Nanjing’s public buses are making the headlines today, for their benevolent efforts at teaching children in kindergarten the importance of sustainability in urban transport and for helping to reunite a pensioner with a large amount of misplaced cash.
On Tuesday 3 November, Aunty Xu as she is being called, withdrew ¥20,000 in cash from the bank in the evening to buy decoration materials for her home.
At approximately 19:50, Xu was waiting for the no. 81 bus to go home to Zhonghe Qiao, holding a green daypack in which was the money, but she was careless and got on the the no. 84 bus instead, it sharing a stop with the 81.
It was not until the bus reached Majiawei that the vehicle continued straight on, where the bus Xu should have been on would have made a turn. In a panic, Xu alighted the bus at the next stop, leaving her daypack behind, reported the Yangtze Evening News.
Realising she had forgotten it, Xu immediately took a taxi to the terminal stop of the 84; Nanjing South Railway Station. There, her relief was palpable when she discovered her daypack had been collected by the driver, who kept it safe until it could be reunited with its owner.
Xu’s ¥20,000 and various valuable certificates were recovered intact. Such was her excitement that Xu squeezed the driver’s hand and refused to let go. She also wasted no time in calling the 12345 government service hotline to praise the driver’s behaviour, saying that she should send a “red envelope” as a way to express her gratitude.
Elsewhere in Nanjing, over at the Beijing Dong Lu Kindergarten to be specific, children were last week given a treat in the form of a public bus parked in their playground, all in the name of environmental protection.
Nanjing model worker, Guan Jinling, patiently explained the bus company’s green credentials to the young students, outlining the role that clean energy plays in protecting the environment, reported the Yangtze Evening News.
Guan helped instill in the children a desire to be environmental protection guards, finding the process a valuable learning opportunity for herself too.
