Community
30 October, 2024
Farewell after five decades
COBDEN Coaches driver Barry Coverdale will step in to retirement at the end of the year after more than 50 years getting students safely to and from school.
The Camperdown-based bus driver has spent his whole career with Cobden Coaches, in all its various forms, traversing dozens of different bus routes throughout the south west.
He currently drives the Foxhow route, with some of the names of students being quite familiar as he had taken their parents to and from school when they were young.
Mr Coverdale is planning to finish off the year before stepping in to retirement, however, he acknowledged he is happy to help fill in when it’s needed for a time to ensure smooth travelling for his beloved company.
“It’ll be mixed feelings,” he said.
“I’ll be able to sleep in more often but I’ll miss the interactions I have with students and their parents.
“It’s always been good, and I’ll miss the people I work with.
“I’ve got on well with my bosses over the years, all of them, so I’ll miss them too.”
Mr Coverdale said he has originally made the decision to become a bus driver after suffering an illness when he was 21, which prevented him from continuing his work on his parent’s farm.
Driving was a less physically intensive career which better aligned with his post-illness life, and he has since gone on to spend the past 52 years ensuring generations of students safely arrive at their destination.
The names and faces lining the rows of seats have changed almost as frequently as the industry over the decades, as Cobden Coach’s modern fleet of Victorian Government schools contracted busses became more technologically advanced and comfortable.
“I started off driving a 1963 petrol Bedford which didn’t have any heaters or de-misters, and only had vinyl seats which froze you in the winter,” Mr Coverdale said.
“Some of the kids in the winter used to bring hot water bottles to put down their jackets to stay warm.
“The busses now are fully computerised with screens to tell you what’s going on all the time.
“But if the old busses stopped you could usually get them going, on the run even, but the new ones are totally different.”
Mr Coverdale said he has many fond memories over his years, including the not-so-memorable moments.
“I was driving the Stonyford bus run in my first year as a driver,” he said.
“When you had to stop at all the railway crossings, I stopped at the Stonyford crossing one really foggy morning and a car ran into the back of me.
“That was the first year, and it’s about the only drama I’ve had except for a duck flying into the windscreen two or three years ago - smashed the window right in front of me.”
Mr Coverdale said his plans for retirement include travelling, spending more time pursing his hobbies and enjoying a couple of well-deserved sleep-ins.
“I’ll see a bit of Australia,” he said.
“I took two years off after my first bus run and spent some time up at the goldfields so I’d like to go visit there.
“I’m an amateur astronomer and I fly radio-controlled gliders, so I’ll do a bit more of that.”