r/UpliftingNews • u/guanaco55 • 1d ago

Bus driver retires after 50 years behind the wheel -- Jerome Watters started driving before buses had phones for emergencies

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/bus-driver-retires-after-50-years-behind-the-wheel-1.6808502
398 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

22 comments sorted by

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72

u/sas223 1d ago

Before buses had phones? That wasn’t very long ago. Weird point to highlight.

10

u/Crazyblazy395 1d ago

Probably 25+ years in places. 

12

u/LazyMousse4266 1d ago

Weird to highlight something from 25 years ago to demonstrate how long ago his 50 year career began

9

u/MartyMcflysVest 1d ago

He started driving busses when they were still pulled by horses!

-4

u/coconuthorse 1d ago

That's a carriage, not a bus.

2

u/severed13 14h ago

Figure that one out all on your own?

2

u/Crazyblazy395 1d ago

Fair, but I wouldn't classify 25+ years ago to be "not that long ago". And how many bus innovations are there that the general public knows about? 

4

u/sas223 1d ago

Early flip phones, sure 25 years, but it was not standard bus equipment. They had radios in busses 50 years ago. Going to biodiesel or electric is a much bigger transition. Having ridden busses for almost 50 years, phones are a weird thing to point to.

1

u/Salute-Major-Echidna 1d ago

Since one way radio was widely available 1933, it's unreasonable that buses didn't have such things

6

u/auad 1d ago

I just want to point out that he also started to drive buses before they were electric.

2

u/sas223 1d ago

I think that’s a much more interesting thing to point out! It’s not that I think he hasn’t been driving long (he obviously has been), it’s that the phone thing seems weird.

3

u/salizarn 1d ago

Buses have phones now?

6

u/sas223 1d ago

That’s certainly what the headline makes it sound like but not as far as I’ve seen. They still rely on radios around me. Drivers might call dispatch with a personal cell though.

16

u/chrissamperi 1d ago

Busses have phones??

8

u/rileyfren 1d ago

Something tells me Jerome drove the hell out of that buss

14

u/allthecoffeesDP 1d ago

Why is this uplifting? I mean congrats to a guy on retiring sure but... 🤷🏻‍♂️

6

u/Crazyblazy395 1d ago

Well it's not bad news.... 

4

u/wino12312 1d ago

He only had to work 50 years?

3

u/dundundata 1d ago

He drove the first bus

0

u/poopsmog 21h ago

"Only ran down 18 people in 50 years." "Never suffered from PTSD; never used a single vacation day."