Penn Shuttle drives student life

From an inauspicious white trailer tucked away in the back of the parking lot across from the Class of 1923 Ice Rink, the University quietly runs the seventh-largest mass-transit system in the state: the Penn Shuttle Service, which moves 1,400 students each night to and from points on and near campus. Sure, it all looks simple. One campus call to 898-RIDE and a van outfitted in University colors arrives to whisk you away to the next stop on your busy schedule. Formerly called the Penn Escort Service, officials changed the name last year and put new decals on all the vans -- although many students still call it by its old title. "I like Escort because it's easy and convenient," said Wharton sophomore David Petrozzi, who often hops on to catch a show downtown. But its simple facade masks a complex operation which oversees the transport of students while overcoming the nightly rigors of driving in Philadelphia. "There's the weather, the traffic, the crazy taxi drivers and lots of students in a hurry," said driver Francis Lawson, a Temple University senior. "Not a lot of dull moments." Running such a fast-paced organization "takes a lot of different parts working together," according to Penn Transit Manager Ronald Ward. Some of the most essential cogs in this machine-like operation are the student drivers. "We are always short drivers," Shuttle supervisor Takeo Takahaghi said. University desk jobs paying the same amount -- from $6.50 to $9 an hour --sometimes hold more allure than the Shuttle driver's rigorous schedule, Ward explained. Besides the time commitment -- drivers are required to work a late shift every two weeks and a weekend shift on every three-week rotation -- and the pressure, drivers are also subject to semi-annual evaluations. But the biggest problems arise as a result of their constant interaction with students, who are not always model passengers. "Students are occasionally drunk when coming from bars or parties," Ward said. "And during the week, at the very least they're in a hurry. However, problems can often turn into more than mere breaches of passenger etiquette. "Two years ago there was an actual assault on a driver and a year ago one was threatened," Ward said. Shuttle has set up a series of safety measures in hopes of preventing such occurrences, from automatic door locks in the vans to a channel on its radio monitored by University Police. These protections do not, however, guarantee peace of mind, drivers said. "Let's just say you should always be on your toes," Lawson said with a laugh. The Shuttle vans are divided into four routes: A, B, C, and X. A runs into West Philadelphia from the north side of campus, B from the south, X makes the off-campus rounds and C heads into Center City. Approximately 18 drivers divide up the vans, and each one carries fifteen passengers. But the organization of the system is not static, and it has been modified several times since its inception in 1986. There has been a shift in emphasis on the C route to Center City, for example. On any given day, there will be six vans on the C Route with four vans on A and B and four vans on X . In 1992, when the route system first went into effect, A and B routes to West Philadelphia were carrying the most traffic. "There's been a definite movement in student activity from West Philadelphia to Center City," Ward explained. However, the change in which routes are emphasized pales in comparison to the change in volume. In its first year, Escort carried 13,000 passengers. Last year, Escort carried 361,426 students, an increase of almost 1,227 percent, said Ward. To handle the extra load, the organization switched from station wagons to 12-person vans in 1988 and in 1991 to the vehicles currently used. The number of Shuttle vehicles on the road has also grown, sometimes in reactive spurts, as with the four new vans dispatched after the 1996 murder of Penn researcher Vladimir Sled.