HUMOUR—As the sun was just shedding its morning rays on Victoria, second-year UVic student Pelty Grables arrived at her bus stop on McKenzie Avenue. A few other bus riders stood beside the covered structure, impatiently awaiting a bus that some doubted would ever arrive.
“It was just an ordinary day,” said Grables. “I was just heading to school like I always do. I just never thought that something like this would happen.”
But it did happen.
On the morning of March 10, a #16 bus arrived on time, and it even stopped to pick up the passengers, much to the surprise of the passengers waiting at the bus stop as well as those inside the bus.
Of course, this particular bus isn’t the first one to have arrived on time. In 2011, a Victoria resident (who wishes to remain anonymous) riding on the #4 reportedly not only got on the bus at its scheduled time, but also arrived at their destination on time as well. Anecdotal reports have also said that prior to 2007, buses often arrived on time up to once or twice a day.
For Grables, this opportunity to ride a bus that was running as scheduled was a special thing. “Goodness knows how many people can say that they have taken the bus to school and arrived on time . . . I was so elated I wanted to hug everyone around me,” she said, laughing.
“Yeah, I guess it was pretty cool,” said another rider, Sam Billman. “I was able to make it to class on time.”
When asked to comment, B.C. Transit representative Michael Bolton responded saying that the company is very pleased with their accomplishment but wants to make sure that “everyone doesn’t get too excited about this, really. I’m sure that other buses arrive on time every day, but people shouldn’t get their expectations too high.”
Though it seems unlikely that this bus arriving on time will lead to any major changes for Victorians, citizens can remain positive about this occurrence. Indeed, social media have been abuzz about the bus arriving on time, many people seeing it as a revolutionary event.
“Tops blooby on that bus coming in on time <333 i still can’t believe i was there when it happened!!” wrote Twitter user @handlebarsaresosweet, whose message was echoed by user @givmesumadat who tweeted, “Perhaps Victoria will see the day that people arrive to school right on time thanks to @BCTransit. Heck yeah boyee.”
In the meantime, the people of Victoria will continue to ride B.C. Transit and perhaps dream of a day when such an event happens to them.
