Mercury News: Drivers who survived San Jose hijackings honored for courage

SAN JOSE — Carlos Zarate was starting his early-morning route driving a Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority bus two years ago when an agitated man got on and insisted on sitting on a front railing, unusually close to the driver’s controls.

The man didn’t pay any fare, but he did have an even more unusual demand: He wanted to be taken to Daly City.

The VTA has no route that extends that far into the Peninsula; it’s primarily a South Bay transit service. That did not appear to dissuade Zarate’s surprise free rider, who within a couple of minutes pulled out a 26-inch machete he had concealed in his pants.

Zarate, now 30, kept his cool. He stayed on his San Jose-based route to avoid drawing the ire of the man who effectively had him at knifepoint. At one point he made a stop and saw an elderly woman try to board; he recognized her as one of his regular passengers and told her in Spanish to stay off the bus.