Kamloops driver cycles his way to “hero” status with return of lost backpack
It’s always nice for Operators to be recognized by customers and community members through our official feedback channels. But it’s not often that a driver gets a shout out from two different people for the same act! That’s what happens when you not only go above and beyond, but you use an alternative mode of transportation to make it happen.
Brent Cook has been driving the bus in Kamloops for about seven years. When he’s not behind the wheel or keeping up with a busy family, he’s an active person and rides his bike to and from work when possible. On a recent late summer day, his bike just happened to be perfectly located to pedal his way to a good deed.
“I had a bunch of kids and their group leaders that were on a day camp excursion out of Thompson Rivers University, and got off my Route 9 bus downtown,” said Brent Cook. “About three stops later when I got to the Lansdowne Exchange a young man approached me with a pink backpack that someone had left behind, and I knew it had to be one of those kids.”
It just so happened that Brent had his bike in a secured storage area at the exchange, and had a long enough break that he could get a little extra fitness into his day while trying to return the backpack. The challenge for Brent was that he didn’t know their destination when they headed off his bus. So, he hopped on his bike, wearing the misplaced pink backpack, ready for a little mid-morning adventure.
“It was a hot day, so I assumed they’d be heading to the city water park, but they weren’t there, so my next stop was the YMCA, but no luck there either. I headed off again and saw the museum up ahead, and that’s where I found them.”
The kids were already in the middle of their tour, so Brent was able to hand the backpack to the very grateful camp leaders. He laughed when they referred to him as a hero, but he’s a dad, and like all parents realizes how much of a pain it can be for people to retrieve things their kids have left behind. Plus, there was probably a young camper that would really want their lunch! Here are the two Customer Service Reports that came in from this fun incident:
“HUGE shout out to the bus driver of the 9 to downtown route!! He went above and beyond to make sure our summer camp had a good bus ride. One of our campers left their backpack on the bus and he came to the museum and brought it back to her. AMAZING! THANK YOU SO MUCH! Saved from a total melt down!”
“I was working at the Kamloops Museum and Archives, and we had a large group of children that came in right at 9:30 a.m. About 20 minutes after they arrived a guy showed up riding a bicycle. Turns out it was their bus driver, one of the kids had forgotten their backpack on his bus and he thought they might have come into the museum. I am sure this is not in his job description, and after he gets off his shift, this certainly went above and beyond and saved the parents a huge hassle. Kudos to this driver!!!”
It may have been the multi-modal transportation approach that drew more attention to Brent’s actions, but the simple, thoughtful desire to reunite the backpack with the child during a brief break was also really cool and meant a lot to the group.
Brent didn’t have much time to linger at the museum, as he was on the clock and needing to get back to the exchange for his next run!
“At the end of the day, sure enough I come up to a stop and there they all are, ready to head back to TRU after a fun day. We had a good chuckle about it. The whole thing actually made my day. Driving a bus can be a little monotonous and repetitive, so it was really fun for me too.”
