chinese driver and chinese passenger

Yesterday I was on this feeder bus. A Chinese woman in her 60s boarded the bus and asked the driver if the bus goes to "Street 22". The driver, apparently a Chinese National, replied that the bus goes to "er shi er jie". It seemed to take the woman a fair while to realize "er" = 2, "er shi er" = 22, "jie" = street, and "er shi er jie" = Street 22.

Later on through the woman's conversation with her friends on the bus, I guess she is those "ang mo pai" (English-educated).

You may say that being in the service industry, the driver should've known how to speak English. But similarly the argument is true that a Chinese should know how to speak (and understand) Chinese.

Who knows, the driver actually speaks Queen's English when talking to non-Chinese passengers.