOP radio that the driver will be identified and that Metro will take appropriate action, which “is termination.”