In 12-hour workdays, Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit bus drivers transport essential workers, relieve students from treks across campus and save the community from long walks in the sun and snow.
As cornerstones of the community, these drivers interact with riders from across the county all day long from the driver’s seat.
The Sun spoke with some TCAT bus drivers to learn more about their lives on and off the road.
Jesse Pompilio
Sporting mismatched wacky socks and a wide smile, Jesse Pompilio drives around Ithaca in style. The Ithaca-native began driving for TCAT two years ago and he said he has felt fulfilled by the driving job ever since.
Life on wheels is natural for Pompilio, who holds a decades-long passion for skateboarding and has worked in the driving industry for years.
Behind the wheel, Pompilio has driven across the country multiple times, worked for over-the-road companies doing cell tower work, delivered food and drove taxis before working for TCAT.
“Driving is like breathing,” Pompilio said. “I like moving people around. I like getting people from A to B.”
All the while, Pomilio wears one thing that makes him stick out from the other drivers — his knee-high patterned socks. Every day, he steps into the driver’s seat flaunting two differently colored socks ranging in patterns from Rick and Morty characters, to bacon and eggs, to skulls and crossbones and more.
“I figure if I'm going to wear shorts, I might as well subject people to fun colored socks,” Pompilio said with a smile. “I wear them mismatched just because why not?”
As a bus driver, sometimes passengers regard him as part of the bus, Pompilio said. The best parts of his day — aside from moments of agreeable traffic — are the moments where he can connect with the people who climb on.
“It’s nice to be noticed,” Pompilio said.
Jesa Scott
An English bulldog and a Cane Corso puppy loudly greet Jesa Scott when she returns home to craft and watch K-dramas after long days of driving.
Like her puppies at home, Scott loves to talk. Her smile widens and her voice brightens when passengers greet her, and she said that talking to passengers is her favorite thing.
“I love the passengers,” Scott said. “I like meeting new people. I like to talk to people, so I’m just silly all the time.”
Scott found her “birthday twin” — a passenger on her bus with the same birthday as her — just by being silly, she said. She shares similar moments with her other usuals, or people who frequent her buses, that make her drives special.
Earlier this year, Scott served on the bargaining team as TCAT workers, represented by UAW Local 2300, negotiated for a fair contract. Drivers and other workers represented by the bargaining team called for increased wages and other measures that would ensure adequate staffing and reduce turnover.
As a part of the bargaining team, Scott took notes and relayed information back to the drivers. Scott said the decision to ratify their contract in April was a start to things getting better. Even when the union is not actively negotiating a new contract, she said she still tells her associates, “I'm here for you. You can talk to me.”
“I feel like people are a lot more vocal,” Scott said. “They feel more seen and they feel like they've been heard a little bit more.”
Compassion steers Scott’s personal philosophy as a bus driver. She said she will always help out a passenger who needs it, even if they don’t have their fare.
“It makes life a lot easier when you’re able to communicate with people, even when things aren’t going so great,” Scott said.
Sometimes, she said she jokes with passengers who have misplaced their cards by dramatically saying “Oh my god, what are you going to do?” and then she laughs, reminds them to bring their card next time and lets them get on anyway.
“I'm not going to make you late to work, I don't want to make you late to class or wherever it is you're going,” Scott said. “My job is to get you from point A to point B safely, and that's what I'm going to do.”
Jacob Martin
Former truck driver Jacob Martin made the jump to buses just over a year ago. He has ties in Ithaca as a former student of the New Roots Charter School downtown, but he recently moved back to town from Georgia.
Martin drives route 30 and route 90, or late-night Cornell runs, as he described them. The late-night route 90 runs are his favorite because his bus can go from being jam-packed one second to completely empty the next, he said.
“You'll never actually know what you're getting into when you start your day,” Martin said.
All sorts of people board Martin’s bus.
Typical rides can include anyone from college students to people that are just down on their luck, Martin said. Often, he runs into people he has discourse with, but he said it makes the job interesting at the end of the day.
Despite the bumps in the road, people are the joy of the job for Martin. He said he always tries to keep it positive on his bus.
“Sometimes you can be the [one to] make it or break it for some people,” Martin said.
Madison Bradley
Madison Bradley chuckles during a spirited drive to the Ithaca Tompkins International Airport via route 32.
At 6 feet and 3 inches tall, Madison Bradley may look more like a football player than a bus driver — that’s because he played on the University of Maryland’s football field before he landed back in Upstate New York.
Almost 30 years ago, the Buffalo-native played as a defensive lineman for UMD. There, he said he became close friends and teammates with Kevin Plank, founder and CEO of Under Armour.
Bradley said he’s “too old” to throw the football around anymore, but he still travels to Maryland to reconnect with old teammates.
Now, Bradley has driven for TCAT for just over two years, and he said he enjoys the job.
“I just like driving,” Bradley said. “I like interacting with people. … There’s different scenery and I get to interact with people of all different walks of life.”
Every day, Bradley wakes up, commutes approximately 35 minutes to work and boards a bus to drive route 32, which goes all the way to the Ithaca Tompkins International Airport from the Ithaca Commons.
Though the drive is “monotonous,” he finds joy in driving and in his interests outside of work, like spending time with his family, traveling and cheering for Lewis Hamilton in Formula 1 races.
“You go home, you decompress, then you wake up the next morning ready to do it again,” Bradley said.
Varsha Bhargava is a news editor from The Cornell Daily Sun working as a reporter for The Ithaca Times through The Sun’s summer fellowship program. This article was originally published in The Ithaca Times.
Varsha Bhargava is a member of the Class of 2027 in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. She is a news editor for the 143rd Editorial Board and can be reached at vbhargava@cornellsun.com.
