by Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services

NNSL (Oct 01/97) - City bus driver Jane Stevens says people are the best cargo.

And as the cooler weather sets in, the bus is expected to get busier, she said.

"I prefer a full bus," she said. "I think driving has more of a purpose when you're transporting people, as opposed to driving a rig."

"It's more meaningful than long-haul cargo."

Though common in other cities, women bus drivers are a rarity in Yellowknife.

Stevens may be one of only two women ever to drive a Yellowknife city bus.

"Some people are surprised to see a woman driving a city bus in Yellowknife," she said. "They're used to women driving school buses but not city buses."

She also does charter work, which includes a lot of Japanese tourists wanting to see the Northern Lights.

"I take them out to Prelude (Lake) to see the aurora," she said.

"They're ever so polite," she noted. "You could hear a pin drop."

When Stevens came to Yellowknife in February from B.C., she first worked as a school bus driver.

During the summer she did some holiday relief driving city buses then became one of four full-time city bus drivers.

Stevens drives six days a week for Arctic Frontier Carriers Ltd., working a split shift.

She is one of four city bus drivers for Arctic which runs four city buses over three routes.

Raised in Vancouver, Stevens has lived in Trinidad and Montreal.

In Vancouver, work was hard to come by because of the competition, so Stevens hitched a ride to Yellowknife with a friend.

Prior to coming to the North, Stevens had returned home to Vancouver after living in the U.K. for 11 years, working in catering.