This Calgarian made sure he'll never miss the bus again — by buying one

At the Douglasdale bus depot, a Calgary Transit driver slides his window open, and over the noise of two roaring diesel engines, calls out to Nick Blonski. 

"I used to drive that bus," the driver says. "I did the last circle run on one of those buses." 

Blonski is the proud owner of a 1982 General Motors bus nicknamed the "Fishbowl," for its rounded windshield. The retired 40-foot Calgary Transit bus took its last trip in 2011.

"It turns heads all over the place," Blonski said. 

When the pandemic hit and the airline industry went quiet, Blonski, a pilot, had a lot more time on his hands. He drove around Calgary looking for old buses to take pictures of — and maybe even buy. 

Transit enthusiasts like to keep track of trains and buses, trading photos and specs online.

One of his friends mentioned seeing an old Calgary Transit bus with the signature blue and pink striping – so he took off to investigate.

"It was just kind of sitting on an acreage, just rotting away," Blonski said. "We found out that the owner was open to selling it. So I bought it."

The bus cost him about $2,000 when he bought it in 2020.

And while it ran fine, a previous owner had started converting it into a camper – so almost all the blue leather seats were gone. 

Blonski didn't want to convert the bus into a camper, he wanted to restore it.

Finding spare parts and seats from other similar buses, more than a decade after they'd been sold off from Calgary Transit's fleet proved difficult. 

The benches at the back of the bus were impossible to find, so he had to build his own out of plywood and find a perfect colour match before sending them to an upholsterer. 

"I've always been interested in buses since junior high," Blonski said. "Back when I was in high school, these buses of this model were still in service with the city."