Jan Crosland still has her bus licence after 50 years. Photo Brianna Stewart
From seeing dangerous driving in her bus to putting crashed people back together again and then teaching people how to drive, Jan Crosland has a world of experience in Te Kūiti’s community.
With her roles around town has come a lot of volunteering – something she thinks communities these days can benefit from a lot more of.
Jan was a self-described “bored housewife” in Mangakino when she decided to get her bus licence.
Then came a move to Te Kūiti, where she became a bus driver about a year before the company was sold to Neil Dobson.
“I went with the buses.”
About 40 years later, Neil sold the company to Bethlehem Coachlines.
“And I went with the buses.”
Jan had intended to retire at the same time as Neil, but due to a shortage of drivers she agreed to stay on for one term.
That turned into a year.
At the end of last year, when Bethlehem Coachlines sold to Tranzit Coachlines, Jan went with the buses.
She hasn’t worked consistently as a bus driver for the 50 years she has had her licence.
For a while she worked for the Waitomo News and on weekends, she would do charter and rugby trips.
Jan also has her ambulance licence and upon moving to Te Kūiti, she joined St John as a volunteer.
She completed her qualifications to become what is now called an emergency medical technician (EMT).
“I went to ambulance school in Auckland and I did 40 hours in the emergency department at Waikato Hospital,” she said.
While there, she witnessed the births of two babies.
Jan took an instructor’s course while with St John and taught others how to administer first aid.
When she was on ambulance duty, she would be on night duty for a week at a time – from 6pm to 6am.
Jan worked full time, so if she had a long night transporting a labouring mother to Waikato Hospital, or attending a crash in the pouring rain, she still had to get up in the morning and go to work.
“But I loved it. I was hungry for knowledge and I learned so much.”
Jan’s care as an EMT stretched further than her patients.
“You’d bring the injured back in the back of the ambulance, and the wife or the girlfriend would sit up the front,” she said.
“And at one or two o’clock in the morning, where were they going to go? So, they used to end up at my place in the spare bed or on the couch.”
After 25 years as an EMT, Jan decided it was time for her to move on.
It was her experiences in the role as well as while driving the buses that inspired her to start giving driving lessons.
That was 25 or 30 years ago, she thinks, but people still come up to her today to share that she is the one who taught them how to drive.
Jan still drives the school bus daily on the Awakino Rd and Hangatiki routes.
“I’ve been driving buses for so long, 50 years, but I don’t know where those years have gone.”
Jan recommends school bus driving for anyone who wants a part time job, possibly someone semi-retired or a bored housewife.
The limited hours mean she has most of her day free.
“It doesn’t tie you up.”
But Jan’s service to the community hasn’t been limited to driving roles.
For the past seven years, Jan has been doing meals on wheels with her husband.
The meals are picked up from Hillview, and they usually deliver 16 to 20 of them. Now there are so many volunteers they only do it once a month.
Jan is also involved with Te Kūiti Museum, she was on the SPCA committee, and she was involved in fundraising for Kitty Corner Charitable Trust. She has been on school committees and badminton committees and helped at the op shop.
Jan also started Kennels for Canines, which provided warm, dry shelter for dogs without any.
“Driving around town, I used to see dogs tied up to trees or fences with just a bit of tin and it really bothered me, because I’m a bit of an animal person,” she said.
“I knew a few people in town had kennels that they didn’t use anymore.”
A story and an ad in the paper triggered an influx of people keen to donate kennels.
Jan then gave details of those with kennels to dog rangers in Ōtorohanga and Te Kūiti, because they knew the dogs.
Jan said a lot of the organisations existing today wouldn’t be around without volunteers.
“More people should volunteer. We wouldn’t have the sports clubs we have today, we wouldn’t have organisations like the two op shops here [without volunteers].
“They do an incredible job and they raise funds for different organisations, for the food bank.
“And you go down to the sports ground on the weekend, and there’s mums coaching netball, there’s dads coaching rugby and soccer.
“There’s Altrusa, there are so many groups around here run by volunteers. What would we do without our volunteers?”
