After meeting on the bus, this group is marking a decade of friendship

When Carol Hamilton started taking the bus to work from Quispamsis, she wasn't sure it would last.

She even hung onto her uptown Saint John parking spot a hot commodity just in case.

Showing her bus passes for a tax break seemed appealing, but she never imagined finding friendship.

"People used to feel sorry for me taking the bus, offered me drives home, and I'd say, 'No that's OK,I gotta go check in with my bus peeps, I'm OK taking the bus,'" Carol said with a laugh as she spoke with the CBC's Maritime Noon.

This group met in a bus and are celebrating their decade-long friendship

5 years ago

Duration 1:22

The self-dubbed B52s met taking the #52 Kennebecasis Valley Comex bus to uptown Saint John and celebrate their friendship twice a year. Photos by Sarah Kierstead.

The self-dubbed B52s gelled over the past 10 years on the No. 52 Kennebecasis Valley Comex bus to uptown Saint John.

Many have now moved on from the bus route, relocating, switching jobs or retiring, but they meet up twice a year.

CBC commissioned Fredericton photographer Sarah Kierstead to capture their friendship. B52s member Eileen Holmes arranged a special surprise for the group to celebrate its 10-year anniversary, in co-operation with Saint John Transit.

They sent out the No. 52 bus with their former (and longtime) bus driver Doug Creamer, who's now on a different run. The group had the bus to themselves to sit and chat before heading out to supper.

Eileen Holmes started taking the bus in 2010 like Carol, after taking advantage of an incentive called Retire Your Ride. If you got rid of an old vehicle, you'd getone year of bus passes on Saint John Transit.

She and her husbandhad two vehicles at the time, so she said goodbye to a 1992 Buick they had from her father-in-law.

Her first day on the No. 52 she struck up a great conversation with the woman next to her.

"When I got home that night I said to my husband, 'I think I'm gonna like this bus,'" she said.

There were 14 people at the height of the group, and they came from all different fields. They worked in business, for the federal and provincial governments, and for non-profits.

Carol couldn't read or work on the bus because she'd get sick, so she sat up in the front, where it definitely wasn't quiet.

Chatting after work was a way to decompress before going home, she said.

"Some people had a good day, some people had a bad day, but we almost always had laughs all the way home," she said.

A lot of memories were made on that bus.

"There are some stories that we cannot share," laughed Eileen," but there are good stories."

One snowy and icy day, a car was stuck in front of the bus on a small hill on Crown Street in Saint John. Some people on the bus got off to help push it up the hill.

"I think we cheered after that, too," Eileen said.

Another time, a woman they didn't recognize was on the bus holding helium balloons. She explained her husband was a regular passenger and he was retiring that day. When they picked up her husband up at his stop, everyone on the bus sang For He's a Jolly Good Fellow.

"It was a real party atmosphere on the bus," Eileen said.

When Eileen retired in 2015, a non-bus friend bought her an articulated toy bus. She put "retirement express" on the front, and a photo of Eileen in the driver's seat.

"She knew what pleasure bus 52 brought to me," Eileen said.

Eileen turned it into a trophy of sorts.

When Carol retired in 2017, Eileen moved her own photo back to being a passenger on the busand put a picture of Carol in the driver's seat. The tradition continued for B52 group member Valerie Grotenhuis.

It's clear that a special connection was made throughhappenstance and circumstance.

"If it hadn't been for that experience, none of our paths would have crossed," Carol said.

This story is part of a series on friendships across the East Coast.We want to hear your stories. Tell us about a unique, unusual or happenstance connection made in a new place. That could be a new neighbourhood, city or maybe you made fast friends at a coffee shop you've never been to before. Email natalie.dobbin@cbc.ca