Tech students from Oulu riding for a good cause

There it rumbles! The white bus goes around the roundabout about five times. When it stops at the traffic lights, the passengers make the bus sway and almost bounce up and down with their movements.

Up close, you can see that the bus has the number 69 on it and the destination reads “Wesibussi”. The side window features a decorative sheet.

This merry ride is a party bus from Oulu, which runs in the Oulu area during the week before May Day Eve. This year, the bus is scheduled to run from 22 to 29 April. The Wesibussi will no longer run on May Day Eve when there are big May Day events in Oulu, such as fuksiuitto (”the fuksi baptism event”).

Stepping inside the Wesibussi, you are greeted by balloons, paper streamers, coloured lights and professional sound equipment – as well as a group of happy tech students. Activities on the bus are coordinated by the Wesibussi Committee, a section under the Technical Students Association Oulu (OTY). Members of the committee must also be members of the association. Committee members are current or graduated tech students at the University of Oulu.

The Wesibussi Committee consists of ten active members. Eemeli Kaukonen is the chairperson of the committee and has been involved in the activities for 1.5 years.
“I like organising events. I also hold the title of Event Coordinator in my guild,” Kaukonen says.

Alisa Väisänen is the Treasurer of the Wesibussi Committee. Väisänen has been involved since 2022.
“The Wesibussi has a long tradition, it’s cool to be part of it.”

Janne Kilponen has been part of the team since 2017. The  passion for organising events and a couple of friends who were already on the committee inspired Kilponen to get involved.

“Since then, I’ve helped organise the event every year, for the love of the game!”

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One hundred grand for children

You can do good by partying and dancing on the Wesibussi: almost all the proceeds from tickets go to charity. The Wesibussi Committee only deducts the expenses of the bus and the driver’s fee from the proceeds and donates the rest to the children’s hospital at the Oulu University Hospital. The proceeds have been donated to the same cause since 2012.

Last year, the Wesibussi made a donation of more than €12,000. In just over ten years, the Wesibussi Committee has donated a total of €100,000 to the children’s hospital.

Eemeli Kaukonen, Alisa Väisänen and Janne Kilponen all mention charity as one of the reasons why they are involved in the activities: students can do good by having fun.

The name Wesibussi (“Water Bus”) also comes from charity. Initially, the proceeds from the bus were donated to a UNICEF collection to provide clean drinking water for children.

According to Kilponen and Kaukonen, there are similar party buses elsewhere, but the name Wesibussi, with a W, is a registered trademark of the Technical Students Association Oulu.

“Others may also use the name, but if they do, their proceeds must go to charity,” says Kilponen.

Bus company not interested in Alko rally

The Oulu party bus made its debut in 1999. It was the brainchild of two electrical engineering students.

“They had this brilliant idea that they would rent a bus and ask it to drive around the parking lot of the Raksila shopping mall area. Each time round, the bus would make a stop at Alko,” says Eemeli Kaukonen.

Apparently, the bus company was not keen on the idea of just driving around the parking lot but wanted the bus to go further.

Janne Kilponen says that ever since then, drivers have practically fought over who gets to drive the Wesibussi. Now, there are around two or three regular drivers.

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The Wesibussi offers rides of varying lengths. The longer rides are three to five hours long and have pre-planned routes. The bus stops at various locations and passengers can stretch their legs. The shorter rides are about an hour long and passengers are free to make requests as to where they want to go.

“One wappu time, they wanted a ride to the ice cream kiosk,” Kaukonen recalls.

Tickets for the longer rides must be bought in advance. The tickets go on sale about a week before the rides and you have to queue to buy them, they are not available online. Last year, the ticket office was located at the “green coat racks” of the Linnanmaa campus, as advertised in Wesibussi’s Instagram post. Ticket prices range from €10 to €15, and last year, a VIP ticket for one day cost €50.

“Everything that we offer is sold,” says Kaukonen.

“People queue overnight for most popular tickets,” adds Kilponen.

You can get on the hour-long ride by queuing at a bus stop in the centre of Oulu or Linnanmaa. Last year, the ticket cost three euros, and you may even get to enjoy music as you wait: last year the wind band Oulun Teekkaritorvet entertained queuers with 30-minute sets one day.

“There’s always a queue for the hour-long rides, which is wonderful,” says Alisa Väisänen.

The organisers say that everyone is welcome on board. There is no age limit, but due to the nature of the Wesibussi, the event is not suitable for the youngest members of the family.

“We will listen to music and enjoy the May Day atmosphere, but it also gets quite crowded and noisy,” explains Kaukonen.

Initially, the responsibility for organising the Wesibussi event passed down from one teekkari guild to another. Now, the responsibility lies with the Wesibussi Committee. Väisänen says that when the responsibility was passed down from guild to guild, some of the know-how related to the Wesibussi was lost along the way. Now, all the skills and knowledge remain within the committee.

The committee makes sure that the customers on board Wesibussi are feeling alright and behave themselves.

“This is a unique Oulu event. Every year, the same people start asking when they can ride the bus again. There are twenty or so regulars, plus a whole bunch of new faces every year,” says Kilponen with a smile.