Brampton Bus Driver Learned to Speak Punjabi to Talk to Passengers

Published June 10, 2019 at 5:39 am

A Brampton bus driver has become quite famous for his unique way of interacting with his passengers.

A Brampton bus driver has become quite famous for his unique way of interacting with his passengers.

Mike Landry has been a bus driver in the Brampton transit system for 19 years. Over these years, he has learned to speak Punjabi to better communicate with some of his passengers.

Landry said it started four years ago when he greeted a group of young men with “sat sri akaal”, a greeting used among Sikhs. The young men were surprised but thrilled to hear him speak their language and decided to teach him more words.

Landry decided he wanted to learn even more of the language after that, so he went to the library and took out books to learn more about the language, its vocabulary, and grammar.

More and more passengers have been talking to Landry on their trips.

Landry is happy that he has learned some Punjabi, so his next goal is to learn other languages that are common in Brampton.

Landry also claims one of the best parts of learning Punjabi has been meeting passengers who are new in Canada and haven’t been in the country for very long. They are very happy when they find out he can speak their language, as it gives them some familiarity from home.

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