A day in the life of a shuttle driver

An alarm clock shatters a man’s slumber. It reads 5:05 a.m. He arrives at work between 6:30 and 7 in the morning. He reads the board to see his bus assignment for that day. He grabs the keys, a radio and punches in his time card. He checks the bus’ oil, other engine fluids, the lights and tire pressure. He then drives it into position and begins work.

This is how one GCSU shuttle-bus driver, Mark Sullivan, starts his day. But this isn’t how his days always began.

Once he was at Camp Drum, New York, a U.S. Army Reserve training center. The gargantuan tanks rolling through would tear up the dirt roads in the camp. Sullivan and his fellow soldiers would work 12-hour days resurfacing those roads, replacing the dirt that the tanks ripped through and the rain washed away. It was grunt work, but much better than guard duty.

“Guard duty is like having to wash dishes for the next week,” Mark said.

A five-mile trip 20 times a day can get dull fast. Sullivan mostly drives a shuttle from West Campus to Main Campus and the on-campus shuttle, but occasionally he gets the opportunity to break that monotony. He also drives some of the sports teams when they have away games or when the art, history or English departments book a field trip. The longest of those trips has been to North Carolina. After the long trips, the short campus trips aren’t as tedious.

“(The campus trips) don’t seem so bad,” Mark said. “I can be where I gotta go in five minutes.”

To drive a 40-passenger shuttle takes more skill than a four-door sedan, but Sullivan has driven vehicles that make the large shuttle look like a Mini Cooper. Sullivan commandeered a vehicle known in the Army as a “2-90.” The 2-90s tires alone are taller and bigger than most grown men, measuring 6 feet, 6 inches tall. From the floor of the vehicle to the ground below is 15 feet. The 2-90, fully loaded, weighs 105 used to haul dirt.

“(The 2-90) is like a rolling dump truck,” Mark said.

Now retired from the Army, this past Thanksgiving marked Sullivan’s third year working for GCSU as a shuttle driver. While most of the shuttle drivers are pleasant to ride with, Sullivan is known for taking extra steps to get to know students who ride his shuttle. He knows many by name. One girl he nicknamed “Trouble” and always jokes about how she goes looking for just that.

Sullivan has a family as well. His wife, Karen, also works for GCSU as a supervisor for the Village Market at West Campus. They usually eat lunch together whenever he is working on campus. They have a daughter who is in her first year of law school. She has been a successful student, but Sullivan says neither he nor Karen have ever pressured her to make perfect grades.

“Karen and I weren’t the best in school.” Sullivan said. “We just told her to do her best.”

Sullivan’s responsible manner as a parent also translates into his work. Students know that trying to catch a shuttle can be quite a task. It is the job of the driver to look out for any stragglers trying to get on at the last second, but Sullivan can’t see them all. Occasionally a few students on the shuttle may spot someone trying to flag down the bus and they will speak up and let him know. When the person gets on the shuttle, they usually thank him.

“No need to thank me,” Sullivan says, pointing to his passengers. “You should thank them.”

Posted by Matt Rogers on Jan 22 2010. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry