Bus driver appreciation day

I declare a Good News day. Each blogger on this day should publish at least one blog post devoted to at least one nice thing to say about someone.

Here's my contribution to good blogging.

Each morning I take the same bus. (OK, there were the two sick days and the day I took an earlier bus and the weekends when I sleep in, but let's not quibble.) This means I get the same driver each morning.

I have written before about the extra effort this driver takes (see here about the request for change and the effort to wake the sleeper at the bus stop). Today, as often happens on Watt Avenue, we stopped long enough to answer a woman's question about which of the several lines on that street would take her to her destination. The driver always has a quick and friendly answer. That friendly part is important. In my very limited experience, I have found most drivers are at best curt when asked for directions. Some just claim not to know.

Today, on one of the residential streets the route follows, the bus pulled over next to an elderly woman who was walking slowly in the direction of a bus stop. We were about 20 yards short of the stop, and if the bus hadn't stopped, the lady would have missed her chance to catch the bus. The driver made the front of the bus kneel, opened the door and asked the lady if this was her bus. It wasn't, but I'm sure the lady was impressed with the courtesy of the stop.

And with all of this the bus still got to 65th Street by 9:16 so I could catch the early train downtown.