The Burning Man Shuttle Bus ran very smoothly in its third year of service ferrying participants into Gerlach and Empire. The bus ran hourly Wednesday through Saturday, 9am to 5pm, on the hour, a schedule that seemed very well-suited to the needs of participants. The most common reasons for riding into town seemed to be the need to make phone calls or buy cigarettes.
We had almost the same number of bus riders in 2002 as last year. Tickets for a few mid-day bus runs sold out prior to leaving, so some people had to wait more than an hour. Demand always slowed down for the last few busses of the day, though, so no one had to wait until the next day to go into town.
Two volunteers were scheduled to work each shift. The volunteer crew was organized completely by email prior to the event. Shifts typically lasted three hours. The volunteers who signed up to help at the Bus Depot Ticket Booth were fantastic again this year—we had only one no-show all week. A few volunteers were repeaters from last year, which helped to simplify orientations.
Submitted by,
Fred Whitman, aka Owl