By Delaney Osbourn
Fayetteville, ARK. – Many passengers on the Razorback transit buses enter the bus with headphones in their ears and their phones in their hands. They get on the bus and are driven to their next location within minutes. But, none of the reported three million rides given just last year would be possible without the Razorback transit drivers. “I love being paid to drive around see this beautiful city and interact with these beautiful people,” Razorback transit bus driver, Jay Phillips said.
Phillips has been driving buses through the university bus system for 15 years. The Razorback transit bus system has nine routes that travel across campus and even parts of Fayetteville. Phillips explained how workers can work upwards of 50 to 60 hours per week. With as many hours as the drivers put in it’s hard for them to have any sort of life outside of work. Phillips said without a healthy balance of life and work, you could never be happy as a bus driver.
Students and faculty can chose to utilize the bus services for free. Some students even commute to and from campus by bus in order to avoid traffic and the parking issues that still surround parking. “The service is so very important because in this society we are a mobility society and if you don’t have mobility or you aren’t able to get around,” junior at the University of Arkansas Zachary Omundson said.