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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PAGE 8A
PAGE 8A WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1997
EVENTS • ENTERTAINMENT • ISSUES • MUSIC • ART
Saying goodbye to the Big Yellow Bus
Muggy, owner of Jayhawk Bookstore, stands with the first double-decker bus he acquired. This bus has been at the University of Kansas since 1985, and is now on its way to a new owner in Charlotte North Carolina. At one time Muggy had up to five double-decker buses at once, but for numerous reasons Muagy has decided it is time to sell his "fleet". †
By Tim Harrington
tharrington@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
I
It was big. It was yellow. It was British. It was the double-decker bus. And now it's bloody gone.
The 13-foot-tall, 27 foot-long, 60-passenger bus that has been the icon of the Jayhawk Bookstore since 1985 made it's final journey through Lawrence Thursday en route to a new owner in North Carolina.
"It's kind of like seeing a child leave home," said Bill Muggy, owner of Jayhawk Bookstore and former guardian of the 1961 Bristol double-decker bus.
At its apex, his small yet unique fleet of $25,000 buses was five double-deckers strong. That's 10 stories of raw bus. But during the last four years Muggy has been selling them off.
His baby, the original yellow bus, was the last to go.
"The other buses didn't have the character that my first one had." Muggy said.
Because of new regulations from the Department of Transportation, Muggy's double-deckers needed to be retrofitted to meet 1997 safety standards. That, plus the rising cost of insurance, made the buses too costly to keep
"They simply became too much of an economic burden, " Muggy said.
The idea for a double-decker bus sparked from Muggy's travels in Europe. He said it was a unique sight in Lawrence and good identification for his store.
"It was my version of the Goodyear blimp," Muggy said. Muggy said he had plans to offer the buses as transportation around campus during rush week and the book buy-back period, but he ran into problems with the University administration.
"It was a political hornet's nest." Muggy said.
In August of 1985, within a week of starting busing services, Muggy said the Special Events Committee banned his double-decker bus from campus citing the no soliciting on campus rule.
It upsets Muggy who routinely sees
the Gatorade Humvee
which was parked
which was parked outside the
outside the Kansas Union
Kansas Union for the bet:
ter part of last
Wednesday.
"I needed some kind of special permission which got to be too much of a political hassle," said Muggy, who believes it was his direct competition with the Kansas Union Bookstore that kept his double-deckers off campus.
Muggy ran his service off campus sporadically for about two years but had problems keeping his bus schedules posted.
"Anything I would post would tend to disappear," he said.
So to make the buses economically feasible, Muggy tried renting them out for private use.
That's when the fun has ceased. Strippers, kegs and drunkards, both comatose and belligerent, made their way onto Muggy's buses.
Muggy remembers one particularly empty shuttle from a fraternity house to the School House that had only two passengers two very intimate passengers
only two passengers; two very intimate passengers." It was either the fulfillment of their fantasies or hormones run amok," said Muggy of the couple that made sweet love on his red bus.
Muggy said bad weather made driving treacherous that night and he needed to keep his eyes on the road.
Muggy said the pair lacked either the courtesy or the modesty to retire to the upper deck.
Because the drivers compartments were completely separated from the rest of the bus, kegs were
allowed but certainly not preferred.
"A lot of beer was spilled and the upchuck was always a problem." Mugev said.
Muggy's favorite memories from his squad of Bristols are the ones of kids thanking him for a ride or students writing to him, asking for pictures of the bus they grew to love during their time at the University.
Muggy still has a 10-year-old note from a group of Hillcrest elementary students thanking him for their ride on the Bristol.
The crayon work of art still hangs on his office wall.
Muggy also offered his services to tourists groups, foot ball fans, wedding receptions, and conventions.
"I used them as often as I could," Steven Jansen, director of the Watkins Community Museum of History, said. "They definitely stood out above the crowd."
Jansen said he used the buses maybe a dozen times to give tours of Quarrill's raid and other historical events.
"I have a lot of fond memories of giving narrated tours to all kinds of groups," Muggy said. "It's fun to hear them say I've never seen Lawrence from the second story before."
Muggy estimates he's had at least 50,000 passengers on his buses throughout their tour of duty in Lawrence.
"The real impact for me has been in the countless compliments and thanks that I've gotten." Muggy said. "I think they added a new dimension to peoples' time here at KU, or brought some nostalgia."
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