I no longer own a bus.
I had this epiphany while I was painting… it’s about two hours of solitude and I’ve come to the conclusion; I no longer own a bus. You see in Ontario you have to have three requirements to change your bus into a passenger vehicle that you can drive with a standard G licence.
They are; you must remove all the ‘bus stuff’ like lettering, name of the company, the stop arm on the driver side and the big stick on the front. Remove all the seats allowing for only 9 passenger plus yourself in the vehicle. Lastly you must paint it a different colour than the school bus yellow. Once you have done that and had a safety, you’ll be given a white and blue license plate just like everyone else.
So, why do you tell everyone you have a ‘bus’? You don’!
Years ago many would buy old Volkswagen Beetles and change them into Dune Buggy’s. You never heard them say they owned a Volkswagen Bug. People would buy the same bug and add a motorcycle to the front but would never ever call it a beetle. So why do we keep telling everyone we own a bus?
I worked in an industry where perception is everything. If you are having issues getting insurance, it’s likely because you are starting the conversation with “I own a bus and …” No you don’t.
If you were on a first date you would never start the conversation with “… I used to be a hooker”… You would wait for some time and if it came up in conversation you would address then if need be but it’s not the first thing out of your mouth.
So, today, I don’t own a bus… I own an RV.