A bus driver and his riders quickly abandoned ship after a passenger screamed “rat” but a rodent was never found, authorities said.
MTA driver Rodney Wade halted the B38 bus at about 5 a.m. Monday at Adams and Willoughby Sts. after a rattled rider allegedly saw an unwanted critter on board and sparked a rush toward the doors, authorities said.
The bus command center dispatched a road crew to investigate but found the bus dirty but completely empty.
“No rat was found,” MTA spokesman Charles Seaton said.
The bus was returned to the depot for cleaning, Seaton said.
Bus drivers, who wouldn’t give their names at a nearby stop, said it wasn’t unheard of for a rat to scamper onto a bus at a depot. Seaton said the B38 came out of the Grand Ave. depot in Maspeth, Queens.
The depot doesn’t have a rodent infestation problem, Seaton said.
Throwing more cold water on the rat scare, Seaton said the bus was on the road for more than three hours and no other passengers reported seeing any creatures with a tail or whiskers.
Still, some bus riders were creeped out by even the notion of a rat coming along for a ride.
Fran McGuire, who frequently takes an express bus to Manhattan from downtown Brooklyn, said if she saw a rat she would "get the hell out of there real fast. No creepy crawlers for me. Halloween doesn't do it for me and neither do rats."
Dianne Harris has never seen a rat on a bus but said if one did manage to get inside, it probably wouldn t leave hungry.
"Sometimes, they'll be dirty especially because school children will eat on the bus and throw their garbage on the floor," Harris said.
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