A ride-along on the drunk bus yields interesting results
Kristy Kibler
Issue date: 4/25/08 Section: Features
I waited on the curb, watching as the bright, yellow bus roared closer. It slowed to a stop, and with my co-editor Alexandra Fioravanti a step behind, I left the snowy sidewalk and climbed aboard.
Our night of reporting on the late-night bus had begun, and after just a few minutes, several things made themselves very clear.
The drunk bus, as it is affectionately called by students, is a virtual smorgasbord of late-night, inebriated drama; hook-ups, break-ups, tears, laughter and shouting abound at almost any given moment. And as two more passengers on the bus, we were part of it all.
A junior I interviewed asked hopefully, "Hey, you want to take this interview to this party on Seventh Street?" Alex found herself in the middle of a fist fight. We watched sympathetically as a girl sobbed off her eyeliner onto her long-suffering boyfriend's shoulder. And we nearly fell down laughing as several senior boys, more than a little tipsy, gave an enthusiastic rendition of the Vanessa Carlton song "White Houses."
And unbelievably, that was just the beginning.
The Passengers
As the bus made stops in downtown Allegany, students started pouring onboard. Needless to say, we found no shortage of people willing to talk.
Katie, a freshman, said she adored the drunk bus.
"I thoroughly enjoy it-in fact, I love it!" she said. "I'm wearing flip-flops tonight … because of the drunk bus, I don't have to walk home in the cold!"
Junior Anne Dlugosz, 21, said she also has a good time on the drunk bus.
"I like it a lot," she said. "People sing songs, and it's hilarious. It's nice because it makes major stops - like, if you're going on campus anywhere, it's going to take you there. And even if you're not on campus, it gets you pretty close. It's convenient."
Not everyone, however, has such positive sentiments toward the drunk bus.
Omar, 20, usually prefers to walk to his apartment on Seventh Street.
Our night of reporting on the late-night bus had begun, and after just a few minutes, several things made themselves very clear.
The drunk bus, as it is affectionately called by students, is a virtual smorgasbord of late-night, inebriated drama; hook-ups, break-ups, tears, laughter and shouting abound at almost any given moment. And as two more passengers on the bus, we were part of it all.
A junior I interviewed asked hopefully, "Hey, you want to take this interview to this party on Seventh Street?" Alex found herself in the middle of a fist fight. We watched sympathetically as a girl sobbed off her eyeliner onto her long-suffering boyfriend's shoulder. And we nearly fell down laughing as several senior boys, more than a little tipsy, gave an enthusiastic rendition of the Vanessa Carlton song "White Houses."
And unbelievably, that was just the beginning.
The Passengers
As the bus made stops in downtown Allegany, students started pouring onboard. Needless to say, we found no shortage of people willing to talk.
Katie, a freshman, said she adored the drunk bus.
"I thoroughly enjoy it-in fact, I love it!" she said. "I'm wearing flip-flops tonight … because of the drunk bus, I don't have to walk home in the cold!"
Junior Anne Dlugosz, 21, said she also has a good time on the drunk bus.
"I like it a lot," she said. "People sing songs, and it's hilarious. It's nice because it makes major stops - like, if you're going on campus anywhere, it's going to take you there. And even if you're not on campus, it gets you pretty close. It's convenient."
Not everyone, however, has such positive sentiments toward the drunk bus.
Omar, 20, usually prefers to walk to his apartment on Seventh Street.
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