Passengers who ride the LSU transit system must recognize and follow the rules of conduct set by First Transit, the company that manages the system.
For one LSU junior majoring in French, a midday bus ride on the transit system quickly turned hostile last semester when a male stranger indecently exposed himself.
The student, who spoke to the Reveille on the condition of anonymity, said she didn’t understand what was happening in the moment.
“I was in shock, but it was a strange type of feeling,” the student said.
Following the act of obscenity, the student notified the bus driver and exited the bus to attend a meeting. She contacted LSUPD less than 30 minutes when her meeting ended.
LSUPD met the student and interviewed her to obtain all the details of the act of obscenity.
“It genuinely surprised me how reactive everyone was,” the student said. “LSU reacted so quickly and gave me updates.”
She felt the police handled the situation well and kept her up to date with any developments in her case. LSUPD contacted her six times, four times to have her restate the incident and twice to update her on the development of the case.
“The last update I heard was that he was identified,” the student said. “I’m still unsure whether he actually got charges pressed.”
Bus rules range from requiring passengers wear shoes to banning horseplay. Executive Director of Facility and Property Oversight Tammy Millican said each situation is first handled by having the driver call dispatch and letting a supervisor know of the problem.
The bus driver can then state the bus’ location and wait for a supervisor or meet a supervisor at the next stop. The supervisor then determines whether a passenger must be removed from the bus.
The University has implemented security measures to aid LSUPD when passengers act obscenely. Each bus has security cameras installed, and all bus drivers are thoroughly trained to be prepared for any situation that may arise.
“[Drivers] go through a training program, which will include classroom training on how to handle those types of situations, closed-courses training and open-road training” Millican said. “That is to prepare them for those situations where someone is behaving badly.”
Though bus drivers have removed passengers from buses for lewd behavior and breaking the rules of the transit system, First Transit has never had to ban a bus rider since the University awarded them the transit contact.
“If the need to ban a bus rider occurs, Parking and Transportation Services and First Transit will provide this information to LSUPD to ensure the person does not board the bus after being banned,” Millican said.