By Sana Sareshwala and Nicola Yap

While many seniors dream of having the perfect Senior Ball evening, such was not the case for a group of unfortunate Cal High students when the driver of their party bus arrived more than three hours late after last month’s dance.

Nearly 50 students were left stranded at the Galleria in San Francisco on May 22 after a bus driver from Prime Time Tours in Sunnyvalle called students to inform them he’d be late.

Although the dance ended at 11 p.m., the bus did not return until 2:20 a.m.

“The driver tried to tell us he would be late because the bus had broken down and was being serviced, so he would send another bus in,” senior Max Schultz said. “But when we got on the supposedly new bus, we saw our CD in the CD player and (the bus had) the same license plate.”

Unfortunately, the problems didn’t end there.

Students were told to leave their belongings under the seat before exiting the bus for the dance.

But when the bus finally returned after the dance, students said they found several of their possessions, such as cameras and phones, missing. They also said the bus was drenched in alcohol.

“I’m very disappointed in the company,” said assistant principal Damon Wright. “It was very irresponsible to leave a group of adolescents stranded, waiting in San Francisco, in the middle of the night.”

Several phone calls to Prime Time Tours were not returned.

Students suspected that during the dance, the driver left to pick up another party elsewhere because when he finally returned the bus smelled of alcohol and some of the students’ clothing was soaked in alcohol.

Economics teacher Doug Devries, a chaperone for the event, entered the bus after hearing students’ concerns.

“Everything was drenched in beer,” said Devries.

Students resorted to calling their parents to pick them up in San Francisco because they did not trust the driver with their safety.

“My daughter called me and I knew right away that she should not be boarding the bus for her own protection,” said Judy Price, senior Kayla Price’s mother. “I came right away to pick her up and when I got there, the police had already arrived.”

Students called the police in an attempt to force a sobriety test of the driver because of the alcohol on the bus and the erratic ride from San Ramon earlier in the evening.

In addition to cramming 48 students into a bus intended to seat 30, passengers said the bus driver drove exceedingly fast and repeatedly swerved out of lanes.

“The driver was slamming brakes and we were being thrown around in the bus and everyone thought he was psycho,” said Max.

“I pulled him out and told him he was the worst driver and was extremely unprofessional,” Max continued. “He gave us this spiel on how the bus can’t really go that fast, but I know when he drove us we were swerving.”

No sobriety test was performed by police at the scene.

“The police couldn’t prove that the bus driver was drinking,” said Wright. “The liquor (in the bus) could have been from the previous passengers.”

Despite that, students felt that the police should have intervened.

“Cops should have gotten involved,” said senior Lauren Guzman. “But they never gave him a breathalyzer test or anything.”

School Resource Officer Rob Ransom said police probably did not see any signs of drinking and chose not to breathalyze him, despite the students’ concerns.

Principal Mark Corti, who stayed with students and several chaperones until all students were picked up, said the school did all it could to ensure students’ safety by not allowing them to return to the bus.

He also noted that the Galleria kept the venue open so the students could wait inside.

Police encouraged students’ parents to file a complaint. Lauren’s father, Rick Guzman, said he plans to sue the company.

Lauren, who was in charge of organizing the bus, said she found Prime Time Tours online.

Several ratings of one star from various clients confirm that similar problems have occurred on multiple occasions.

“Afterwards we checked their reviews on Yelp.com and saw they do the same thing to everyone,” she said.

One comment on Yelp.com reads, “AVOID THIS JOKE OF A PARTY BUS COMPANY AT ALL COSTS.”

In addition to problems at this year’s dance, a similar incident with the same company occurred last year at Cal’s Senior Ball.

Last year, the bus driver told the group he was going to wait for them during the dance, but he left to go pick up people at another party.

“We waited for two hours (after Senior Ball) in front of City Hall and some of our friends walked a few blocks and found (the bus) in front of a club,” said junior Nicole Baggerly, a client of Prime Time Tours the previous year.

The organizer of the party bus last year, Cal alumni Vik Singh, said. “There were smashed bottles on the floor of the bus and we had no shoes. Luckily nothing was stolen and all our stuff was in the trunk. We still didn’t get our money back, though.”

This year, students got all of their money back because the bus driver required students to pay $55 per person before leaving San Ramon.

He still had the more than $2,600 in cash upon his return, so students were able to retrieve their money.

Corti recommends students research companies beforehand to avoid such problems in the future.

“Next year, I would advise no one to use Prime Time Tours,” said Max. “It didn’t ruin Senior Ball, but it spoiled the end of the night.”