'Life couldn't get any better': ETS drivers who fell in love, got married on a bus celebrating 10 years together

For most of us, taking the bus is just a way to get from point A to point B. For a pair of Edmonton Transit Service drivers, the bus has been like a wingman.

Married for nearly 10 years, Lesley and Lyle LeGrande first met in a chance encounter on an ETS bus back in 2012.

"She just happened to get on my bus that one day," Lyle told CTV News Edmonton.

"I thought, 'Oh, he's cute,' and then he smiles, and it's like, 'No! He's a bus driver. I can't look at him like that,'" Lesley recalled.

But something in her heart told her she needed to see that cute driver again.

"I looked at his running board to see when he was coming back — to run into him again, which I did," she said with a smile.

"I said, why were you single, working with transit," Lesley added. "And he said, 'cause I was waiting for you.' Oh my goodness, right? Like just melt my heart."

Since ETS had played such a pivotal role in their lives, Lyle knew he had to work buses into his proposal. After around a year together, the couple boarded transit — the same route Lyle had been driving when they met.

"I told the driver, I said, 'I want to propose to my girlfriend on this route. So do you mind stopping at one of the stops,'" Lyle explained.

"I thought he was a looney toon when he got on my bus," said James Coull, the man driving the bus where the proposal took place.

In early 2013, the couple chartered an ETS bus and held their wedding ceremony on it while it was parked at the same bus stop where the proposal had happened.

"Everyone was so happy," Lesley said. "It was amazing. Like, the joy on everybody's face."

Lyle LeGrande proposes to Lesley on an ETS bus following the route where they first met (Supplied).

Not only did the couple's chemistry work out, but the pair also found they had much more in common than just driving buses.

Both are Indigenous and were born at the Royal Alexandra Hospital. They also are Sixties Scoop survivors and have three kids from previous relationships.

"Our children were born all the same years, so our youngest are the same, our middles are the same year and our oldest are the same year," Lyle said.

Now the couple volunteers with the ETS Indigenous awareness training program.

"It's amazing," Lesley said. "It's helped us out a lot because we're still learning. We're still going through this process, and it's very humbling and it's very helpful to educate people."

The couple also give back by volunteering with Edmonton transit's Stuff-A-Bus campaign for the food bank.

"We've been in situations where we were having tough times when we started with our families, and had to use the services," Lesley added.

Lesley and Lyle's joy continues to this day, an express bus of love that won't be making any stops.

"My purpose with my job here, and then my purpose with him, it's amazing," Lesley said. "Life couldn't get any better. Like, very 'LeGrande,' you know."