2008 Woodie Awards
Drivers see Fayetteville, campus, from buses
Pamela Acosta
Issue date: 3/3/08 Section: News
Observing the world from the driver's seat, Lee Kulish makes his way around the Gray/Tan bus route.
"In driving, you're not in the same spot every time. It's interesting to talk to the people - the passengers," said Kulish, a UA transit system bus driver.
Kulish has more than 11 years of experience as a UA bus driver. He wears his aviator-style glasses and black cowboy boots along the same route he's been driving for about two years. Drivers who have seniority such as Kulish get to pick their routes.
The UA has about 40 to 50 bus drivers working both full and part time for the transit system, with about 20 buses in operation on a normal day, said Michael Seither, associate director for UA transit.
In his maroon uniform shirt with a nametag that reads "Lee," Kulish drives around his Gray/Tan route twice every hour, for about eight hours a day, six days a week.
To make it around his route 22 times a day, his bus uses 35 gallons of gas. The UA buses fill up using a special pump at the garage located west of Razorback Road, where the buses are parked at the end of the day.
Kulish picked the Gray/Tan route because it's the one with less traffic, he said. But his favorite part of his route is "coming out to the farm," he said, as he pointed to the UA Agriculture Farm field.
Sometimes Kulish and the other drivers get some "oddballs" who ride on their buses, he said.
"They're usually not students," he said. "Probably the people who are not students and get out here drunk."
People usually don't carry weird things on the bus, he said, but before the buses were equipped with bike racks, passengers carried their bikes inside the bus with them.
Even though some people might be afraid of sitting in a bus and driving all day, Kulish said he's not.
"It's not scary. It's just like anything else," he said. "As long as you're careful, there's nothing to be scared of, except other drivers who might not know what they're doing."
"In driving, you're not in the same spot every time. It's interesting to talk to the people - the passengers," said Kulish, a UA transit system bus driver.
Kulish has more than 11 years of experience as a UA bus driver. He wears his aviator-style glasses and black cowboy boots along the same route he's been driving for about two years. Drivers who have seniority such as Kulish get to pick their routes.
The UA has about 40 to 50 bus drivers working both full and part time for the transit system, with about 20 buses in operation on a normal day, said Michael Seither, associate director for UA transit.
In his maroon uniform shirt with a nametag that reads "Lee," Kulish drives around his Gray/Tan route twice every hour, for about eight hours a day, six days a week.
To make it around his route 22 times a day, his bus uses 35 gallons of gas. The UA buses fill up using a special pump at the garage located west of Razorback Road, where the buses are parked at the end of the day.
Kulish picked the Gray/Tan route because it's the one with less traffic, he said. But his favorite part of his route is "coming out to the farm," he said, as he pointed to the UA Agriculture Farm field.
Sometimes Kulish and the other drivers get some "oddballs" who ride on their buses, he said.
"They're usually not students," he said. "Probably the people who are not students and get out here drunk."
People usually don't carry weird things on the bus, he said, but before the buses were equipped with bike racks, passengers carried their bikes inside the bus with them.
Even though some people might be afraid of sitting in a bus and driving all day, Kulish said he's not.
"It's not scary. It's just like anything else," he said. "As long as you're careful, there's nothing to be scared of, except other drivers who might not know what they're doing."
Be the first to comment on this story