Door-to-Door Service
Paul is a busdriver for Rochester City Lines, who has become a friend over the years. I first met Paul when he drove the last bus that left from the college, and arrived downtown at the transfer station around 10 p.m. My house was still quite aways from downtown, but I could easily walk to Rochester Methodist Hospital, and take a shuttle bus that drove by my house. Not being a clinic employee, I should not have been allowed to ride the shuttle bus, but what did the bus driver know? I was geting to be a regular.
I confessed this to Paul one night, and he said he would try and get an evening bus to go by my house at night, since I was riding pretty regular. Sure enough, they let Paul continue his route after he stopped downtown to go right past my house. It was great. I got door-to-door service, and some nights, my husband and I would just continue riding the bus and stop at the grocery store for some quiet, late night shopping. One night, Paul said he had to do some shopping too, after he let us off at the store, and he offered to meet us there and take us home after!
Paul has lately begun building his own computers, so when we finally purchased one used from the college, he gave us RAM and a CD burner to install. We offered to pay him, but he was genuinely happy to help us.
When I no longer had night classes, they stopped the night bus that went by my house, but I feel like although I may have lost a ride, I’ve gained a friend.
Apr 25th, 2007 at 9:13 am
I love these sorts of stories. I still occasionally think about the brassy blonde driver who used to drive my express bus home several years ago and would drop me off closer to my building since I was the last stop anyway. What a peach.