on the road with Shuttle-um

It's 4:22 p.m. on an unseasonably cool Wednesday in May, and Joseph Santiago is watching the seconds tick by on his wristwatch outside Stamp Student Union. Due to "some fire department activity," he is seven minutes behind schedule on this, the last day of exams at the University of Maryland. Santiago is meticulous about time, as is required of all the shuttle bus drivers idling here in Lot HH, the small parking area that serves as a transit hub for commuter students filing in and out of the busy union building.

His arms wrapped around the bus's barrel-sized steering wheel, Santiago has assumed control of one of the largest pieces of rolling machinery on the university campus. Yet despite his tender age of 21, the young man is undaunted. In exactly three minutes, he will confidently wheel this bus out of the lot, carefully watching for crosswalk pedestrians, and begin the first of three one-hour runs between the Stamp Union and the Silver Spring Metro station in Montgomery County.

It is a job that, while circuitous, never gets boring for the junior criminology major from nearby Adelphi. In two years on the job, Santiago has logged several thousand miles on the 30- to 40-foot shuttle buses, moving students, faculty and staff between parking lots, Metro stations and remote stops stretching across much of north Prince George's and Montgomery counties.

As with most of the 150 or so student employees who drive Shuttle-UM buses everyday, Santiago doesn't consider the driving so much a chore as a vocation. Oh, the money is good, he says--starting wages are $8.50 an hour, more than almost any other student job on campus--but the real kick of the job is that he gets to provide a vital public service to the university community.

Together, Santiago and his Shuttle-UM colleagues move 1.2 million riders annually on the transit system that runs around- the-clock every day that the university operates. For thousands of nondriving commuters, there are few sights more comforting--particularly in rain, snow or intense heat--than a bright red Shuttle-UM bus approaching their stop along one of the system's 200 miles of routes.

What makes Shuttle-UM remarkable, however, isn't so much how it's run, but who runs it. Of the nearly 180 people required to keep the service operating day in and day out, all but eight are University of Maryland students. The system, which entered its 30th year of service this year, has a full-time general manager, two full-time assistant general managers, and a handful of other full-time master mechanics and support staff. Everyone else, including the managers who oversee the routes, drivers, trainers, dispatchers, charters, emergency and paratransit services, are student employees who balance school work with the responsibilities of transit service.

And that, Shuttle-UM managers say, represents a three-point turn on conventional wisdom. While public safety surveys rate college students as among the more accident-prone on the roadways, one would be hard pressed to find a more safety-conscious group of 20-somethings anywhere short of a driver's education class. Every student driver is required to earn his or her commercial driver's license, or CDL, before they can drive a bus. And even after they are licensed, drivers receive three to five reviews per semester to make sure their driving skills and safety know-how are up to snuff.

"The thing about driving a bus is you learn how to deal with all kinds of different situations," says Joe Santiago. Inconveniences that make other people rage--start-and-stop traffic, road construction, lane darters, tailgaters, jaywalkers--bus drivers accept as part of life on the road.

"We definitely aren't a bunch of yahoos out there driving around in 36,000-pound buses," says Mike Randolph, the system's paratransit manager and a senior civil engineering major. "We take what we do very seriously. It's a job, and everybody who works here understands that. If they don't, they usually don't stay very long."

Employees of Shuttle-UM are quick to point out that the mission of the service includes more than just safe and dependable transportation for campus commuters; it also must "facilitate learning and involvement for student success and development." These values, woven deeply into the shuttle system's operations ethic, have produced a camaraderie among Shuttle-UM employees that is more akin to a firehouse or locker room than a transit yard. Personalities are nurtured, special talents encouraged, loyalty expected, and dedication to the job is paramount. Anything less wouldn't keep the buses running on time, nor would it serve the broader goals of this unique public service organization--to develop well-grounded individuals who can rise to almost any challenge, whether it be a blown engine, inclement weather or a busload of hot and harried passengers.

Christine J. Vicencio, Shuttle-UM's human resources manager and a kinesiology major, tells the story of last September's deadly tornado that felled trees and overturned cars across a large swath of North Campus. As word of the destruction crackled over radio frequencies between the on-duty dispatcher and bus drivers around campus, the system's student managers resolved to keep Shuttle-UM operating for evacuation support despite the dangers such an operation entailed. For many students and staff trapped on North Campus, the buses provided their only escape from the tangled mass of trees, utility lines and wrecked cars that littered University Boulevard and Stadium Drive.

On this bright May day, however, there's nothing but blue sky and thickening traffic facing Joe Santiago as he travels along Route 193 through Adelphi, Langley Park and Silver Spring. Nine people are on board for this trip to Metro's Silver Spring station, a lighter-than-normal load for rush hour. Easing up on the accelerator to keep the bus within posted speed limits, Santiago is hoping luck will bring him green lights and fluid traffic for the 30-minute ride across town to the Metro.

"The thing about driving a bus is you learn how to deal with all kinds of different situations," he says. Inconveniences that make other people rage--start-and-stop traffic, road construction, lane darters, tailgaters, jaywalkers--bus drivers accept as part of life on the road. They live it every day, and it teaches them important lessons that aren't often conveyed in the classroom. Things like patience, reliability and the value of service to others.

These are lessons that the drivers--most of whom will graduate and go on to other careers in nontransit fields--can bank on for the rest of their lives. "I think it's a really important service that we provide to people," says Santiago, who is also a member of the safety and training department at Shuttle, and who one day hopes to become a forensic scientist. "So it's important that we do the very best job we can. ... The thing about driving a bus is you learn a lot, not only about driving a bus, but about helping out other people."

At 5:25 p.m., the bus winds down for a final right turn around the "M" circle and an exhaust-belching heave up Campus Drive to Lot HH, as Santiago readies the two-way radio for his final call of the day. His replacement driver, Ify Osefo, is waiting at the curb near the Stamp Union where she will "circle-check" her bus before starting her shift.

"634," Santiago says into the mic, using his driver ID number to contact the dispatcher.

"Go ahead, Joe," comes the dispatcher's voice.

"My final tally is 62," Santiago says, "We're 10-7 and 10-8," using the ubiquitous drivers' "10 codes" to say he's off the job and a new driver is coming on board.

"10-4," says the dispatcher.

"You have a good night," says Santiago.

He steps down off the bus and stretches his arms toward the afternoon sun. One more run for Shuttle-UM done. Another 62 Maryland commuters sent safely toward home.