Commuter shocked to find himself locked in METRO bus at night

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- He fell asleep inside a METRO bus and found himself alone at the bus barn. Robert Wicker spoke exclusively to Eyewitness News about his experience.

It started at the corner of Milam and McKinney downtown. Wicker took METRO route 249 as he's always done before but this ride, he said, he will never forget.

"This should not happened," said Wicker.

Wicker said he took the METRO later than he usually does after a work meeting Tuesday night.

"It was around 8:30pm," he said.

Wicker said he did not realize how tired he was so he eventually dozed off.

"At first it was like, 'Where am I? Is this a dream?'" he said.

It was not a dream. Wicker said he found himself in a dark bus at a METRO bus barn on the southwest side of Houston. The doors were locked, he said, and had nowhere to go.

"I felt disappointed I was left in a bus no one checked," he said.

Wicker said METRO apologized and told him this has never happened before. An hour later, he said, a security guard and a METRO officer finally showed up.

"I'm here like waving my hands (because) the lights were off," he said.

Wicker said the METRO officer took him to his car at the Bay Area Park and Ride, where he should have been dropped off in the first place.

"You'd think you'd be safe, not wake up on an empty bus," he said.

Eyewitness reached out to METRO and it says it is against policy not to check the bus before leaving it on the bus barn. It said it has tracked down the operator of Wicker's bus and will re-train her so this will never happen again.