The agony of rotting away on a city bus as it moved at a snail’s pace sent one Brooklyn rider over the edge.

Alicea Diaz, 25, who was sick of being late for work because of the pokey B82 Limited, allegedly attacked driver Jacqueline Benjamin, 60, whom she blamed for the mind-numbing rides.

“She drives slow on purpose,” Diaz told The Post yesterday.

The waitress “repeatedly punched” Benjamin in the face “with a closed fist” and broke her glasses on Tuesday afternoon in Bensonhurst, according to the criminal complaint.

Benjamin, a 17-year MTA veteran, said Diaz unleashed a hail of blows after screaming, “I’m tired of you, bitch. You’re always making me late for work.”

“She thought she’d punch me and then get off at her stop,” Benjamin said.

But the driver grabbed the woman’s hoodie and held her until cops showed up.

Diaz — who has no prior arrests — was charged in Brooklyn Criminal Court with assault, menacing, harassment and criminal mischief.

Her commuter rage could land her in prison because attacking a MTA bus driver is a felony.

Diaz — a regular aboard the B82 Limited — admits that she yelled at the driver, but insists she punched Benjamin only in self-defense.

She claims the brawl erupted when she accused Benjamin of not helping a wheelchair-bound passenger.

Diaz, from Coney Island, insists Benjamin retaliated by driving at about 5 mph to infuriate her.

The spat got physical when Diaz prepared to get off at the corner of Bay Parkway and 78th Street.

Diaz says Benjamin called her a “dumb ho,” and then grabbed her hoodie as she tried to step off the bus.

But Benjamin claims Diaz punched her while she was driving, and said she grabbed the hoodie only to stop her from fleeing after the assault.

The driver, who was not charged, was treated at Coney Island Hospital for pain in her eye and forehead.

Law-enforcement sources say three witnesses backed up Benjamin’s story.

jamie.schram@nypost.com

