In Front of the Yellow Line

My Superpowers

By Shawn Wells

Did you know that I have a superpower? Not very many people know this, but I figured it was time to come clean and let the world know. Do you want to know what it is? Frankly, I’m going to tell you anyway, otherwise that would defeat the entire purpose of a blog. So, if you answered “no” to my question, I guess you need to stop reading.

Ok. Confession time. I have the power of invisibility. Neat, huh?

This week in particular puts it more into perspective than normal. I’ve mentioned in the past that people tend to ignore the driver when they are on the bus. But that isn’t the only time I’m invisible. That’s why I mention this week specifically. This week in my city is Rodeo Week. Because the Canadian Finals Rodeo is in town, that means I am allowed to wear “western wear.” This is one of those perks I look forward to. One week in the year where I don’t have to wear my uniform. Sure, it’s nice to have a job where I don’t have to plan my wardrobe every morning, but these breaks from the uniform are nice. It’s just like the perk we get where we are allowed to wear hockey jerseys for our local NHL or WHL team when they play at home. Or to show support for our local CFL team by wearing a their football jersey during game days as well. I look at these days, firstly as a fan. But second, as approximately 60 days a year that I can wear something different to work.

I’ve gotten off on a tangent. The point to all this expository information is to help illustrate my point. When I get to one of my layovers, I can step off my bus and blend into the crowd. You see, if I sit in my drivers seat at a layover, I become the target of an endless barrage of questions. “What time does the #4 bus come?” “Do you go to such and such place?” “Do you leave before that bus?” And so on. Yes, this is part of my job, but sometimes it is nice to have the break. I can get out to stretch my legs while wearing a hockey jersey or western wear and no one sees me. It’s refreshing to be invisible sometimes.

However, that isn’t the only time I’m invisible. Sometimes I can be in my full uniform and still not be seen. People getting on the bus can get so lost in their own world and routine, they don’t even notice the driver as they get on. The best example of this is a friend of mine. Someone I actually know outside of work. She has been on my bus on four different occasions and has only noticed me once. I’ve even used her name to greet her when she gets on, but she has still only noticed me once. Hilarious really. And she isn’t the only friend that has done this.

I’ve also had the other situation where I see one of my regular passengers somewhere other than a bus, when I’m not in uniform and they have no clue who I am. I’ve carried on long conversations with these people and all I get is a blank stare when I say Hi.

Realizing that I have the  power of invisibility, it got me thinking. If I could fall into a vat of toxic waste and emerge with other superpowers, what would I want them to be? What else would benefit me in my job?  Well, the first and biggest power that would help would be mind reading. Just like Professor Xavier for the X-men, the ability to read my passenger’s minds would be so useful sometimes. Quite often I will pull up to a stop to pick up a passenger and someone will get off the bus without ringing the stop request bell. So, if I hadn’t stopped there to pick up, they would’ve missed their stop. Also, I’ve mentioned before that when I drive down the street I have to be fairly aware of body language of people waiting for the bus. Many times, instead of acknowledging the bus and shaking their head or waving me past, people will just stare straight ahead. The amount of times I’ve pulled into a stop and opened my door just to have no one get on, would make this power more than worth it. It would be a real time saver.

Another useful power would be super speed, just like the Flash. It would make it easier to use the bathroom on short layovers. Or sometimes, I get to the end of my shift and I have another driver taking over my bus, I can end up stuck in my seat for an extra few minutes while the thick, steady stream of passengers gets on and off. But if I had super speed, I could beat the passengers off the bus. It would also mean less commute time for me. Just like everyone else who works outside of their home, I still have to get to my place of work. There are 4 different garages to work out of in my city, but for me, the one I live closest to is one of the most popular to work out of. It’s the newest and shiniest, plus it is closed on weekends, so if you work out of that garage you are guaranteed Saturday and Sundays off. The garage I instead work out of is the next closest to me but still a 20-25 minute drive away. If I had super speed, my commute would take a matter of seconds.

Maybe teleportation, like Nightcrawler from X-men, would be even better. Especially if I could transfer the power to objects around me. Imagine being on a bus, stuck in rush hour traffic and having a bus driver that can just teleport the bus to the other side of the line-up of cars. No more people upset that they’ve missed their connection by a couple minutes… at least on my bus. However, that being said, I would lose some of the fun that comes with the journey. I had one passenger recently that asked what time I get to my final destination. She obviously didn’t like my answer and was in a bigger hurry to get there. So she asked where my next timing point was and phoned a cab to meet her at that stop. I then got to play a real life version of the tortoise and the hare. In this case, slow and steady ALMOST won the race. Her cab ended up beating me to where she wanted to go by about 30 seconds. There was a small satisfaction to the fact that this extremely impatient woman paid 3 times the amount of bus fare to get to her destination less than a minute early. Who am I kidding… It was a large satisfaction. Sometimes patience is all you need folks. Teleportation would’ve taken away my thrill that day.

Superman’s X-ray vision would be a handy power. When my bus is packed, it would be useful to see through the wall of bodies to see who is trying to get off the bus. Sometimes there is a lot of guesswork involved. The mirrors I have only do so much, but seeing through people is definitely not something they do. Or, the other reason vision powers would help is seeing bus passes. Some people will hold their passes or transfers at such impossible angles, or keep them in sleeves that are hard to see through that it would help to be able to get a clearer look. I’m sure some of these things are done intentionally to disguise expired or counterfeit passes.

I think these would all be the most useful superpowers to have for my job. Sure, there others that could also work. Super strength or impervious skin would give myself (and my loved ones) peace of mind while I’m at work. Although, I have yet to feel threatened at work, it is always a possibility. Assaults have happened on busses. Flight, laser eyes, walking through walls… all fun, but not as necessary in the case of a bus driver. But really, if I had any of these superpowers, I probably wouldn’t be a bus driver anymore. I enjoy my job but come on… superpowers.

But for now I’ll just have to stick with my power of invisibility. Camouflage can be enough some days.

From in front of the yellow line, that’s how I see it.