LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Parking in and around Churchill Downs is scarce during the week of the Kentucky Derby. Many of the hundreds of thousands of people that come to the track are shuttled from the Kentucky Expo Center to Churchill Downs via charter or school buses. 

Brenda Bell, 70, of Louisville, spends most of her time in a school bus as a full-time driver for the Kentucky School for the Blind in Louisville. This year, for the first time, she is at the helm of one of the many buses making the 6-mile round trip from the Expo Center to Churchill Downs.

“This may be the first time I’ve done this, but I’m very comfortable behind the wheel of a bus,” Bell said. “This was a chance for me to do something I’ve never done and look at the beautiful hats, dresses and suits people are wearing. I’m having a lot of fun.”

Bell said she will make the round-trip about 50 times on Oaks Day and Saturday for the 148th Kentucky Derby. 

“It doesn’t seem like it’s the same route over and over,” she said. “Every trip I’m hauling different people, seeing different people and just taking in the surroundings. Hopefully, I’ll do this every year from now on.”

Churchill Downs uses over 300 buses as shuttles. The track increased the number used in 2018 to reduce the number of cars at the track. Central Avenue, which runs parallel to Churchill Downs, is shut down on Oaks and Derby days to everything except shuttle buses. 

“They have it worked out pretty good, I think,” Bell said. “The lines aren’t very long at the Expo and people are dropped off steadily at the track. It really is the best way to get into the track and get back to your car. I think it’s good that they do this.”