Many are quick to suppose Epic Beard Guy “wanted an excuse” to lose his cool.
Perhaps he “wanted” an excuse because he’s been given plenty by the type of hood-rats we see in the video over the years of using public transportation.
That's how most of us perceived it at first, but it seems like the shoeshine thing was somewhat of a misunderstanding. Here's part of the shoeshine angle according to this link a witness saw Epic Beard Guy interacting with an Epic Shoe-Shine Guy just before getting on the bus. Here's his account:
So it's about 3-5 minutes before the bus comes and he spots this cat across the street. This guy is a famous shoe-shiner in the City. I know the guy. IAAMF guy yells and runs across the street. He almost got killed in the process as he didn't look both ways and seriously ALMOST got hit. I'm thinking this guy really is a MOTHERF****R. Apparently IAAMF didn't have enough money for the $4 transbay fare (I know, rip off) so he got some cash from shoe-shine guy. I guess they "go back 20 years man".
This could explain why in the beatdown video, Epic Beard Guy seems genuinely confused about his soon to be punching bag's persecution complex over EBG needing his shoes shined for the upcoming funeral.