Casper The Commuting Cat: The True Story Of The Cat Who Rode The Bus And Stole Our Hearts

I wanted to thank all the First bus drivers (the only buses Casper seemed to like) for what they had done and what they were continuing to do, so I decided to write them a thank you letter. Rob had originally put up posters in the depot, but I didn’t know how successful they’d been nor did I realize that they were in a position where every driver would see them, so I hit upon the idea of using the letters page in my local newspaper to show my appreciation.

The Plymouth Herald is read by lots of people in the area. It’s a daily publication and I’d seen many of the drivers with a copy beside them Without thinking of the furore to come – how could I know? – I scribbled down a quick letter, briefly outlining what Casper was up to, and thanking everyone at First for their fantastic help. I suppose I also wanted other people to know how obliging the bus company had been, as readers were often quick to complain about things. It seemed like an efficient way to pass on my thanks as well as to recognize publicly all the wonderful people who were being so kind to me and Cassie. The letter read:

Thank you to First customer services and the

drivers on the number 3 bus (Plymouth).

I would like to personally thank Rob in customer services and all of the drivers who drive the number 3 bus route. Our cat, Casper, insists on boarding at Barne Barton and going for a ride. It appears he has ridden the complete circuit to the city and back home on many occasions, asleep on the seats.

He is a rescue cat so we have no idea where he originally came from but obviously he has no fear of buses! Thank you most sincerely to all the drivers for being so vigilant and kind to Casper We appreciate it is a nuisance that our cat keeps getting on, so thank you for not putting him off in any strange area. We don’t want to lose him as he is old and a very much-loved pet.

A few days later, I got a call from Rob to see whether I was willing for him to give my number to a local journalist who wanted to talk about Cassie. What was that all about, I asked him? He said that the thank you note I’d written to the letter page had been seen by someone and they thought the story was fantastic. Now they wanted to chat to me and see what else they could uncover. To be honest, I thought that was odd, but saw no harm in it. From finding it hard to believe that Casper had been getting on the bus at all, I’d now discovered from so many people that he was a regular – and happy – passenger that it almost seemed quite normal to me.

Only now do I know what was happening behind the scenes at the Plymouth Herald.

At the newspaper, there is someone who is in charge of the letters page and who looks over everything to see if there are stories that should be followed up. Apparently, Casper’s tale fell into this category and my letter was passed on to the news editor, who asked one of the journalists to set up an interview This journalist had to go out to another story, so passed it on to a colleague called Edd Moore. Edd then called Rob for my phone number, which he gave out after checking with me. Rob also suggested that Edd get in touch with the PR department of First bus to see if they could help out.

The rest, as they say, is history. A whole network of people was falling into place, all of whom would be instrumental in getting Cassie’s story out to the world. They would prove to be individuals with hearts of gold. If Edd hadn’t followed the story up, if First bus hadn’t been so helpful about telling everyone what was happening, if Rob had never written that first poster, the entire tale of Casper the commuting cat might never have come to light. That would have been terribly sad, as I know how much pleasure people have had in talking about him and what memories his presence conjured up.

Rob asked around in the depot to find out as much as he could about Casper’s trips, and discovered that out of the hundred drivers (who swap routes quite frequently) most had come into contact with him. Rob told me that he was pretty impressed by Casper’s antics, such as always seeming to know where to get off, but he’d heard some other funny animal tales in the past.