University Bus 3031, operated by Ken Bowman, is not filled with many pictures or decorations. Perhaps that is because Bus 3031 is all the decoration Bowman needs.
Bowman, who has worked 14 years as a transit coach operator for Parking and Transportation Services, has 29 years experience in bus operations.
His years as a driver and mass transit enthusiast have netted him a grand collection of bus memorabilia. Destination sign rolls and old schedules from all over the Great Lakes populate his Toledo home, where he resides with his wife of 25 years. The couple has three sons, ages 15, 20 and 22.
Bowman also collects much larger items.
“I once owned a decommissioned 1971 Flxible, which I fixed up a bit and drove around,” he says.
Bowman began driving busses on the commuter route, as he does today, in October 1994. The route takes an hour to complete, and in the course of his workday he drives it seven times, carrying on average 950 people a day.
“I really enjoy driving busses more than cars,” Bowman says as he takes a sweeping left turn onto Bonisteel. “You’re set in front of the wheels, so you don’t have any problem with a hood or really with turning,” he says, as the bus appears to move completely sideways from the driver’s point of view. “Your only real problem is right turns, and that can be corrected with a little proper set-up for the turn.”
The right-hand turn at Willard and Church, under any condition, is the hardest on his route, Bowman says. A street lamp pole taunts Bowman as he winds past it less than a foot away. The turn is as smooth as any other he has made before.
His enthusiasm for busses began as a 5-year-old when his grandfather Paul Skelding, also a city of Toledo bus driver, let Bowman sit on his lap at a stop to open and close the doors.
“That was it,” Bowman says. “That sold me on being a bus driver.”
After earning his bachelor’s degree in education from the University of Toledo, Bowman found he preferred driving busses over student teaching. So his part-time job driving busses in Toledo then became his career.
When asked if his work ever was mundane, he explains that “it never really gets old, because there is never the same traffic, the lights are different, the drivers are different and you have to be on your toes for anything.” Sometimes road closings occur and he has to, “invent new ways to get around town.”
When Bowman isn’t working, he stays on the move. “A little hobby of mine is to go out to Milan Dragway and race motorcycles,” Bowman says. He calls it his “stress relief, for dealing with traffic. It’s my way of keeping my patience in a gridlock or with cars, knowing that I can just go to the track.” He reaches speeds of 130 mph on his Suzuki GSX-R1100, roughly twice the maximum speed of a University bus. He also has parachuted from an airplane and is interested in base jumping and bungee jumping.
Yet bus driving is his ultimate passion, as evidenced by his nickname. Bowman is affectionately known around the garage as Ralph Kramden, in parody of Jackie Gleason’s bus driver character in the 1950s sitcom “The Honeymooners.”
“I can recite Ralph Kramden lines verbatim,” Bowman says. Unlike his icon, Bowman stresses the patience of the job especially when dealing with frustrating road conditions. “This job will test your patience, but it is still the best job I’ve known.”
The weekly Spotlight features staff members at the University. To nominate a candidate, please contact the Record staff at [email protected].
The weekly Spotlight features staff members at the University. To nominate a candidate, please contact the Record staff at [email protected].
