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   from the issue of March 8, 2007

     
 
Retired patrolman cruises bus route

 BY TROY FEDDERSON, UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS

One of U - This is a series featuring employees of UNL. Stories are open to anything interesting, from on-campus jobs to at-home hobbies.

 
COMING AROUND - Gene Giles laughs at a stop along the garage bus route offered by Parking and Transit Services. A...
 COMING AROUND - Gene Giles laughs at a stop along the garage bus route offered by Parking and Transit Services. A retired Lincoln Police Department patrolman, Giles has driven UNL shuttle busses for four years. Photo by Troy Fedderson/University Coummunications.

If you know an employee who should be featured here, contact the Scarlet at tfedderson2@unl.edu or 472-8515.


The wheels on Gene Giles' bus go round and round shuttling UNL faculty, staff and students from parking garages to City Campus stops.

Cruising at a top speed of about 30 miles per hour (reached mainly on a short stretch of Holdrege Street, near the Husker football practice fields), Giles is quick with a welcoming smile and warm greeting at each bus stop.

"I really enjoy this job quite a bit," Giles said. "I treat passengers like I would expect to be treated. And, my reward is being able to pick up people at stops and get them to where they are going safely."

A 1994 Lincoln Police Department retiree, Giles protected and served for 32 years as a patrolman. His first beat was on foot in downtown Lincoln.

"I started downtown in March 1963 and didn't start riding in a cruiser until September 1967," Giles said.

After retiring from LPD, Giles took a job delivering propane. However, Giles said he was simply too old to be "throwing propane cylinders around." He applied for an opening as a bus route driver and was hired in April 2003.

Giles' days start early, reporting in at 6:15 a.m. for a pre-trip inspection.

"That is all part of having a commercial drivers license," Giles said. "I check the oil, tires, gas, making sure the bus is safe. Then, I roll out on the route at 6:30."

Giles drives the route from 6:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m., Monday through Friday. He covers about 75 miles in an average day. The garage route measures in at 3 miles per circuit.

"Under normal driving conditions, a round takes me about 15 minutes," Giles said.

Along the way, he picks up a number of familiar faces, with a few new ones scattered in.

"I really enjoy meeting and getting to know the students, faculty and staff," Giles said. "I get to haul our students for three or four years, watching them mature and grow."

That benefit is also a bit of a downfall for the bus driver.

"I don't have the opportunity to get really close with a lot of the students, but you do learn a lot about their families and background," Giles said. "But, then all of a sudden those familiar faces are gone. You start to wonder where they are at, what they are doing."

At the end of each day, Giles pulls into the "shed" at Parking and Transit Services to clean the bus.

"At the end of each shift, we dump the garbage, sweep out the bus and make sure no one has left any treasure for us," Giles said. "You never know when you are going to find someone's keys, billfold, cell phone or even computer."

While he savored his years on patrol, Giles does enjoy the more leisurely pace set in the UNL bus - especially when he recalls a particular patrol with then partner Barry Alvarez, a former Husker football player who took a job with LPD after graduation. Alvarez is now head football coach at the University of Wisconsin.

"This may still stand, but we held the record for the longest police chase in the shortest amount of time," Giles said. "We covered 45 miles in 32 minutes, following this kid who ran a red light and didn't want to get a ticket."

During one stretch of the chase, Giles drove side-by-side with a state patrol car with the speedometer peaking at 110 miles per hour.

"At this stage in my career, I really enjoy not having to deal with that kind of stress."



Get on the Bus

• Parking and Transit Services employs 9 full time, 1 part time, 16 students, 2 temps and 8 on-call drivers for UNL bus routes and other shuttle needs

• Approximately 6,550 passengers use UNL busses each week

• The busses cover about 11,000 miles per week

• Hours are 6:30 a.m. to 11:45 p.m., weekdays in the fall and spring semesters; and 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekdays during summer sessions

• The buses do run weekends for special events only

Figures provided by Parking and Transit Services


GO TO: ISSUE OF MARCH 8

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