When this guy takes the bus, he really takes the bus.
A 20-year-old Staten Islander who is “obsessed” with buses crossed the line early Monday — and stole one from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, officials said.
Nickolas Ellias stole an empty bus that was parked at the St. George Ferry Terminal on Staten Island and drove it 1.6 miles to his Stapleton neighborhood, police and transit officials said.
The stolen bus had been left on a ramp at the St. George transit complex by a driver who took a break, MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said.
Witnesses alerted the MTA and police about 1:30 a.m. that a young man was driving an MTA bus. The MTA used bus-tracking technology to locate the bus and help police reclaim it, Ortiz said.
Ellias had made it to Broad and Targee Sts., less than two blocks from his home on Broad St., when police caught up with him about 2 a.m., authorities said.
“I want to be a bus driver,” Ellias told police, according to a law enforcement source.
He also said he was just borrowing the bus, the source said.
“I was going to return the bus when I was done,” he added, according to the source.
He was charged with grand larceny by Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan’s office, and ordered held on $10,000 bail.
His caper was also filmed and the video posted on Facebook.
The case is reminiscent of that of Darius McCollum, who was a transit-obsessed 15-year-old when he took an E train for a joyride in 1981.
Over the next four decades, McCollum was arrested nearly 30 times for impersonating transit workers, stealing a bus and other transit-related crimes. He is on parole for stealing a Trailways bus in Hoboken, N.J., and driving it to Queens.
” title=”
” data-src=”/wp-content/uploads/migration/2014/06/17/FDGASSSOFZRJBDECNNK5JAKKBU.jpg”>
Ellias could be traveling on the same road. “I’m not surprise he did this,” said Santiago Rivera, who identified himself as Ellias’ foster father. “He tried stealing a bus before, but the police caught him just in time. He’s obsessed with buses. He doesn’t learn.”
McCollum grew up near a railyard in Jamaica, Queens, and skipped school to hang out with transit workers. It was his education.
Some of Ellias’ friends said he likes to loiter around the ferry terminal, where riders can switch to buses and the Staten Island Railway. “He’s obsessed with buses,” Cory Pearson, 33, told the Daily News. “He was always riding them back and forth. He knows all the drivers. He’s always hanging by the bus depot.”
McCollum was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome.
Pearson described Ellias as a happy but “troubled kid” who has mental health issues. His court-appointed lawyer also said Ellias had mental health issues.
