School Bus Driver

School Bus Driver

The Bus Driver

15 Years Experience

South, ..

Female, 37

I have been a bus driver since late 2006. I know the inside story, the scoop, the down low dirt of what it takes to be a bus driver, how to handle kids and adults, and how to survive on the "streets" so to speak. I used to have a blog, feel free to browse it or ask me a question here.

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1007 Questions

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Last Answer on February 07, 2021

Best Rated

I asked you a question about leaving bus running in reverse or with a full bus of children and you said use aide or helper I have nobody to help. I am alone help comes later I walk kids in to school alone. I thought this was a wac or state law.

Asked by luckyrose over 11 years ago

In my district, special needs buses have to have two people on board, the driver and the aide.  I was speaking only from personal experience.  I've also had other bus drivers help me and I help them as well on checking the reverse and rear lights.  Here in my district, we do not get off our buses to walk students into school.  The only time we are to be off our buses with students on board is to operate the lift.  Thats why special needs buses will have an aide and a driver on board in order to help manage the situation.

Is it difficult to remember your route, or they make it pretty simple to let you know where all the stops are?

Asked by Yvonne almost 11 years ago

Its fairly easy once you get the hang of it. For a regular driver, the route does not usually change day-to-day with the exception of when the driver gets new kids on the route or kids move off the route making it unnecessary to drive into a certain section of their designated route boundary area. An example of this is if you have a child who lives at the end of a long dead end road who doesn't ride anymore, then the route would change in that you would not go down that road in the future. As a substitute, there are route descriptions that most bus shops will provide their drivers so that they may be able to follow it in order to pick up or drop off students.

I found as a sub, the easiest way to learn a route and remember it was to have a child tell you how the route runs. You eventually learn the stops on each bus route and create a mental map in your head.

when the bus is not in does the camera roll

Asked by nar over 10 years ago

The camera will roll anywhere from 5-15 minutes after the bus is shut down, and then the camera will stop rolling.

The bus picks up my 6&4 year old every morning by pulling up my drive way and turning around but dropping them off won't and I was running late and he dropped them off at main road and left them to walk a block luckily I was pulling up what can I do?

Asked by Leslie almost 10 years ago

You can call the individual bus yard for your school district to check to see what the policy is on stops. I will usually make a stop in front of a child's house with the exception of a few of my stops. One stop is down at a dead end and there is no turn around spot for me, so the children have to meet me at the nearest intersection. The other few times is during my first run, I give certain older kids the opportunity to get off at a stop and walk to their homes, though on the second round I often pass by their homes directly.

Why do bus monitor check understand buses

Asked by alias over 10 years ago

I'm not sure what you are asking with this question. Please resubmit your question.

Does a bus driver have the right to put their hands on a child

Asked by jessica almost 11 years ago

That depends on the situation at hand. As a rule of thumb, I don't put my hands on any of the children on my bus because of the liability issues surrounding that. If a child offers a hug, I will sideways hug or simply reach my hand up and pat them on the side of the head ensuring that minimal body contact happens. That being said, if there is a safety issue and the children are at risk of being injured or killed (an example of this would be if a vehicle is choosing to ignore our stop signs and warning lights for loading and unloading children) I will put my arm out to stop a child or pull them back from harms way. Not in any malicious intent, but only to watch out for their well being.

My bus driver told be she was going to write me up. All because I told her she should put on her seat belt, and to stop texting and driving. She yelled at me for no reason as well. Am I going to get in trouble for doing the right thing?

Asked by Michael. almost 11 years ago

If she is texting and driving and being unsafe on the bus, you do need to report it. If she threatens you with a write up if you do report it, then she needs to be reported. You shouldn't be worried about retaliation from the school for reporting her unprofessional behavior.