It’s no secret that mountain routes in the BC Interior can be treacherous to travel during the winter.
No one would know this better than a bus driver who makes the trip often and that was put on full display by an EBus driver before a recent journey on the Connector (Hwy 97C) from Kelowna to Merritt.
Before departing on the evening journey, the driver, now identified through social media as Troy, gives a quick, but touching speech to assure his passengers he will get them there safely.
“It’s bad weather. It’s winter. I don’t care how long it takes me to get over there. All I care about is your safety. That’s it,” he says.
“So if I have to go 30 km/h all the way to Merritt and it takes me five hours to get there, that’s what we’re doing folks, because I’m not going to risk your lives.”
@lexiireid never felt so loved in my life #busdriver #snowfall #connector #coq #vancouver #winter #snowfallwarning #kelowna #merrit #fy #fyp ♬ Aglow (Intro) - Slowed Down Version - Karamel Kel
The moment was recorded and shared to TikTok by @lexiireid, who captioned it with “listen to how much this bus driver cares about us.”
It was clearly appreciated by other passengers as well, as you can hear one of them say “thank you” before the video cuts out.
The video was posted Tuesday night when a winter storm warning was in place for both the Coquihalla (Hwy 5) and Hwy 97C.
A video posted in the Coquihalla Road Reports group by Shaun Ferguson shows just how bad the conditions were on the route that evening.
“Just did the Connector. Stay home. We were convinced we were ahead of the snow. NOPE. White out conditions due to blowing snow,” she explained.
The TikTok user that posted the video confirmed that they made it safely to Merritt after the trip, originally scheduled to depart at 4:20 pm, was delayed for an hour.
Thumbnail photo courtesy of the Coquihalla Road Reports Facebook group. It was not taken from the bus this story is about.
