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To get a closer look at how OC Transpo maintains its fleet, I volunteered to spend a day helping him clean a bus.

The top-to-bottom scrubbing of an articulated bus usually takes up to five hours; add at least an hour for double-decker buses. At a minimum, buses are scheduled for interior cleans every 180 days. But it’s often less time than that because a bus can be sent in early if a driver notices it’s looking grungy or it becomes what’s aptly called a “sick” bus. That’s when someone vomits or spills a drink all over the place.

Ciaston hands me green latex gloves and a scraper. We begin at the back of the bus and work our way forward, scraping away at gum, bits of dried food and stickers slapped on seat backs. Ciaston vacuums each seat as well, discovering along the way a busted cushion he’ll need to replace.

Sometimes, he finds discarded needles or lost mittens, but on this day, all that turns up is a shiny dime. No chicken carcasses, Priscilla.

Photo by Julie Oliver / Postmedia

He moves quickly and methodically through the articulated bus, scraping with one hand and vacuuming with the other.

Then he grabs a canister of wipes to clean away graffiti and sticky sticker residue. The purple wipes are so nasty he dons two extra layers of gloves, just to be safe. “I don’t take any chances.”

Next, he carefully covers the window seats with garbage bags and then drags two hoses aboard: One shoots foamy green soap onto the walls and windows, while the other sends out a high-pressure spray of cold water to rinse everything down.