Contrary to its appearance, the Wolfline bus system is run by First Transit, a corporation based out of Cincinnati, rather than through the University.

Kim Paylor , transit manager for the University, said the contract with First Transit is beneficial for several reasons.

“It is just a financial situation… we would have to charge a whole lot more [through direct operation],” Paylor said. “We would have to have a place to store the buses , own and operate them, hire maintenance–it would just be a whole lot more.”

Along with the contract, First Transit controls employees who drive Wolfline buses around campus. This means employees do not receive pay or benefits from the University.

“None of the employees work directly for us,” Paylor said.

Among First Transit’s employees was Joanne Sewell, a Wolfline bus driver who died shortly after a medical incident that occurred on campus last December. Although she worked on campus, Sewell was not considered a University employee.

“We were saddened by [her] death,” Christine Klein, public communications specialist for the University, said.  According to Klein, Sewell and other Wolfline employees had no employment association with the school, and the benefits she received had no relation to the University.

Although Klein was sympathetic towards the loss, she explained any information regarding Sewell’s employment information was in the hands of First Transit.

“In any situation like this there are ramifications. She was not an employee of the University, she was an employee of First T ransit.” Klein said.

Situations such as Sewell’s death are the precise type of duty the University has paid First Transit to fulfill.

“It has always been like that, there has never been a point in which we owned and operated our own buses ,” Paylor said.

Klein said the question of who should control transit operations was initially addressed and conclusive.

“We studied that issue several times and it is much more cost effective to contract the service out to a professional transit provider and operate it the way we do than to operate by ourselves,” Klein said.

The contract, Klein explained, states that First Transit was chosen as a cost-effective option.

With 2.5 million riders a year, the University transit system is a massive entity that is important to student life. According to Klein, the University has been pleased with First Transit’s service. “Our mission is to get students back and forth to class,” Klein said.

As the main source of transportation for many students, Klein explained that although contracted, the Wolfline is very much a part of the campus.

“Our bus drivers are very visible, our Wolfline buses are branded as a part of the University, and there is that connection,” Klein said.

Various transportation companies’ bid to control the Wolfline , but the University recently extended the contract with First Transit for five years, Klein said.

Klein said a previous contractor had not been as pleasing as First Transit.

Mick Kulikowski , a University spokesperson, explained no information regarding Sewell’s death had been released, but did explain that First Transit fully controlled her employment.

In regards to hiring a separate company to control University transit, Kulikowski sympathized with the University, explaining that the University simply could not control 2.5 million students by their own means.

“It’s obviously an important service,” Kulikowski said. “I know that it tries to be an inclusive, big service and that’s a pretty big undertaking.”