Shuttle driver forges friendships during daily routes to campus

Some would say that driving the same two and a half miles over and over every day would be dull. Mark Sullivan, a Georgia College shuttle bus driver, prefers to think of it as each time he drives the route, he encounters something different.

“The neat part about this job to me is the kids, you guys make it fun,” Sullivan said. “If we couldn’t communicate back and forth, share stories, share laughs, share opinions and feelings, it would be a very boring job. That’s the reason it’s easy to get up and come into work in the morning, because of the kids.”

Sullivan has been driving shuttles at GC for five years and his daily routine is similar each day. He either drives the West Campus shuttle, the Central Campus shuttle or the overflow shuttle. Each of the drivers rotates weeks on each shuttle. He wakes up at 5 a.m. and punches into work around 6:45 a.m.

According to Sullivan, he isn’t needed. “Anybody can drive a bus,” he says, but the students make him feel wanted.

He says he does what he does and loves it because of the students he meets every day, and no matter if they catch each other’s names, he still is genuinely interested in getting to know each and every student that rides the shuttle.

“I’ve seen them happy, glad, mad and sad, even in their pajamas. Shuttle drivers see these kids a lot, more than even their professors,” Sullivan said.

The hardest part, however, is when the students graduate and disappear. “I’ll make a friend and over the years you get a little closer and all of a sudden they disappear, they’ve graduated, they’ve moved on,” Sullivan said. “The only good part to that is that you always meet new faces to take the burden away from losing a friend. The only thing that makes it worthwhile is out of 6,000, you might meet five or ten kids throughout a semester that really stick out.”

It is not just the students that make an impact on the shuttle drivers; they make an impact on the students in return. Sally Burgan, a senior history major, is one such student that has established a friendship with her shuttle driver.

“Mark is more than a shuttle driver, he is a friend, Burgan said. “He goes out of his way to provide a warm conversation and show genuine care for the students. For four years I have really enjoyed many conversations with him. It’s one of the things I will truly miss when I graduate.”

Kimber Kirkland, senior biology major, has also established a friendship with Sullivan.

“He is always so friendly and so interactive with us. He knows students and listens to their problems,” Kirkland said.

The shuttle drivers not only drive their daily routes but also rotate driving for organizations who request shuttles to go to conferences, competitions and events. According to Sullivan, they usually drive to places in Georgia, Florida, North and South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee.

Sullivan especially enjoys a yearly trip he takes to Orlando with the Sassy Cats. He drives them to Orlando for a competition and turns it into a short trip for him and his wife.

“We drive down on a Friday and we drop them off and don’t pick them back up until Sunday. So we can go to Disney or somewhere else in Orlando for a mini- vacation,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan explained that out of all of the places he’s worked, he has never had people who will say “hello” to complete strangers. “This is the only place I’ve ever been where total strangers will say ‘Good morning’ to me and ‘Thank you’ and ‘Have a good day.’ You won’t find this any other place I’ve ever been,” Sullivan said.