A simple story of a bus driver that does his best to benefit the commuters
It was a Sunday, 6th January. I finished church and was heading to the open space near Esplanade for my lightsaber training. I boarded Bus Service No. 36 to travel there but this bus ride was different from the rest.
When I first boarded the bus, I asked the driver if this Service No. passes by Esplanade. He merely answered with a nod, no words, just a simple nod. The immediate thought came to mind, he was just like the average disgruntled bus driver who makes the journey of commuters an upsetting one with his attitude. I tapped my card and headed to the open area to wait for my stop. The next thing he did was surprising. He exited his drivers seat, walked up to an old lady standing beside me, asked where she was going to which she replied somewhere in orchard and asked the passengers sitting in the yellow seats to let the old lady sit down. He had a unforgettable voice and weak English but he managed to bring his point forward to the passengers. He would only entered his drivers seat again when the lady sat down. What truly amazed me was the bus ride later on. It was jerky, bumpy, unstable. I lost my footing countless time, stepping on people's foot around me. Then, I remembered the old lady and what would happen if she was standing. Disastrous.
That was only the first part. He would voice out the bus stop at every stop and call out "Have a nice day!" to all who was alighting. He would keep asking passengers to move in when the front was too crowded, asked passengers to give a seat to the elderly whenever one boarded the bus and wouldn't move until they had a seat.
Then, my stop came and I heard that call of "Esplanade Mall" and when I exited, he bid me farewell with his usual "Have a nice day!" That immediately put a smile on my face. I wondered when will I see this driver again.
Of which I did, one month later, Sunday, 3rd February. I was heading to my usual lightsaber training and I boarded 36. The estimated arrival time was 15 mins, I wondered what had happened. When I came, I saw the familiar face of the bus driver that amazed me. I wondered what would he do this time.
This time, the bus was much more crowded. He exited his drivers seat just to guide the passengers to move to the back before returning the opening the door for passengers to board. That was just WOW. Other bus drivers will keep telling passengers to move in but he would get down and do it. Once again, he would call out the bus stops, ask passengers to give a seat to the elderly and keep getting passengers to move to the back, the usual.
But today, it's a whole different story.
There was a handicapped passenger on board. Now I know why it took so long to arrive, he was probably looking out for this particular passenger while giving attention to other passengers. This passenger wanted to alight and informed the bus driver via the blue button. The bus driver opened the exit door and allowed all able bodied passengers to alight first then exited his seat, told the handicap to wait a while, lifted open the platform, assisted the handicap off the bus and said "Have a nice day!"
Once again, my stop came and he sent me off with his usual farewell and once again, put a smile on my face.
I was impressed with the dedication he had for passengers boarding his bus. I heard a couple of complains from passengers from his consistent call to move to the back and stuff but what he did made a difference to the passengers he cared for. He really take cares of his passengers by ensuring they have space to board, ensuring that the elderly had a place to sit, the handicap do not have so much trouble when traveling by bus. This is what I call performing out of your job scope.
He, indeed, has made a difference to me, motivating me in my goal of helping random people whenever the opportunity rises.
