RETIRING bus driver Trevor Clements reckons kids these days have got it easy. When Mr Clements was in primary school, at Allynbrook, he rode a horse to school, a distance of three miles from his family’s farm at Gresford.
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This week he undertook his final journey at the helm of a Hunter Valley Bus from Gresford to Maitland, a bus route he has been driving for 43 years.
When Mr Clements first signed on with the bus company, on February 1, 1973, he thought it would be a temporary job.
“There weren’t many jobs around, so I just took it,” Mr Clements said.
“It suited me, I left the bus at Gresford and it was my company car.”
But before long he discovered he actually enjoyed the job and over the years got to know his passengers well.
“One girl used to bring me out a coffee every morning, that was a highlight,” he said.
On the job he has got to watch generations of children grow up, from kinder to year 12.
“When they grew up they would come and say, ‘How you going Trevor?’ and you wouldn’t know them cause they’d changed so much,” he said.
The job also saw him become an advocate for social justice when passengers lodged a complaint about a regular who took his bus.
“I used to cart a chap and he was blind, his dog used to come on with him and sit under the seat,” he said.
“He knew where to get on and off.”
But the bus company received a complaint about the dog on the bus.
“I have never forgot that, this man was never any trouble. I couldn’t get over that someone would try to kick him off.”
Mr Clements spoke up and the dog was allowed to continue to ride on the bus with his owner.
Over the years he has seen many changes. When he first started, busses had no air-conditioning, no power steering and the double-deckers didn’t even have doors.
Bus fares from Maitland to Gresford went from 33 cents to $1.40 and back down again, a little.
The invention of mobile phones also made the job easier for Mr Clements, who used to have to walk to a pay phone if his bus ever broke down.
He said he never crashed the bus, although he did lose a couple of side mirrors.
In 43 years he only ever slept in once.
“I was about 15 minutes late, but by the time I got to Maitland I was only five minutes late, so no-one ever knew,” he said.
Mr Clements said he had “no regrets” about a career behind the wheel.
Mr Clements’ retirement plans include community work and building up the family farm, which has been waiting for him for 43 years.