Wheels on the Bus

Of all the reasons to go to the RVA Street art Festival, and there are many, one of the very best is oral history.

Since this year's event is happening at the former GRTC bus depot, the exhibit is a natural.

So on opening day, I decided to have a look and listen before things got too crowded.

I'll definitely be back to check out the progress of the murals, but today I had a goal.

Walking around, I only saw three people I knew- one painter, one organizer, one culture-lover - but lots of artists already busy painting on the sides of the bus sheds.

I was asked to complete an unbelievably short survey by the high speed transit folks and shown on graphs how my answers compared with other festival-goers.

Duty done, I found what I'd come for: "Driving Richmond: Stories and Portraits of GRTC Bus Drivers," set up in a shady shed that looked cleaner than any of the others.

Maybe that was due to the vacuum cleaner I spotted in the center of the cavernous building.

Hung on the walls were photographs and text from long-time bus drivers about their memories and careers driving.

First takeaway: our bus drivers are a diverse bunch from myriad backgrounds.

Farmers, New Yorkers, college graduates, Vietnam veterans.

Second takeaway: there are way more benefits to driving a bus than had ever occurred to me.

Driver Deborah Hopkins got a role in the film "Finnegan Begin Again" because the director was so taken with her glowing smile.

CEO Eldridge Coles began by sweeping floors and moved up the ladder to being the big cheese.

He also met his wife on the 32 Ginter Park route 42 years ago by talking to her when she got on the bus.

According to his history, they're still talking. "Most of the time."

There's the sense of humor I expect most, if not all, GRTC bus drivers must have to fully enjoy their jobs.

Harry West also met his wife while driving a bus, in his case the Main Street 13 line, but his opening line wasn't terribly smooth.

He asked her if she was wearing a wig. "It was the wrong thing to say," he admits now.

You think, Harry?

Several of the bus drivers mentioned memories of the blizzard of '96, conjuring up memories of my own.

There are speakers set up next to the photographs and written stories and randomly, a bus driver's voice will come on saying a line of his or her story.

It's a very cool way to get even more of a sense of the person.

Many of the drivers have been working for GRTC for decades, but not all of them.

Driver Sheronda Hill, who only graduated in 1998, recalled riding the bus as a child and the differences she sees now as a driver.

The biggest change, she says, is now there are apartments downtown so she passes people walking their dogs on Broad Street.

"It's the strangest thing I've seen this year," she says.

Bus drivers have seen it all and the exhibit shares their take on it, one most of us would never know otherwise.

It's the don't-miss gem of the RVA Street Festival.

Don't say I didn't tell you.