Ernie Bastide knows how to move people.
As an Edmonton Transit Service operator, he’s helped hundreds of thousands get to work, school or connect with friends and family.
When he’s not driving the 747 bus to the airport, you’ll find him volunteering as one of the conductors of the High Level Bridge’s historic streetcars. He’s a founding member of the Edmonton Radial Railway Society, which operates the streetcars.
Listening to Bastide talk, it’s easy to be transported by his joy and enthusiasm for his job, his colleagues and his passengers. He’ll mark his 49th year with ETS on September 8, 2024 and has no plans to retire.
“It’s the furthest thing away from my mind,” he says. “I’m having too good of a time.”
He also enjoys talking about the history of ETS and its buses, including the 1960 GMC and the 1939 Leyland Chrysler. Both models are on display as part of the ETS exhibit at KDays until July 28. Archival photos, bus passes, and maps are also on display.
Bastide used to drive one of the 1960 GMC buses in his early days with the transit service. (He now drives a New Flyer, which is owned by a Winnipeg company, the NFI Group, and makes up the majority of today’s ETS fleet.)
Transforming Edmonton chatted with Bastide about his career.
Q: Next year will be your 50th anniversary with ETS. What do you like so much about your job?
A: First off, I work with really, really, really, really, really good people. I have an excellent supervisor. I knew my supervisor’s supervisor when he was a kid—his dad was a bus driver.
Next, I like the people that ride my bus. I do the airport run and I have excellent passengers that ride my bus.
Q: Can you tell me about some of the memorable passengers that stand out for you?
A: Oh, yes. I used to drive the bus by the Cross Cancer Institute. I used to have this lady get on the bus every morning and I’d say, ‘Good morning’ and we’d chit-chat. It’s none of my business where people are going, but we developed a very good friendship.
One day she gets on the bus and she hands me a Thank You card. I say: ‘What’s this for?’ And she says, ‘Well, you made my day, taking me to the Cross, and my husband passed away with cancer.’
I started to cry, she started to cry. It was quite emotional. If you do the right thing, you unknowingly touch people.
Then, of course, I used to drive the #80 bus for many years, and I would do the Avonmore Playschool and all the kids would get on the bus and I’d get them to sing The Wheels on the Bus (Go Round and Round) and stuff like that.
Q: You’ve operated many different bus models over the years … what was the 1960 GMC like to drive?
A: I drove that bus out of Westwood Garage. It was one of the first buses out of Flint, Michigan. At that time, it was state of the art. The Americans called it the “Fishbowl” style because you’ll see that it’s got the humongous windshield.
It was all manual steering and there was no air control on the throttle. When you stepped on the throttle, you were pulling 44 feet of cable to the very back, so your leg or foot would get very, very sore after that. It wasn’t until about 1985 when we started to get buses with power steering.
Q: What kind of features does the 1939 Leyland Chrysler have?
A: Well, the Leyland Chrysler is a standard. I’ve never driven it, but it was bitterly, bitterly cold in the wintertime. The steering and the gear box used to freeze up. And, of course, the seats were horrific. The buses weren’t built for comfort. My bus right now has air conditioning and it’s comfortable. We have absolutely fantastic seats. All the buses have power steering. The heaters for the drivers are excellent.
Q: Buses have made a lot of progress over the years. What other changes stand out?
A: Yes. For example, in 1993 we got our first New Flyer low-floor buses which were wheelchair accessible. All our buses are now wheelchair accessible. It’s a very major improvement for accessibility for people. It makes people more independent.
Q: How does it make you feel to know you’ve made a difference in a lot of people’s lives?
A: I don’t think that way at all. I have a lot of fun at work. I look forward to going to work. I look forward to going into the garage. I love my job so much.
Editor’s note: the pic at the top shows ETS operator Ernie Bastide with a 1939 Leyland Chrysler as part of an ETS display at KDays on July 19, 2024.