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

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!’