Friday fun post: it’s Bus Driver Appreciation Day today, March 18, 2011!
March 18, 2011
Friday fun post: it’s Bus Driver Appreciation Day today, March 18, 2011!
March 18, 2011
How did I miss this in years past? It turns out March 18 is International Bus Driver Appreciation Day, as that’s the day the very first bus service started in Paris, in 1662!
Online, a couple of Seattle groups have been sharing some great threads celebrating their bus drivers: here’s the Seattle Transit Blog, Seattle Bike Blog, and a tweet from King County Metro. And Portland’s newspaper The Oregonian had a nice shout out too.
So go forth and celebrate too: say thanks to a bus driver on your route, send in a commendation through our feedback form if you have a great trip, and feel free to share any great driver stories in the comments here, if you have them :) I’ll showcase the best ones next week!
I always say thank you to the driver – and they always respond. Haven’t seen him for a while, but I think the driver that carries plastic flowers for the bus, and tells (corny but suitable) jokes is pretty cool. You can tell he loves his job and I’ve never known anyone get off his bus who isn’t smiling!
Here’s to a 169 Braid Station driver, who late at night, set me off at the side of the highway at the Cape Horn interchange, so I could use a footpath to get to my house, a mere 50 metres away and avoid a 45 minute wait at Braid for the 156 (and the longer walk that accompanied it).
and here’s to the driver of a 112 Lougheed Station who dropped me off on the near side of Braid Street instead of at the far side so I would have less of a distance to walk.
And here’s to the driver of a 9 Alma many many years ago, who announced each stop location with so much enthusiasm that the passengers began cheering. Getting off at “Sunny” Cypress never felt so exciting again.
And here’s to the driver of a bus at Metrotown Station, who showered me with memorabilia because I had a keen interest in those things. The meet up was set up here on the blog! I might add, I’m getting that map laminated so I can pin it up without putting any holes in it.
Most drivers are good. But some are incredible, and it’s those ones that make me feel good about using public transit.
Hey! check out this cool video of the SkyTrain’s first run non-stop between Waterfront and New Westminster. And boy did Metro Vancouver look different back then than now. Areas that are now home to high-rise condos like Joyce-Collingwood and Patterson were just small quiet homes back then! Happy 25th SkyTrain!
[…] them, because it’s Bus Driver Appreciation Day! What’s that? Well, Jhen wrote about the history of the day a couple of years […]