When Ira Alves picks up students in the Campus Transit van, they might be surprised to see one of their classmates behind the wheel.
Alves, biological sciences junior, is just one of the University students who drives a Campus Transit vehicle on a daily basis.
Gary Graham, director of the Office of Parking, Traffic and Transportation, said the office employs three students as part-time employees.
Graham said people who drive the buses are required to have a commercial driver’s license.
Gildas Guedia, petroleum engineering junior, got his CDL to begin driving Campus Transit buses about a year ago.
He said getting the license was a long process similar to getting a regular driver’s license. He said he went through training, practiced with a learner’s permit and took a written exam.
However, Guedia said, the driver’s test was a bit more difficult.
“You have to walk around the bus and tell the instructor everything you check,” Guedia said. “You have to be able to find what’s wrong.”
Guedia said he also was tested on driving, reversing and parking.
Graham said people who drive the Campus Transit vans don’t have to get a special license, but they are required to pass a test.
Alves has been driving the Campus Transit vans for more than a year and didn’t find the driving test difficult.
“It’s just a test to make sure you know how to safely drive,” Alves said. “It’s not that hard.”
Alves said he’s never nervous to drive students around campus late at night because he thinks Baton Rouge streets are safe.
“You’ve just got to be cautious,” Alves said.
And Graham said he doesn’t worry about students driving the vans and buses.
“Generally, if they’re looking to do this, they’re pretty confident,” he said.
Alves said students are not allowed to work more than 20 hours a week — part of that time he answers the Campus Transit phone and alerts drivers to students that need to be picked up.
Alves said he sometimes has trouble remembering where his passengers are going and where students are waiting to be picked up.
“You have to remember the people in the van and then try to combine the routes to save time,” Alves said. “It can get frustrating.”
Morgan Reeves, psychology freshman, said she’s not bothered by students driving the vehicles but wouldn’t consider doing it herself.
“I don’t know campus that well,” Reeves said. “I would get lost.”
Alves said he had that problem when he first started, but his supervisors helped him overcome it.
Alves said he started working with Campus Transit as a radio dispatcher then rode as a passenger with other drivers until he felt comfortable driving by himself.
Alves said he has seen some interesting things while driving the van.
“The Friday before Halloween, I picked up this couple, and they were really, really drunk,” he said. “I just remember I was so scared they were going to throw up in my van.”
He said Campus Transit carried about 600 people Halloween night, and he enjoyed seeing intoxicated students in their costumes.
 
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Contact Rachel Warren at [email protected]