The Cats Who Ride a
Bus
Bus drivers have nicknamed a white
cat Macavity after it has started using the No 331
several mornings a
week. The feline, which has a purple collar, gets onto
the busy Walsall
to Wolverhampton bus at the same stop most mornings -
he then jumps off
at the next stop 400m down the road, near a fish and
chip shop. The cat
was nicknamed Macavity after the mystery cat in T.S
Elliot's poem. He
gets on the bus in front of a row of 1950s
semi-detached houses and
jumps off at a row of shops down the road which
include a fish and chip
shop. The cat, nicknamed Macavity, has one blue eye and one green eye Driver Bill Khunkhun, 49, who first saw the cat jumping from the bus in January, said: "It is really odd, the first time I saw the cat jumping off the bus with a group of passengers. I hadn't seen it get on which was a bit confusing. The next day I pulled up on Churchill Road to let a couple of passengers on. As soon as I opened the doors the cat ran towards the bus, jumped on and ran under one of the seats, I don't think any of the passengers noticed. Because I had seen it jump off the day before I carried on driving and sure enough when I stopped just down the road he jumped off -- I don't know why he would catch the bus but he seems to like it. I told some of the other drivers on this route and they have seen him too." Since January 2007, when the cat first caught the bus he has done it two or three times a week and always gets on and off at the same stops. Passenger, Paul Brennan, 19, who catches the 331 to work, said: "I first noticed the cat a few weeks ago. At first I thought it had been accompanied by its owner but after the first stop it became quite clear he was on his own. "He sat at the front of the bus, waited patiently for the next stop and then got off. It was was quite strange at first but now it just seems normal. I suppose he is the perfect passenger really - he sits quietly, minds his own business and then gets off." Macavity, the cat who rides a bus |
For
4 years, Casper hopped on the bus around 10 am
every morning
and sat on the back seat throughout its entire 11
mile route. The
feline would travel around his home city of
Plymouth, Devon, for up to
an hour before arriving back at the same stop.
During his regular trips the 12-year-old cat passed an historic dockyard and naval base, a city centre, several suburbs and a red light district. He took his daily rides for so long that all First Bus drivers were told to look out for him to ensure he got off at the right stop. Owner Susan said: "I called him Casper because he had a habit of vanishing like a ghost. But then some of the drivers told me he had been catching the bus. I couldn't believe it at first, but it explained a lot. He loved people and we have a bus stop right outside our house so that must be how he got started. He'd queue up in line good as gold - it'd be 'person, person, person, cat, person, person'." A spokesman for First Bus added: "He'd just curl up at the back of the bus. He never caused any trouble." After an estimated 20,000 miles on the bus, on January 19, 2010, Casper was killed crossing the road to catch his daily ride. Casper, the cat who rode a bus |
Ginger
tom Dodger makes frequent round trips of up to
10 miles from Bridgeport to Charmouth in Dorset,
UK - on a bus.
The 15-year-old sits
on passengers’ laps - or on the warm seats
after they exit the bus. |