The alarm rings. Students lug through the morning routine – brushing teeth, combing hair, crunching on the cereal of the day. They head towards their bus stop, timidly waving at the strangers they barely know or care to be with. They hear a loud screech that jolts them out of their pondering of the meaning of life. They know that sound. It’s the noise that signifies the arrival of the dreaded large yellow vehicle. They turn their heads in time to get blasted in the face with exhaust.

Many students ride the bus each day to and from campus. The buses are a free mode of transportation that the student body uses, but not necessarily enjoys.

“It’s really crowded all the time,” frequent bus rider sophomore Farren Kabir said. “I think cars are better so we can get to school on time.”

Bad experiences associated with buses abound.

“[The bus] on the first day of school is really late because of traffic,” sophomore Sruthi Kosuru said. “And one day when the bus was literally right there at the stop, and I was [waiting] there but it just tore past me.”

Because of that incident, Kosuru had to be dropped off at school that day by her dad.

Even so, the 30 minute ride is all in the eyes of the passenger. Most students prefer a car ride over the trip of the bus, but there are some who like riding under favorable circumstances.

“I kind of like the bus, because lots of my friends are on it,” junior Ron Jones said. “So that’s what makes it alright.”

Jones sometimes gets picked up after school.

“The way my parents take me home is quicker and I get home faster,” Jones said. “In that case, I prefer the car ride home.”