Country Buses

Country Buses
by
Austin Mitchell
                    
Whatever happened to the old country buses? They used to be our only means of transportation in the old days. One bus ran from Glengoffe to Kingston. It would leave Big Roads in the mornings at about 5.00am. The bus was called Above Rocks Special. It was owned by a man named Kervin. Cyrill Malabre and a man called Mr Will were some of the loaders. The bus would go to Harkers Hall then turn back and head for Kingston. Incidentally, there was a morning bus traveling from Kingston and coming through Above Rocks. It was one of the Blue Mist buses. It went as far as Kellits in Clarendon in the mornings. Students from St. Mary's College usually took it to school in the mornings. Another Blue Mist bus also came up from Kinsgton in the morning, traveling the Stony Hill, Cassava River route. It went through Linstead to Kellits. These routes were often dangerous and the buses had to negotiate break aways and very narrow roads. There were often accidents and people were killed when a bus fell over a gully. Captain Special took over most of the routes in the late seventies and eighties. I remember being on a bus one day. It had rained the day before and there were land slippages. Suddenly the bus started to slide in the mud towards a ravine. All the passengers jumped up out of their seats but the driver bought the bus out of the mud safely. I was in another bus when the driver rammed the truck into huge breadfruit tree. I later heard thaat the steering rod had burst so the driver had no alternative but to ram the truck into the nearest tree.

Some of these country bus drivers and conductors were quite popular with women and young girls living on the bus route. Some of these girls and women even ended up having children for some of these men. Some of these drivers were quite skilled and experienced. The one who were not skilled and experienced were the ones who got into the accidents. I remember a good friend of mine dying in one of these accidents. He thought the bus was going over a ravine and in panic jumped out only to be crushed by the bus. I knew a councillor who died in the last major bus accident in the area. A teacher was also seriously injured.
Austin's blog: stredwick.blogspot.com