© Facebook / François Le BerreFrancois Le Berre told passengers that "everyone might need a wheelchair one day”.
The incident took place in mid-October but has gone viral in recent days, with unnamed the driver receiving plaudits from around the world after the story received widespread media coverage.
Francois Le Berre, who uses a wheelchair as a result of his multiple sclerosis, waited for passengers already on board the bus to make room. When no one would oblige, the driver took the drastic action of kicking everyone off.
"Last stop! Everyone out!" he reportedly shouted, as cited by RTL, before turning to Francois and saying, "You come on, they can wait for the next one."
"No-one wanted to move despite the access ramp," Le Berre told Huffington Post. "Everyone might need a wheelchair one day," he reportedly told the other passengers as the bus took off, reports The Independent.
The driver's unorthodox actions unleashed a flood of admiration on social media. "Bravo to the bus driver, but on the other hand, shame on those passengers," wrote one Twitter user.
"What compassion and civility! We too often put imbeciles front and center in the media. It's also important to retweet examples like this," wrote another.
The Parisian transport company that operates the bus service in question, RATP, asked Francois for more information on the driver so they could commend him properly for his actions.
Such a bunch of selfish passengers, couldn't even get up off their seats, what a demonstration of how we have sunk so low, that the concerns of another are of no consequence, when "my concerns" are more important than another.
Public transport, is just that, public, whenever I travel public transport, which is not often, passengers will get up to accommodate seniors and women with baby carriages, and those that have difficulty reaching the doors from the back of the bus, it's just normal respect, that a person needs assistance at that time.
There is a service that is offered in Canada, where those that are physically challenged and need a wheel chair to get around can order a bus, for a nominal fee,
that will transport the person from door to door, unfortunately this is by my understanding for medial appointments only.....go figure.
Are all peoples in a wheelchair physical wrecks?
I think the fact that we have Para Olympics every 4 years should dispel this myth.