“It was the strangest thing that happened to me in my modest career.”
Most Portland commuters expect to share the bus with other people. Abdellah Lahouasnia, however, recently found himself welcoming two very unexpected passengers.
While driving his usual route in Portland, Oregon, Lahouasnia noticed a pair of pygmy goats wandering near the bus. Before he had much time to react, the animals turned toward the open doors and started heading straight for him.
“I was hoping the goats are not coming to my bus, because I was a little bit nervous, I didn’t know how they are going to behave in my bus,” Lahouasnia said in a TriMet Facebook video.
He attempted to close the doors, but the goats beat him to it.
The pair climbed aboard without hesitation, strolling onto the bus with the confidence of experienced commuters.
“It was the strangest thing that happened to me in my modest career,” Lahouasnia said.
Of course, the goats couldn’t continue along the route. Another passenger calmly helped guide them back outside, and local authorities were contacted so their owner could be located.
Their adventure on public transportation lasted only about 20 seconds, but that was plenty of time to brighten the morning for everyone on board.
Lahouasnia later joked about why the goats made such a quick exit.
“I think they did not have the valid pass … that’s why they left right away,” he said.
The mystery of where they belonged was solved soon afterward.
The goats were reunited with their owner, Lrae Anderson, who hadn’t even realized they were missing because their early-morning escape had happened so quickly.
Anderson identified the two troublemakers as Billy the Kid and Billy the Goat.
Apparently, both pygmy goats already had a reputation for finding ways out of their enclosure. Even so, their owner never expected them to wander along a busy road and attempt to use Portland’s public transit system.
After the incident, Anderson strengthened the lock on their enclosure to make future escapes a little more difficult.
“Their owner says they’ve fixed the gate to their pen so these adventurous goats are safe and sound,” TriMet wrote on Facebook.
Despite his concerns when the goats first stepped aboard, Lahouasnia ultimately gave his unusual passengers glowing reviews.
“If I had to rate the goats one to 10, I would give them 11, because they did great, and as soon as the passenger told them to leave, they left quietly and safely,” he said.
Billy the Kid and Billy the Goat may not have made it very far, but their brief ride turned an ordinary morning commute into a story everyone on the bus could enjoy.