Romancing the bus: inspirational stories from transit

I confess to never, and I repeat never, owning a car. 

Specifically, I have never had a driving license, in fact, I seem to have entirely by-passed the whole driving lessons, test thing. Never done it (could be because I am from the UK where car ownership is a liability not a constitutional right). So, after 13 years in Vancouver entirely on transit, I think I know pretty well every bus route and skytrain stop. 

As a seasoned transit user in many different major global cities, I can confidently attest that transit in Vancouver is more reliable, clean, comfortable, safe and generally better than most, Yet, Vancouverites see it in such a poor light, many announcing loudly that "I am just going to pick up the BMW” to the driver, or whoever may care to listen.  You folks are missing out on the extraordinary cultural value of communal transportation. You don't get to appreciate how the bus, skytrain, etc offer a whole new way to get to know the city and the people that make it tick. The people you meet on transit are some of the best and brightest minds in the city. Apart from students and staff commuting between UBC, SFU etc, I regularly bump into people from David Suzuki Foundation, Vancity, City of Vancouver, Canada Green Building Council, GVRD, and more. I get a good deal of networking done.

So I want to change perceptions of transit by creating a chronicle of our mobile city culture.  If we can gather stories that show how the bus is cool, fun, sexy, stylish and intellectually stimulating, perhaps we could give Translink some marketing ideas and, possibly, encourage them to spend a bit of money on advertising.

A couple of tidbits to get started:

• Last week on the #10 Granville there was a masters student in Opera from UBC (opera, who knew?) introducing herself to an elderly gentleman reading sheet music and who happened to be in one of the city’s major choirs. 
• I saw two harbour seals as the seabus pulled into Lonsdale Quay on Tuesday.
• A couple of months ago one of the trolley drivers was telling a passenger that in Iran he used to be in one of the elite fighter squadrons flying MIGs over the various gulf hotspots: I suspect he probably can make that trolley do things it had never done before. The drivers and operators can not only tell extraordinary stories about themselves but it seems they are also the gatekeepers of tales of the City.