A Vineyard Transit Authority bus driver has been fired after he refused to pick up a passenger who is black, the regional bus service said Thursday.

“We were all taken aback by that type of action, that any person would speak that way to anybody in the public,” VTA administrator Angela Grant told the Gazette Thursday. “The appropriate action was taken in a very timely fashion and we look forward to putting the issue behind us.”

The VTA is not identifying the driver. But Kevin Brooks, 35, a hairdresser and camera man/editor who commutes to the Vineyard from New Bedford, told the Gazette Thursday that he was the would-be passenger.

According to a press release from the VTA, the incident took place Wednesday, July 11 at about 4:25 p.m., when a bus on route number 13 was traveling from Edgartown to Oak Bluffs.

Mr. Brooks said he was waiting for the bus at his usual stop on Beach Road just past the Triangle. On Wednesday the bus drove by him and the driver looked at him and kept driving, he said.

According to the VTA the bus was full and the driver did not change the destination sign to say Bus At Capacity.

The VTA said onboard audio/video footage reviewed by the authority showed that the driver responded by saying the bus was full. When the person challenged the response, the VTA said, the driver responded: “Well, it’s because you are black.”

Mr. Brooks described a similar account of what transpired. He said he hopped in an Uber and followed the bus to Oak Bluffs, waiting for the bus to clear before he asked the driver why he hadn’t stopped. “I said what was the reason you didn’t stop for me in Edgartown,’” Mr. Brooks said. “He said ‘Because you’re black.’” Mr. Brooks said the bus driver added that the bus was crowded.

The driver involved in the incident has been fired effective immediately, the VTA said.

The company Transit Connection Inc. is under contract to provide service for the VTA and manages bus drivers. Ms. Grant said the driver involved in the incident was fired by that company after an investigation.

Ms. Grant said she had spoken with Mr. Brooks.

“It was a bit of a shock,” Mr. Brooks said Thursday, speaking to the Gazette by phone from the ferry. He said he has commuted to the Vineyard year-round for three years to work at Mac’s Barber Shop and to make house calls and work at weddings. He was trying to get to the ferry home Wednesday.

“I’ve never had an issue,” Mr. Brooks said. “I don’t even live here, I still feel like part of the Vineyard. I go to the same bus stop every day.”

He said the staff at VTA were responsive and called him back immediately. He said has also been in touch with a civil rights lawyer and the state commission against discrimination.