The ATA Bus Driver That Plays The Bagpipes

Tosspot · Post by **Tosspot** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 6:11 pm

Have any of you heard of that Metro Bus driver that plays the bagpipes on his layovers?

He's been on the news a few times.

carfreekc · Post by **carfreekc** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 9:31 pm

His name is Charlie, and he's one of my favorite drivers. He's been playing the bagpipes on layovers for years, but it never gets old to me.

KCPowercat · Post by **KCPowercat** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 10:20 pm

yeah I've taken his route a few times.....seemed to do the #51 a lot.

Tosspot · Post by **Tosspot** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 10:37 pm

A confession...

Charlie, the busdriver is my dad actually. Hehee.

He does drive the 51 Ward Parkway, which is a godsend for him, he gets the pick of the routes due to his seniority of being with the ATA over thirty years. Before he had the #51 route he was on Troost, and he absolutely hated it.

There was some piece narrated by James Earl Jones that aired nationally that talked about my dad. There was also a documentary recently about Kansas City bus culture, that he's in for like five seconds. He plays the resident bagpiper, while the resident ATA yodeler trade jibes at each others' respective hobbies.

hethj7 · Post by **hethj7** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 10:55 pm

Cool. I was just on the KCATA website checking routes from dowtown to Ward Parkway. Maybe next spring your dad will be playing the bagpipes for me and shuffling me off to work

Post by **staubio** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 12:38 pm

I was walking to dinner the other night and saw him playing for the first time. I think he has been my driver before but I've never seen him play. It was indeed the #51 route.

Awesome that he does that and draws attention to the bus. I love how he hops off, plays for 5 minutes and hops back on.

carfreekc · Post by **carfreekc** » Sun Sep 19, 2004 3:01 pm

Tosspot wrote: the resident ATA yodeler

And here's the resident bus driver yodeler, Gary:

http://www.darkhorsekc.com/kirkland.htm

It's a really good CD.

Post by **staubio** » Wed Nov 17, 2004 3:39 pm

I think he was my driver last night. He was talking about his son and his urban planning passions and his displeasure for sprawl.

Yup, sounds like Tosspot alright.

We talked about MAX for awhile and he said that the ATA doesn't tell him anything. How nice. I wish I had millions and I could start a competitive bus system that could take over.

Tosspot · Post by **Tosspot** » Fri Nov 19, 2004 4:49 pm

staubio wrote:I think he was my driver last night. He was talking about his son and his urban planning passions and his displeasure for sprawl.

Yup, sounds like Tosspot alright.

We talked about MAX for awhile and he said that the ATA doesn't tell him anything. How nice. I wish I had millions and I could start a competitive bus system that could take over.

Whoa! How could I have missed this one! Yeah must have been my dad. Small world ain't it.

Brooksider · Post by **Brooksider** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 7:03 pm

Toss. Your dad was in the Star today.

Tosspot · Post by **Tosspot** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 7:06 pm

Brooksider wrote:Toss. Your dad was in the Star today.

Hehee, indeed. We went to breakfast today and he brought in the paper to show me.

ComandanteCero · Post by **ComandanteCero** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 7:51 pm

i think your dad was pictured in this month's Art Review too, it was like the last page of the magazine

Tosspot · Post by **Tosspot** » Sun Nov 21, 2004 9:14 pm

ComandanteCero wrote:i think your dad was pictured in this month's Art Review too, it was like the last page of the magazine

Cero, thanks for informing me of that, as I don't believe my dad knew about it either. Anyway, just came back from Barnes & Noble to buy it.