Students in Halloween costumes crammed next to each other on the bus heading downtown and loudly chanted "Texas, Fight" in celebration of the football victory over Nebraska Saturday.
When the bus stopped near Sixth Street, the group cheered in excitement because of its arrival downtown and quickly filed out, dressed as ladybugs and Harry Potter characters.
The E-Bus, funded by Capital Metro, provides UT students with free rides to and from downtown Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights until 3 a.m., said Capital Metro spokeswoman Misty Whited. However, students will have another chance to ride in costume, as the E-Bus will run special tonight for Halloween, she said.
A normal night on the E-Bus consists of possible projectile vomit and loud, drunk students, but E-Bus driver Bill Dunford said he has no complaints and enjoys being around them.
"99.7 percent of the time, the kids are great," he said.
Dunford said he has been driving the E-Bus for about three years and is not bothered by the rowdiness because he was the captain of a ship for 19 years and said he is used to being around drunks.
"You have to have barf bags," he said. "The girls miss the bags more than the guys, because the guys aren't embarrassed to grab the bags."
The E-Bus began in 2002 because of a UT Student Government initiative, said SG administrative assistant Becky Carreon.
"I think it's a useful, but important service too," said SG President Andrew Solomon. "It provides students with a safe and responsible way to get to the downtown area."
Initially, the only E-Bus route was to and from West Campus, and roughly 40,000 passengers rode that first year, Whited said. There are three routes now: West Campus, Riverside and Main Campus, and more than 150,000 passengers rode the bus between fall 2006 and spring 2007.
Since August of this year, there have been an estimated 30,000 passengers, she said.
"Whenever I've been on the E-Bus, there are not too many memories," said James Valentine, a business graduate student. "People seem to be respectful of the driver, but not respectful in general. I already apologized to the driver when I got on the bus."
Dunford said the Riverside passengers are "super drinkers," the West Campus students are "power drinkers" and the Main Campus students are younger kids. He said he has driven all three routes and prefers the West Campus one because the time goes by fast.
"The only time I've ever gotten a little bit aggravated was when I had people who were wanting to do gymnastics on the bars [in the bus]," he said. "They could hurt themselves and hurt someone else."
Dunford chooses to drive the E-Bus because he said he was becoming a couch potato in his retirement and wanted to be around young people. The reason students are generally nice is because they are appreciative of the service provided, he said.
The noise can get loud, and Dunford said that sometimes the bus gets so crowded he has to pass up students waiting at a stop. He said he has had passengers who tried to hit each other, but he rubs it off because he said "it's just kid stuff."
The E-Bus is a good service and can get really rowdy, but the drivers are nice and tell people where to get off, said Nicole Garcia, a radio-television-film freshman.
Be the first to comment on this article!