Remember Rene, the car-free bus driver from the class I took in February of ’07? Just in case you don’t:

Irony of the day: The class instructor, Jeffrey…included an article about the high cost of car ownership in the class materials. One of the students, Rene, who has been car-free for 15 years, said that his job as a bus driver makes this choice extremely difficult. After all, someone has to get to (or from) the base when the buses aren’t running.

Rene went on to say that, according to his calculations, if he took a $10 cab ride to work every day and rented a car for two months out of the year, the total cost would be less than half the cost of a year of owning the two-year old vehicle he was considering purchasing. “I’m going to try that,” he said. “I’d really like to avoid buying a car if I can.”

Now that’s my kind of driver.

I ran into Rene at Busfather’s retirement party, and I am happy to report that he is still car-free. His solution was to move downtown, where he has easy access to almost unlimited buses, and the base is a straight shot from his place. The increased rent doesn’t come close to matching what it would have cost him to own a car (even before gas cost a grip)–or even the cab-and-rental solution he was considering.

All that and he likes driving the 48? Too bad I don’t get to vote for Operator of the Year.