“Lost but happy” is a mysterious sign students may see on late-night Huskie buses.

Jessica Montalvo, sophomore elementary education major, said she has seen the sign but does not know what it means.

“I have no idea,” Montalvo said. “It [was] funny when I saw it, it’s kind of random.”

When Huskie bus drivers return from their runs, they will put up signs saying “out of service,” but at other times they may put up a sign saying “lost but happy,'” said Al Davis, Huskie Line general manager. The phrase is an old charter bus saying. In the past, when bus drivers passed each other one of them would ask over the radio how they were doing. The other bus driver would say he was lost but happy, Davis said.

The saying was popular enough to become part of the head signs for the Huskie buses.

“People thought it was kind of funny so they wanted it to be used on their charter,” Davis said.

The Huskie buses used to have rotating head signs made of cloth to display the route numbers and other messages such as “out of service.” The company the head signs were bought from had a number of a sign positions and “lost but happy” was thrown in as an extra. The sign became a standard display 15 or 17 years ago, Davis said.

Davis said it adds a bit of a chuckle and it is different than saying “charter.” The phrase does not mean the buses travel to a different location or anything else, Davis said.

“It really shouldn’t be displayed on the bus unless a private charter group or something like that would ask for it,” Davis said.

Junior English major Jaciel Cathey has not seen the sign but said it could be a way of brightening a student’s day or a way of saying “out of service.”

Junior sociology major Jessica Gray said the sign might mean there is a new driver or the bus might be packed. Gray said she has never been lost but happy.

“If I’m lost, I’m frustrated,” Gray said.