Symphony of stuck buses

Just after 7 a.m. Thursday, Kirby Oryiak left his Transcona home for work.

While driving east on Victoria Avenue East, he pulled in behind a city transit bus to allow an oncoming vehicle to pass. That’s when his car became stuck — and the bus did, too.

After about 45 minutes, Oryiak said two people stopped to help push him free. He managed to move ahead roughly two feet before getting stuck again.

He watched as another city bus got stuck eastbound near the first one.

“Try as I might, I couldn’t get unstuck,” he said.

Oryiak’s boss eventually picked him up and drove him to work.

When Oryiak returned around 11:30 a.m. to meet a CAA tow truck — roughly four hours later — the two buses were still there and three others had joined the party.

Oryiak said he was eventually able to free his own vehicle, but by the time a tow truck arrived to assist the buses, it was clear they couldn’t be moved until a snowplow cleared the area.

A Free Press photographer who came across the scene earlier that morning saw the buses still stranded later Thursday afternoon.

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca

Scott Billeck
Reporter

Scott Billeck is a general assignment reporter for the Free Press. A Creative Communications graduate from Red River College, Scott has more than a decade’s worth of experience covering hockey, football and global pandemics. He joined the Free Press in 2024.  Read more about Scott.

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