A very special thank you note to all the kind folks at OC Transpo

By Christopher Hunt

hunt0256@algonquincollege.com

I saw a man waiting at a bus stop yesterday.  His cheeks were fiery red from the icy wind, and he was shuffling from toe to toe in an effort to keep warm.  Every few seconds he’d stare intently into on-coming traffic, thinking that maybe somewhere in the sea of lights was his bus coming to spirit him out of the cold.

Apparently nobody bothered to tell him that there was a transit strike.

 I can only imagine what his reaction will be when he finds out, but if it were me I’d be very forgiving because OC Transpo has made me a better person.  You read that right - a better person.

• After riding the Ottawa transit system, I no longer find public restrooms dirty. 

• I’m no longer intimidated by frostbite. 

• I have learned that if you’re unionized, you don’t necessarily have to be pleasant to the people you serve.

• I now appreciate the circumstances revolving around the movie Alive.  There was a time last winter where I had spent so long waiting for my bus that I thought it was never going to come.  Surrounded by snow and intense cold, I feared for my life.  During this time I looked at the other people waiting for the bus and decided that if I had to, I could eat another person to survive.

• I no longer regret underachieving in high school.  The transit system in Ottawa is on schedule about 70 per cent of the time, which is what I strove for back then. Of course I realize that 70 per cent isn’t an efficiency rate all professions should be happy with.  I wouldn’t want to go in for an operation and suffer the following conversation: “Good day Mr. Hunt.  The good news is I’ve done this operation a million times.  In fact, you’re the tenth patient I’ve had today.  Bad news is I’ve only lost two.

• OC Transpo has instilled in me the notion that there will always be hard decisions to make, such as:  “Do I sit beside the old lady who is talking to herself and smells like wet dog, or do I stand beside the guy that smells like body odour who is talking to everybody?”

• Every time I ride the bus I live my childhood dream of being a fighter pilot; with the acceleration to speeds that threaten to defy gravity followed by stops so sudden you risk serious injury from whiplash.

Even though the shuffling man will likely be furious after waiting in sub-zero weather for a bus that won’t show, I say he shouldn’t be.

Thanks to the service we’ve grown accustomed to from OC Transpo, the people of Ottawa should be used to being left out in the cold.