After 10 hours of students vomiting, fighting and throwing snowballs at buses, CATA Director of Operations Sherry Snyder said State Patty's weekend was the cruelest of her entire career.
"It was the worst weekend we've ever experienced," said Snyder, who has been working with the Centre Area Transit Authority (CATA) for 11 years. "I was running for the hills when I left."
When Snyder arrived on the job at 11 a.m. Saturday, most buses were already at capacity and running 15 to 20 minutes late.
But not even the delayed service could stop swarms of people from huddling at the stops throughout the weekend.
Ridership for the White Loop between the hours of 2:20 a.m. and 4:20 a.m. Saturday morning was the second highest on record, CATA General Manager Hugh Mose said. There were
820 riders Saturday morning, only 121 less than the record of 941 on Feb. 6.
But while total ridership figures aren't yet available, Mose doesn't expect this year's State Patty's Day to eclipse Feb. 27, 2009's record of 45,157.
That doesn't mean it was a dull weekend. By the end of her shift at 9:30 p.m., Snyder said about 175 calls were made to CATA's offices from people complaining about service.
"We were cursed at and sworn at," she said. "People were demanding the bus 'come here right now.' "
On the buses, the problems increased.
In one incident, Snyder said the driver of an M bus was sent to the emergency room after a person standing on South Burrowes Street threw a snowball through the driver's window and hit him in the face.
The driver's glasses were knocked off, but he was able to maintain control of the vehicle, Snyder said. Because of incidents like this, CATA staff members have started making a catalog of events so they are more prepared next year.
"It's exceedingly dangerous -- it's a 40-foot vehicle carrying passengers," Mose said, "It wouldn't have taken very much more to cause some really serious consequences."
Snyder said maintenance workers were constantly cleaning vomit off the buses. There were also several occasions in which they had to clean the CATA vestibule at Schlow Library because of the amount of vomit left by patrons, Snyder said.
Penn State student Tim Mikotowicz said when he went out Saturday, he took cabs around town to avoid the crowds and police. However, when calling a cab was out of the question, braving the White Loop was his only choice.
"It was the most outrageous I've ever seen it," Mikotowicz (sophomore-energy, business and finance) said. "There was a kid projectile vomiting. Trying to get on was like a bull rush."
Mikotowicz said though he wasn't surprised by what occurred throughout the weekend, he does think it's becoming a problem.
"It's getting out of control when more people are coming up for a made-up holiday than for a football game," he said.
