By Burton Speakman The males roar loudly at the females. There is an overwhelming odor in the air. Challenges are made between young bucks in an apparent attempt to gain the attention of young females. The females are groomed their best to appear attractive for the males. It sounds like an episode of Wild Kingdom, but it’s not. It’s the BGSU shuttle. A little after 1 a.m. on a Thursday at Founders, 15 to 20 people clamber aboard to renew this weekly ritual. Some can walk, but others can barely stagger. The smell quickly engulfs the bus. It is a pungent mix of stale liquor, cheap beer and perfume that would make any sober person nauseous. “A bunch of drunk people are too lazy to walk and too drunk to drive, so they take the shuttle,” said Garrett Truman, a sophomore and passenger that night.

Shuttle Bus Driver Tom Ziegler records the number of riders at one of his stops on a Friday night

This is the ritual of the Bowling Green shuttle every Thursday and Friday night. Bar hoppers board the bus at Founders—the busiest stop—then filter off as the bus creeps around its route. Driver Peggy Ziegler says the party crowd begins to filter in around 10 p.m. and continues most nights till around 2 a.m.

Ziegler, who has been driving for a few years, finds the students amusing. One of the perks of her job is that “the entertainment is free,” although most of the students are well behaved, she says. Tonight, only a few of the students are obnoxious. One student holds down the stop request cord for several minutes; Ziegler turns off the buzzer.

On a Tuesday afternoon, the shuttle ride resembles tiger cubs seeking shelter from the rain. The cubs seem to huddle together in the limited space. The loud roar of the weekend nights is replaced by the soft purr of a few conversations.

Students are, for the most part, polite and quiet. Conversations are barely audible—if people are talking at all. The day trip seems more like cubs relaxing in a safe haven compared to the roving packs of animals that dominate the night route. The only lively part of this afternoon ride is when a few track athletes board and yell across the entire bus. Otherwise, the minimal chatter and orderly students are a far cry from the lively nature of the nighttime route.
The daytime route has the feel of a business trip while the nighttime route is like a roving party. During the day, you are more likely to see someone in a business suit. At night, however, people commonly get off the bus to relieve themselves or to get sick. It makes you wonder if you are on the same campus.

On a Friday night, the behavior is the craziest yet. It is like orangutans swinging wildly from trees while hyenas voice their approval. The bus is filled with mating calls of the primates. Walking onto the bus, students resemble elephants on roller skates, barely able to stay on their feet.

There’s a flurry of activity all around. The roads are crowded and massive groups of people wander the streets. It’s Driver Tom Ziegler’s first night out. He is Peggy’s husband as well as a Toledo police officer.

The nighttime activity is similar to the other night, except the people appear far more intoxicated earlier. In the back of the bus, two girls hold up another girl, trying to either keep her conscious or prevent her from falling out of her seat. Tom, the driver, deals with the more difficult students by saying, “you can’t take anything an intoxicated student says seriously, you just have to take it like water off a duck’s back.”

At the covered stop between the French House and Macdonald, six to eight students appear to be smoking marijuana. Even though a police car just passed, the students waive what looks like a joint and a marijuana pipe as it drives past. Tom just smiles at the students. Since he’s off-duty, he can’t do anything about it unless it’s a felony, he says.

Shortly after, two students—we’ll call them Jane and George, board the bus in front of the Life Sciences Building. Jane is obviously drunk; George is trying to patiently take care of her.
At the alumni center stop, Jane announces, “I’m going to puke.” She puts her hands in front of her face, her cheeks bloated and her eyes wide. Vomit sprays from her mouth, hitting two people (one is myself and the other is my girlfriend Sarah Kessler). At Harshman, George carries Jane off the bus. Jane vomits again, coating the sidewalk and repulsing the new riders.
“I will never ride this damn thing at night again,” Kessler said.

Some students, like Freshman Ashley Roger, don’t seem to mind the nighttime atmosphere of the shuttle. Roger said she has taken the shuttle at night a few times this semester. “They’re not hurting one and they’re funny,” she said.

Overall, these types of events are common on the buses at night, says Jim Beaupre, supervisor of Shuttle Services. Over the years, he says, a few students have been arrested for their behavior on the buses. Because of this, Beaupre denied university requests to extend weekend nighttime routes to include the downtown area.

Fred Smith, who has been a driver since 1989, says this type of behavior is common. He recalls a time when a girl whacked him on the back of his head with her underwear.

Smith says driving the shuttle is similar to when drove a bus of elementary school children. The only difference? “The children don’t know any better,” he says.