Baa-d Passengers: Two Goats Board Portland Bus. Driver Kicks Them Off When They Can't Pay the Fare

PORTLAND, Ore. - (8.14.26) Commuters in the Pacific Northwest got an unexpected pair of fellow passengers this week when two loose pygmy goats decided to try public transit.

Security camera footage from a TriMet bus stop at Southeast 162nd Avenue and Division Street shows the white goats calmly trotting up to an FX2-Division bus during the Tuesday morning rush hour around 7:40 a.m. The animals followed human riders onto the green articulated bus, briefly joining the morning commute before being spotted and ushered back outside. Video may be seen at: https://x.com/heatedreports/status/2088034495555321933?s=20

According to TriMet, the bus operator noticed the uninvited guests and reopened the doors. A woman inside the bus stood up and appeared to shoo them away as other passengers helped guide the goats back onto the sidewalk. The pair then wandered toward a nearby shopping center and disappeared from camera view.

911 calls had already alerted authorities to the wandering animals in the area. Portland Police searched the vicinity but were unable to locate them. TriMet reported no additional sightings later that day.

Baa-d Passengers: Two Goats Board Portland Bus, Then Pull a Disappearing Act

"The operator spotted them and reopened the doors. The goats wandered back toward the shopping center near the northeast corner of the intersection, where they disappeared from our cameras," TriMet said in a statement. "Portland Police checked the area, but we don't know if the goats were ever located."

The transit agency shared the surveillance video on social media with a touch of humor, asking: "So where did they come from? Where were they going? Did they have valid fare? Some questions may never be answered."

TriMet policy prohibits non-service animals from boarding buses unless they are in an enclosed carrier. Officials said they hope the goats were eventually reunited with their owners.

The brief adventure has since gone viral, offering a lighthearted distraction for readers near and far-including those of us here in Santa Monica who know a thing or two about unexpected encounters on our own crowded streets and beaches.