Casper the Commuting Cat: The True Story of the Cat Who Rode the Bus and Stole Our Hearts

CHAPTER 16

Five Minutes of Fame

When I opened the newspaper on Wednesday, 29 July 2009, I could hardly believe my eyes. Casper was in the Plymouth Herald after all, a few days later than we’d anticipated. Of course, I’d spoken with Edd; I’d known that he was going to write the story, but seeing it in black and white made everything real. There was my Cassie in the paper where all of Plymouth could read about his adventures. I later found out that because there had been an ongoing story about a different bus company that had taken over the headlines for a few days, they had thought it best to leave another bus story until there was more space. Now that time had come.

It felt surreal to see Cassie’s story plastered over the pages of the Plymouth Herald. Edd’s article read:

Carefree commuter Casper is a regular passenger

Meet Casper, the commuting cat who’s fast becoming a celebrity on Plymouth buses. Regular users of First’s number 3 service may recognize the fluffy feline, who has been driving his owner up the wall with his constant trips to the city centre.

The adventurous cat politely queues behind other passengers at the bus stop outside his Barne Barton home, then quietly trots on board and curls up on a seat for the ride. But far from causing mischief he has proved a hit with drivers and customers alike, who always make sure he returns home safely.

Casper’s journey takes him from just outside his house in Poole Park Road to the final stop at Royal Parade and back, via St Budeaux Square, HMS Drake, Keyham, Devonport and Stonehouse.

His owner Susan Finden has only just found out about his antics – but First Group have been bussing Casper around for months.

Susan, who picked him out of a rescue home in 2002, said he had always been a free spirit; she named him Casper after the cartoon ghost when he immediately started giving her and husband Christopher the runaround with regular ‘disappearing acts’.

The 65-year-old care worker said: ‘He’d always go off and have a wander Once I had to walk a mile and a half with a cat basket to bring him back from a car park.

‘He does love people, and I don’t know what the attraction is but he loves big vehicles like lorries and buses.

‘We think he must have come from a travellers’ site or a haulage yard because he’s not scared of loud vehicles at all – or dogs.

‘We think he’s about 12 years old but he has no road sense whatsoever; he just runs out across the road to the bus stop.’

Susan found out about Casper’s regular 11-mile round trips when he followed her to the bus stop one morning, avoiding passing vehicles by a whisker.

‘The driver told me he gets on all the time,’ she said. ‘I couldn’t believe it.

‘He queues up in line with people and just sits patiently in the queue good as gold – it’ll be “Person, person, person, cat, person, person.”

‘He seems to be picking First buses rather than the Citybus ones, but we don’t know why.

‘When the drivers do their turnaround they’ll all check the bus and if he’s on there they make sure he stays on for the return trip. Then local people will take him off when he gets to the right stop.

‘I’m really appreciative to all the drivers for making sure he gets home safely; I’d hate to lose him.’

First’s Karen Baxter said the firm had put a notice up in the drivers’ rest room asking them to look after the rogue passenger if they spotted him sneaking on.

One female driver even has a photo of Casper on the desktop of her computer.

Ms Baxter said the company had no plans to charge him for his trips.

In cat years he’s an OAP so he’d get a free bus pass anyway,’ she said, ‘and I’m not sure we’d feel comfortable selling a cat a Rover ticket.’

Driver Rob Stonehouse added: ‘He usually just curls up at the back of the bus. Sometimes he nips between people’s legs but he never causes any trouble.’

Casper would not tell The Herald the reason for his trips.

Edd’s article had certainly done Casper justice, and I was delighted to see that Karen from First had also spoken to him. Everyone was being so friendly and supportive in their comments. Casper had stayed in that morning – perhaps he sensed that something was afoot – and once I’d read the article myself, I read it again to him. He seemed totally disinterested, but I was very proud of him ‘You must be careful if you get the bus today, Cassie,’ I told him. ‘You might be mobbed by autograph hunters!’

