Baggage

When you get on the Belfast-Derry bus, you put your bags in an exterior luggage compartment in the undercarriage. The bus stops maybe six times between Belfast and Derry. Each time the driver presses a button, an exterior door to the compartment opens, leaving passengers pull their bags out, then the driver pushes a button that closes the luggage door--the driver never leaves the bus. I’d say more than half of the passengers get off the bus before it gets to Derry.

I think in America the chances that someone taking a Greyhound, for instance, would take a bag that didn’t belong to them is quite high. Here, the honour system seems intact.

I had reason to think of this because, when I got to Derry late, I ran off the bus with my briefcase and small backpack, hailed a taxi, and went to Julie’s to change. As we turned into her street, I realised I’d left my soft-sided black canvas bag in the luggage compartment. It had my outfit for the night. And a pricey gift for Julie. The taxi driver took me back to the bus centre, where we watched my bus pull out. I went into the bus centre office to see if a bag had been turned in. After five long minutes, a clerk came out with my bag. My taxi driver took me back to Julie’s, quick change, and I was at the Guildhall on time. I’m just very impressed that dozens of bags make it off that bus with their rightful owners. And I’m thinking the driver must check the compartment before he drives back to Belfast as I cannot be the only one forgetting my bag two hours after I deposited it in the hold.
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