University Daily Kansan, August 19, 1982
Page
Photo by JILL M. YATES
Photo by ALAN WALTZ
John Kerzy, 102 FIre, Eddora, drives the campus bus route daily and is a familiar sight to many KU students.
Bus driver enjoys conversing with students along his routes
By KRISTA KOMBRINK Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
John Kersey isn't enrolled at the University of Kansas, but he sees himself, neverless, as a student with multiple majors.
He has talked so much with students that he has become knowledgeable about the many subjects they study. He has taught them psychology, business and astronomy.
Kersley, 38, is known as "John the bus driver" to thousands of students on the KU campus. He has driven KU buses for six years and is one of about 30 drivers employed by the Lawrence Bus company to support students to, from and around campus.
The bus service, called "KU on Wheels," serves students on six daily routes and one night route. Anyone can apply. The buses are used to accommodate KU students.
This includes students living in the residence halls and those who live in apartment complexes that are served by major routes. Such complexes are located at 24th, 26th, 28th, house complexes and those at 24th and Ridge Court and in East Lawrence.
PASSENGERS CAN EITHER PAY
35 cents a trip or buy a student or
non-student bus pass for unlimited travel.
Last year student passes cost $30 and
non-student passes cost $40. Bus passes
are valid Mondays through Fridays.
The first passengers on Monday are picked up at about 7 a.m. at 9th and Massachusetts state police, and just pass the Kansas Union at about 10:30 that night.
Kersey said he had worked in transportation most of his adult life. He has driven all vehicles except trains and bushes, but he hasn't had had, he liked bus driving the most.
He said he thrived on daily bus driving. He makes 32 trips from Elworth Hall to Gertrude Sellards Pearson Hall every day. He has chosen the KU-Ellsworth route every year because he likes it most, he said.
He greets each passenger by name. His hands and eyes know the route so well it seems as if the bus is on auto-pilot while he talks to riders, he said.
HOWEVER, THE END OF a bus ride does not mean the end of a conversation. If he starts talking to a student about a subject, he said, each time the student gets back on the bus he will continue the conversation.
If a student cannot get on Kersey's bus, he can choose from among 18 other buses during the school year. Kersey said many other drivers enjoyed their work as much as he did because they also liked talking with students.
All is buses are in service, but some of them are used as extras to follow regular buses and pick up the passenger overload during peak times, Kersey said. The extra buses are also used during finishes weeks, he said, to make sure all students can get to classes on time.
Duane Ogle, president and general manager of the Lawrence Bus Co., said his biggest problem was with overloaded buses. But he said there were too many for life for students. If the buses were not crowded they would be too expensive to ride. Ogle said, and
it is not feasible to provide a seat for every passenger.
MANY STUDENTS LIKE to ride the bus just to taxi to Kersey, JJI Girardo, Tulsa, John, sophomore, has been riding "John the bus driver" for two years.
She said she liked to ride with him because of his philosophical insight on life. She has a bus pass, so she rides with him many times during the year and takes her family to school. Lawrence this summer and made a special effort to ride with Kersey.
People confide in Kersay so much that he sees himself as a "sober bar-
"I don't know ." a single subject that hasn't been discussed on a bus, "Kerala."
HE ATTIBUTES THIS to the princi-
sa that motion creates emotion, he
said.
The emotion can be anything, he said, and riding the bus "makes people become freer, all their pressures are removed. They can sit back, relax and read the paper or engage in conversations with the people around them."
The Senate arranges the contract with the Lawrence Bus Co. which will supply the bus service.
Students can also take bus rides downtown. Lawrence merchants are responsible for a Saturday bus that leaves at 10:30am to pay 35 cents, and no passes are valid.
The Lawrence Bus Co. is financed by the Student Senate, except for the Saturday bus.
The Bus Co. is paid through the bus passes, cash fares and by about $2 included in each student's activity fee.
Info Center answers calls
Room 105, Strong Hall is small and crammed with file cabinets, rolodexes, bulletin boards covered with announcements and numerous calendars. This is the home of the KU Information Center.
The Information Center, which averages between 500 and 700 phone calls a day, opened May 1970 at the height of student unrest at KU, according to Karen Ross, a graduate research assistant at the center.
Ross, who has worked at the center since 1977, said the idea for the center was William Balfour's, then vice chancellor for student affairs, who saw a need for accurate information about the explosive atmosphere at KU.
Over the years, the Information Center's focus has changed, Ross said.
"There is a great difference now," she said. "It has evolved into a clearinghouse for campus and community events."
The number of people using the 24 hour service has changed also.
In 1981, the Information Center received 71,168 calls, an 11 percent increase over 1980, Ross said. This is no surprise though, since the number of calls has grown by nearly a year the center has been in the information business, she said.
Many of the callers have questions concerning University policy and campus services. But the 15 Information Center staff members also call calls from people who need someone to talk with about their personal problems. The callers range from victims of domestic violence to students with landlord complaints, Ross said.
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