I had a few friends call me up and we all joked about my celebrity cat. They asked whether I’d be getting him a minder when he made his trips to ensure that he always got the seat he wanted and wasn’t hassled by his public. It felt lovely to have such warmth directed at my cat, and later that day I thought that I would look at the article on the Internet just to see his little face there too. I logged onto the Plymouth Herald’s website and was absolutely amazed when, as I scrolled to the bottom of the screen, I saw all the comments that people had left. Edd later told me that most stories get about ten messages on the board from readers, but Casper had more than a dozen times that already.

Dee from Crawley said, ‘I loved the Casper story. Thank you for putting a smile on my face and in my heart.’

Another local lady commented; This is so cute ... I am allergic to cats and dogs but wouldn’t mind Casper sitting near me even if I did spend the rest of the day sneezing!’

One person was quick to see that, while it may have been odd, it was still a story that showed the good hearts of so many: ‘This article has put the biggest smile on my face! What a lovely story, and good on the bus company for keeping the little guy safe! He can happily have a seat next to me any day! Big smiles Plymouth, it’s nice to see we still have a big furry heart!’

In addition to the sheer number of messages, I was amazed by how many were from outside Plymouth. I’d thought this story would be a local one, but the way that people can access news from anywhere in the world these days had put paid to that.

One lady, Marjanna from Toronto in Canada, said, ‘I love this story, made my day! Go Casper, go!’

Sheila from Los Angeles joined in to comment, ‘I love this story – a very cool cat. Animals are the best!’

Maybe these people were ex-pats who always checked the local paper and that explained why there were so many comments from abroad, or maybe we really were part of a global community now. It got stranger the further I read down the page. There were people commenting from all over the globe, as well as so many locals who said that they knew Casper, that he had frequently been on the bus with them and that sometimes he had even sat on their laps. One lady made a video that looked like Casper was singing ‘The Wheels on the Bus’ and put it on You Tube, where it received over ten thousand hits.

This little cat of mine had a whole other life. Now that he was quickly becoming a celebrity, I hoped that I would find out even more about his adventures. If people knew that they hadn’t imagined seeing a cat on the bus beside them as they went to work or into town, perhaps they would let me know how far he went, what he got up to or anything else that would help me complete the jigsaw.

Some people – although very few – made negative comments, usually about the health and hygiene issues of allowing a cat on public transport. That made me cross. Were they perfect? Did they think that all the people who got on a bus were shining examples of cleanliness? However, before I could get too annoyed, I noticed that others were making these arguments for me, and plenty of readers were sticking up for Casper’s right to travel.

Life is short stop moaning and groaning. All God’s creatures are precious and this is a lovely story about a cat who just wants some excitement, attention and a dry day out of the rain. Thanks, Casper, for putting a smile on millions of readers’ faces if only for a second before they turn the page and read what the moanies and groanies thrive on.

JJ of Devon

Another local commented: ‘I can’t believe you people moaning about a cat catching a bus. Is that all your sad lives revolve around? I can’t believe people are moaning about having to pay 50p for their dog – come on, are you that tight? Keep it up, Casper, enjoy yourself!’

The friendly comments were lovely, but there was also something really heart-warming about these complete strangers taking Casper’s side. People were saying how happy they felt to read a story like this, because it was a welcome break from what usually hits the headlines. When I spoke to Edd at a later date, he said that this was what he had felt from the outset too. It had been a normal day at work for him, and he needed something to balance the crime and horrible recession tales, so the notion of a cat who rode the bus seemed quirky. How was he to know what would happen next?

As Casper’s travels were being read about all over Plymouth and online across the globe, he was also grabbing the attention of Fleet Street. National newspapers were picking up on the story, and it had even been noticed by the Press Association, who sell articles to pretty much every media outlet. I, of course, knew nothing about this side of things – yet. The day passed in a bit of a blur. I spent the day answering calls and emails from friends and family about Casper, and I read the story to him again. He showed very little interest the second time round too; I suppose he already knew it all first-hand. I gave him an extra cuddle that night for being such a good boy while all of this was going on around him. When I settled him in for the evening, I whispered, ‘There you go, Cassie, that’s all the excitement over. You can just go back to your normal little trips now you’ve had your five minutes of fame.’

Who would have known how naive my words were? You’d think I’d have learned by now, but as I went to bed that evening, I had no idea what we were both in for the next day.