BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) - Zachary Nicholas is majoring in computer science at Indiana University, but Tuesday he was studying the outside of a 40-foot long campus bus.
Nicholas is one of five IU students training this summer to become part-time drivers for the university’s Campus Bus Service.
Student drivers are a great asset, said Operations Manager Perry Maull.
“Why students?” he said. “Because they fit in with the fact that we’re only full blast 32 weeks a year, during the fall and spring semesters.”
Some stay during breaks, but the majority go home, minimizing the need for layoffs during slow times. Campus Bus Service also offers flexible schedules, and the starting rate of $13 an hour makes it one of the best-paying part-time jobs on campus. But in recent years, there have been a lot fewer students applying.
“We’ve really dropped precipitously,” Maull said.
Most of the people Maull saw driving buses when he was at IU in the late 1970s were students. When he came back to IU as an employee in 2006, there was only one student on the Campus Bus Service payroll. Maull was tasked with recruiting more student drivers. Each year the numbers grew, until hitting a peak of about 60 in 2012. Last school year, there were 30, and Maull said this year, he’ll be lucky if there are 25.
A number of factors are likely at play. While the job pays well, it also requires 100 hours of training and a commercial driver’s license.
“It’s not the kind of job where I can hire you, and this evening you’re carding someone at the SRSC,” Maull said, referring to the Student Recreational Sports Center.
Drivers are also subject to drug and alcohol testing. In addition, they must be 21 in Indiana to get a P, or passenger, endorsement on their CDL.
All those factors limit the number of students who might apply, but they’ve always been there. The best Maull can figure is that the economy is doing better than it was in the post-recession years that saw peak student employment.
Evidence can be seen during the part-time student jobs fair, he said. Students used to line up in anticipation, but the past few years, employers have spent more time talking to each other than to prospective employees.
“I’ve talked to other departments that employ large numbers of students - rec sports, IMU - everybody is facing a shortage of students,” he said, referring to the Indiana Memorial Union. “So we’re not the only ones.”
Still, some students are looking for jobs and appreciate the unique aspects of driving for the Campus Bus Service.
“There’s a certain feeling to driving large equipment that you won’t get driving a car or motorcycle,” Nicholas said. “It’s more relaxing.”
In a previous job, Nicholas drove box trucks for a rental store. That gave him a leg up on other students who come into Campus Bus Service training, but operating a 40-foot-long vehicle still takes some getting used to. In a bus, the driver sits in front of the front wheels. That means for some turns, the front end of the vehicle extends over the curb.
“It’s weird to be in front of the wheels,” Nicholas said.
Mark Hatlestad, a student supervisor, was recently helping Nicholas get used to those and other odd aspects of driving a bus. Hatlestad graduated from IU in the spring with a master of music degree in viola performance. He started working for Campus Bus Service about two years ago after a friend recommended he give it a try.
Hatlestad said a lot of music students work for Campus Bus Service because it’s easy to pick up shifts when they’re not busy or post shifts for someone else to pick up when they are. He also likes the personal responsibility.
“If you need help, you can radio dispatch, but there’s not someone standing over your shoulder as much as in, say, a restaurant,” he said.
Navigating through narrow campus streets can be challenging, though, especially when students return and traffic picks up in the fall. Passengers can also get rowdy, especially on evening shifts when large groups of students board the bus on their way to a party.
“The best way to deal with that is to stop or not move the bus,” Hatlestad said. “Everyone on the bus wants it to get to its destination, but you’re the only one who can get it there.”
That doesn’t happen often, but there is another inconvenience that comes up regularly.
Shifts for part-time employees can last up to six hours, while full-timers can work four 10-hour days. Seven-minute breaks are factored in between each run, so drivers must time their restroom breaks accordingly.
There are a few places that allow drivers to use their restrooms, such as the IU Credit Union along East 17th Street, but only during regular business hours. If that’s not an option, there is one green portable toilet booth near Memorial Stadium.
Maull admits the job isn’t for everybody, but he hopes the autonomy and the potential to earn as much as $18 an hour make it a viable option in the minds of students.
“I wish we had more,” he said.
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Source: The (Bloomington) Herald Times, https://bit.ly/2vD4kJC
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Information from: The Herald Times, https://www.heraldtimesonline.com
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