The last of a flock of schoolkids were piling out of the station at the other end towards the Edward Milne School as she flashed her smartcard to the turnstile reader and hurried in. Only one person in line at the Glorious Coffee counter. Good. She had just enough time to fill her mug when the next coach pulled up. In the old days, of course, when people still paid the driver as they got in, she would have had more time. But she still greatly preferred this new method, where you paid at the station, just like an underground subway, since it meant the driver could focus on just driving and the whole journey was so much shorter.

She boarded behind everyone else, sat down and unfolded her flexible e-paper. She took a sip of her coffee as it blinked for a few seconds while the contents of today's edition of the eTC downloaded off the coach Wi-Fi. As the e-ink resolved itself in the plastic sheet under the familiar Times Colonist banner, she scanned down the front page, past the main feature on 100 years since the Titanic, and paused at the second headline – Solar Feed-In Tariffs Agreed. At last, she thought to herself.

She pulled out her laptop to check her emails and get a headstart on work. Five minutes later, a honk outside caught her attention. It was Tom in his pickup, who despite his earlier headstart was now stuck in the middle lane. She smiled and waved back and blew him a kiss. Poor Tom. If he didn't need his truck for work he would have gladly joined her. The Colwood Crawl that existed when they first moved to Sunriver in 2004 has since long become the Langford Linger, and was now the Metchosin Moan. There but for the grace of BC Transit, she thought to herself. It wasn't that long ago that she was one of them, enduring ever longer commutes to work in her Smart car. Not smart enough. She didn't know which was the final straw – when gas hit $3.00 a litre, or the 90-minute commute, but she did know that if it were not for Gloria, they would have had to move. It had become intolerable, and no other rapid transit solution was possible in such a short time at such a low cost.

It was, indeed, Glorious. Strange that it took so long to implement, or that naysayers as recently as five years ago had written to say that it wasn't worth the investment. Perhaps people were snooty about adopting an idea pioneered in Brazil, but in retrospect, it seemed to so obvious to use the wider roads in the region for a network of fast, frequent coaches in dedicated lanes with park-and-ride stations where you paid before getting on. It meant that commuting by public transport became a truly viable option, and transformed the lives of people like her who live in the Western Communities. (And once the planned spur extension to Sunriver is complete, it would be even more convenient.)

Of course, it wasn't all good news. The opening of the Island Line to Duncan meant that Janice and her family were able to move to the Cowichan Valley, as they had always wanted. Sarah missed being able just to walk over to her house and drop in.

Speaking of Janice, there she was now, beaming at her and waving as they pulled up to the Langford station. She waved back and gestured to her to come on. 'No,' Janice gesticulated back vigorously. 'YOU come out here!'

Sarah quickly gathered up her things and, squeezing past the woman dozing beside here, stumbled out onto the platform.

"What's going on?" She asked in bemusement. "You're supposed to get on, not me off! We'll be late for work…"

"No we won't," Janice giggled. "Look – they've integrated it with the E&N!"

"E&N? But I don't want to go to Comox! And anyway, how did you get here?"

"We're not going to Comox, silly. To Johnson Bridge. They've started a fast commuter service into town. I got on at Mill Bay – it's even faster than Gloria!"

"When did this happen?"

"While you were sleeping, I suppose! Don't you remember I told you about it? Here – take a new route map. It shows it. Come on – the train's arriving any minute…"

"But I don't have a ticket!"

"Yes you do: your Gloria pass covers this, too. Come on!…"

Minutes later, they emerged at the new, expanded E&N terminal near Johnson Bridge.

"Not bad," Sarah admitted, then laughed. "Typical. You wait for years for a rapid transit system, and two arrive at once…"

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