Arias on the bus

Christopher Dolan, a New York City bus driver for 27 years, is known to his passengers for singing opera

One famous aria after another: the operatic hit parade began as the bus pulled away from the depot, empty. “La donna è mobile” from Verdi’s “Rigoletto” was followed, somewhere on the West Side Highway, by “Nessun dorma” from Puccini’s “Turandot.”

The A’s and that high B at the end were thrilling.

And then the bus turned onto Clarkson Street, on the way to the first stop on the M8 line.

Mr. Dolan’s bus is real. He has been a New York City driver for 27 years, starting in the Bronx and then transferring to Manhattan. You never know whom you will meet on a bus — he married one of his passengers.

YouTube Video of Christopher Dolan

“That’s worth my $2,” said Elaine Smalls, who boarded at Eighth Street and Avenue C.




Emmy Stanley showed her appreciation for a song from “La Traviata.”



“Go to NJ Tenor 57” — also on YouTube — “and you’ll see me singing much better,” he said.