INDIANAPOLIS — Will Hazen loves his job.
"You get to meet so many different people coming from so many different backgrounds," he said. "Going to so many different destinations every single day."
His passengers are paying customers, but to him they're much more.
"They're part of our IndyGo family, too," Hazen said.
Recently, he took on an extra responsibility, handing out bike lights for passengers that need them.
"It's just a part of taking care of your neighbors," he said. "If I see them rack a bike, especially early in the morning or late at night, I just ask them, 'Hey, I see you don't have lights for your bike. Do you want a set?'"
This didn't start out of the blue.
"We had two bus riders that were killed in the same week by cars," Hazen said. "One was in a wheelchair, and one was trying to cross the street with a bicycle."
It was a wakeup call — one Hazen felt he needed to answer.
"One was getting off the bus that was in front of me. I had just finished my run for the night and was getting the bus ready to go back to the garage and just happened to see it. It was really unfortunate," he said.
Face-to-face with tragedy, Hazen knew he wanted to make a difference.
"I wanted to be a part of something better than that and wanted to be a part of change," he said.
IndyGo director of communications Carrie Black commended Hazen's efforts.
"Not only did he see a problem and decide, 'How can I fix it?' But then he decided the way he was going to fix it was by spending money out of his own pocket," Black said.
"It's somewhere between $3,000 and $4,000," Hazen said. "If this even prevents one death, I think it's worth it."
So far, he's given out 50 sets of lights.