Every morning you wake up, rub sleep out of your eyes and walk over to the bus stop. You grumble about the bus being late, and you start worrying whether you'll be on time.
When it arrives, you automatically flash your Gator 1 Card as you walk up the steps and take a seat. If you arrive on time, you bless the heavens; if you arrive to class late, you blame the lousy bus system.
After classes, you head toward the bus stop and curse once more its lateness; you just want to get home.
You repeat this pattern every day.
While many students go through this routine daily, there is one aspect of our predictable schedule that we ignore.
Every morning, the bus arrives and every evening we go home. Despite using the bus system every day, many of us forget who actually gets us to our destination.
They are the silent and present individuals who sit at the front.
Who is there at 7 a.m. for our 7:25 a.m. class? And who is there when we sleepily amble home from Library West at 1 a.m?
Who sacrifices their Friday and Saturday nights so we can enjoy our nights of debauchery in Midtown and downtown Gainesville?
Who gives us directions when we're lost? And who waits for us when we're running toward them in the rain?
Who, despite our constant complaining, gets us to class without fail and is always ready to take us home?
They are our bus drivers.
Currently, they are facing oppressive changes to their contracts from the city. These changes include cuts to their pension and continuous freeze on their wages.
However, one of the biggest challenges the drivers face are forced overtime hours. Due to the small pool of available drivers, they are constantly forced to work beyond their normal shift.
Their overtime hours often total the ridiculous sum of 19 hours in one day. This affects the well-being and safety of the driver and the riders.
If a driver is tired, he or she is less likely to be aware of his or her surroundings. This current work situation is not conducive to a safe environment.
The Amalgamated Transit Union, the drivers union, is working hard to combat the hazardous work environment by demanding that Regional Transit System hires more drivers and ends forced overtime.
The students need to come together and support the efforts of the union.
As students, we make up 75 percent of the RTS ridership, and we have the loudest voices. What is happening to the bus drivers is not fair, and we have a duty to stop it.
As students, we have a responsibility to help the individuals we depend on every day. Where would we be if the bus drivers weren't there every morning to greet us?
Where would we be if we couldn't get home at 1 a.m. after an intense study session?
How would our Fridays and Saturdays look if we didn't have a safe ride home?
Our RTS bus drivers are there for us in all aspects of our collegiate life. They continually help us without a word of dissent. It's our turn to help them back.
We can no longer yell out a feeble "thank you" when we get off the bus and hope that brightens the driver's day. We need to go that extra mile as they have constantly done for us.
If you want to get involved with this ongoing campaign, please visit the Gainesville Area Students for a Democratic Society's Facebook page and learn how.
Michela Martinazzi is an art history sophomore at UF.
