What It Takes: Driving Shuttle-UM Buses

Riding Shuttle-UM is a rite of passage at the University of Maryland in more than one way. Whether hopping on a packed bus for a Friday night in D.C., joining bleary-eyed commuters from New Carrollton, or just getting groceries, students depend on the service, which provided more than 1.1 million rides last year.

This fall, the Department of Transportation Services will operate 19 routes with a fleet of 50 buses covering campus, surrounding communities and commuter routes out to Columbia, Silver Spring and Gaithersburg. (There are also a few different vans for on-demand services like NITE Ride and Paratransit.) And behind the wheel of each of those massive vehicles are 62 full-time and more than 30 student drivers.

Student employee Sajel Patwardhan ’25, a philosophy major, and full-time bus driver Hal Cagle share the challenges of driving buses full of (sometimes rowdy) students, their favorite routes on and around campus, and clear up common misconceptions about Shuttle-UM.

Patwardhan: Before I transferred, I visited UMD and saw on one of the buses: “Now Hiring Student Drivers.” I thought it would be cool to drive a bus and get my Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) through the university. Now I’ve been a student employee for two years, first as a driver and now as an operations planning assistant where I work on planning and scheduling the shuttle routes. I still drive one shift a week.

Cagle: I’ve been here for 18 years. I had started out with Metro. Driving here is less stressful, and has good benefits.

Patwardhan: The biggest thing is the size of the vehicle. It’s a lot larger, so you have to be paying attention to your mirrors, your tires, and taking turns wide enough so you’re not hopping the curb. Buses have overhang, meaning the front wheels are four to five feet behind the front bumpers, so that takes some getting used to. For some of the tighter turns on campus, you have to use that extra space to clear the turn, and it can feel weird driving "over" the curb, even though you're actually above it and your wheels are five feet behind it.

Then you get introduced to practical experience in the training lots. In the summer, we use part of Lot 1 toward University Boulevard, and during the school year, we use a space in the Discovery District shared with UMPD. We do a lot of maneuvers to build that spatial awareness. Once you’re qualified in the test lot, you get your CDL permit.

Next, you do training sessions on local roads around campus and throughout Prince George’s County, then on the interstate. Once you complete those, you can take your CDL skills test, administered right here. If you pass, you get your commercial driver’s license! Then you do 10 more training sessions and you can officially drive a Shuttle-UM bus.

It took me about half a semester to get through all the training because I had a heavy class schedule, but others may do it over just a month in the summer. Student employees get paid $16.50 an hour during training, then $18.50 an hour once they get their CDL, one of the better-paying student jobs on campus.

Cagle: I tell students: This is a great opportunity for you. If you get your CDL license, even if you go somewhere else, you have it and you have the experience. A lot of management here started out driving, then moved up.

Patwardhan: I’ve driven most routes at least once. Student drivers work a minimum of eight hours of permanent shifts, but can go up to 20 hours per week. My favorite is the 115 Orange that goes between North Campus high-rise freshmen dorms and downtown College Park. There’s big crowds on weekends. It’s a high-pressure but high-excitement atmosphere. You might have a completely empty bus on one run, then you pull up to Elkton and there’s 50 people at the stop.

The 105 Connector is also pretty fun to drive. It goes from the Courtyards apartments to Regents Drive Garage and does a loop around the southern half of campus. You’re making such a big difference in a significant number of people’s lives, getting them to class and their dorms.

Cagle: I used to get the evening Purple route (which loops throughout campus and down to Baltimore Avenue) and think, “Oh no!” But once I did it, the time passes fast because they’re making noise and keeping you up. If you have a shift from 5 p.m. to 3 in the morning, it’s an energizer. The students getting on the bus are so hype.

Patwardhan: It’s funny when you run into people from classes that you don’t know well while you’re driving. They’re like, “YOOOO that’s that dude from my class!” And then you feel a little famous.

It can be a lot to deal with a full bus of passengers, going wild on their way downtown. But you want to maintain your cool and keep a handle on the situation. You want to let people on the bus as much as possible—you’d rather them be there, where they’re safe, rather than walking around or drinking and driving.

Cagle: If I say, “Hey, calm down, don’t do that,” people are respectful. They say, “OK, no problem, sir.” And if they don’t listen, other students will say, “You heard what the bus driver said.”

Yeah, we get biohazards sometimes. If I see someone looking a little sick, I tell them to carry that trash can back with them. But you report it, bring the bus back, and they’ll bring you another bus while they clean it.

Patwardhan: This is probably one of the harder places to learn to drive a bus in the country. Our roads were not designed with a bus system in mind. Some of the tightest spots on campus are Grad Hills, where you’re making that tricky turn from Adelphi, or the Memorial Chapel parking lot area, which has very narrow parking aisles.

Cagle: It sharpens your skills and makes you a better driver.

Patwardhan: After you drive for a while, you develop this sixth sense for being able to predict what scooter riders are going to do. I know that guy is about to turn left in front of my bus without signaling. You have to pay attention because you can’t guarantee everyone else is paying attention.

Cagle: You’re the professional. You’re the one in a bigger vehicle. You have to be alert at all times.

Patwardhan: There’s a lot of misconceptions about Shuttle-UM. The big one is you’ll hear people complaining, ‘Why aren’t they using my parking ticket money to pay for buses?’ But those are separate budgets. Another is people asking why we don’t serve certain apartment complexes. The apartments pay us to run that service, so if they stop paying us and end that contract, there’s no money to run that service anymore.

I’m really interested in pursuing something in the transit planning world after graduation. I really recommend this job. It’s really interesting, much more so than some of the desk jobs on campus.

This is part of a series that looks behind the scenes at “what it takes” to keep the University of Maryland humming and create a vibrant campus experience. Got an idea for a future installment? Email kshih@umd.edu.