The Winnipeg Transit driver who helped an elderly passenger carry her groceries is thanking Winnipeggers for their appreciation of his good deed.
"I am highly thankful to all the Winnipeggers who gave love and honoured my little gesture with such greatness," said Raminder Chahal. "I'm just a normal human and they've given me immense happiness."
"It was a collaborative effort of all the passengers, all the drivers and all my supervisors. They've inspired me to do these things all the time."
"It's truly friendly Manitoba."
Chahal received messages of support from hundreds of people on social media after what he did on his bus route was noticed by a passenger and posted on Facebook.
“He stopped the bus and got out of his seat during rush hour traffic,” said Amber Therrien, who rides Winnipeg Transit’s Route 43 home to Elmwood each day from work near Kildonan Place.
Therrien said it happened last Thursday at around 4:30 p.m.
“I was confused about what (the driver) was doing until I saw him picking up a carton of eggs and start walking off the bus.”
Therrien said she watched as the driver carried an elderly woman’s groceries from the bus all the way to the front door of her apartment.
“She was an older lady and had a cane and was a very slow walker too,” Therrien explained.
“I don’t really know how she would have gotten all those groceries there otherwise.”
She posted a photo with an explanation of what she saw on Facebook. The post has since been shared hundreds of times, reaching thousands of people.
One of those people who saw the gesture online was Chahal.
Therrien said Chahal introduced himself on Facebook to thank her for sharing what she saw.
“My eyes are filled,” Chahal said in a message to Therrien. “Thanking you from the core of my heart.”
Therrien said she has seen bus drivers do nice things before, but never to this extent.
She believes what Chahal did was going above and beyond his job.
“The bus driver seems like a very humble man who would've likely just went home at the end of the day and not mentioned it to anyone,” Therrien said. “I love that he's being recognized.”
-With files from Emad Agahi
