MTA Bus #3580: Distress Signal

I don’t think I have seen this before. On Christmas Day an MTA bus on 21st Street displayed this message where the bus’s line number should have been. I think this was the Q69. Instead of that information it appeared the bus driver had activated a “CALL POLICE” message, indicating there was trouble on board:

Moments later the sign changed to “CALL 9-1-1”, and alternated back and forth between the two messages

The bus stopped and a couple of police cars appeared. Police officers entered the bus and quickly exited. Apparently nothing was amiss, so maybe this unfortunate bus driver was victim of faulty emergency alert gear. After the police exited the bus drove on, still with the alternating “CALL POLICE” and “DIAL 9-1-1” messages showing. I do not think I would voluntarily step onto a bus with those signals displaying.

I imagined the bus was being hijacked, and that some desperate soul wanted badly for this driver to take him to Brooklyn instead of Queens Plaza. Something like the bus version of The Taking of Pelham One Two Three.