For March/April 2013, we’re spotlighting Life on Transit—that is, observing and illuminating the quirks and habits of daily transit rides around our region!

Have you had a great bus operator experience recently? Well, today is the day to celebrate them, because it’s Bus Driver Appreciation Day! What’s that? Well, Jhen wrote about the history of the day a couple of years ago.

We regularly hear about great experiences on our buses. Sometimes we hear about them via our feedback form, our social media properties, or in the case of bus operator Tim Chaput, they win awards for their great service! Here’s more about Tim from the March issue of the Buzzer newsletter:

Three cheers for Tim!

Hurrah for transit operator Tim Chaput, who just won a Vancouver Tourism Award!

Tim was nominated by a customer, who had this to say:

This driver greeted me on this dark rainy morning with a big smile and cheery “Good morning”. Then, an elderly Asian lady got on the bus and was greeted with a friendly “Nihao”!

… Then on my normally quiet, boring ride I was again impressed when instead of the normal computer announcement for each upcoming stop, I heard the driver announce not only each stop, but the hotels and points of interest in the area as well as primary bus transfer locations.

WOW!!! This kind of service is beyond what I have come to expect in the morning and I believe this gentleman needs to be recognized. This is a true ambassador of our city and reminded all of us on the bus this morning to make that little extra effort in our day.
For his part, Tim said he was hugely pleased with the award.

“I’m really proud to get this, and I’m really accepting this on behalf of everybody at CMBC,” he said. “We have a lot of exceptional people on the front line and in our support positions. I’ve been in this business a long time, and winning this was really nice—just like winning an Academy Award!”

Way to go Tim, and thanks for making each day special for our customers!

Now it’s your turn to appreciate a driver/operator. You can do so with a simple in-person thanks, sharing your story in the comments section of this post, our feedback form, Facebook, Twitter or any other way you can think of!