MBTA shuttle bus mistakenly takes commuters to Stoneham on first day of Orange Line shutdown

It was a wild ride for MBTA passengers aboard an Orange Line shuttle bus on Thursday morning. The bus was supposed to take commuters from Medford to North Station in Boston, but instead a confused driver took them toward the North Shore.

"I was hoping it would be a good commute, and it turned out to be one of the worst ones that I've ever seen in my life," said passenger Yaseen Sajjad.

The ride started in Wellington, with the driver taking back roads that started to worry passengers. Once he started going north on I-93, panic ensued. The shuttle bus driver mistakenly drove to the Stoneham area.

"One of the passengers yelled 'It's 135 Causeway Street,'" Sajjad said. "While he's driving on the highway he's putting it on his GPS."

The story gets even more shocking. At one point, the driver told passengers he had never even been to the city of Boston before.

Alex Rodde was on the bus heading to work and had to start giving the driver directions.

"He explains to us he's never been to Boston like in his life and he is driving this bus for the first time," Rodde said. "And I was like a little nervous about it because if I'm being relied upon for instructions, I should probably give good ones, and I did my best and I think we got where we were going to go."

The shuttle buses are being used because of the 11-day Orange Line shutdown that started on Thursday. 

In a statement to WBZ-TV, an MBTA spokesperson said, "The MBTA apologizes to these shuttle bus passengers for this inconvenience. The matter has been addressed with the shuttle bus vendor, and the driver of this shuttle is no longer working on this service."

Commuters said they just want a reliable way to get to work.

"It is a crazy, crazy frustration to get to Boston. It shouldn't be," Sajjad said. "Let's fix this issue. I should have a good commute."