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.

SubscribeGet emails when new questions are answered. Ask Me Anything!Show Bio +

Share:

Ask me anything!

Submit Your Question

1007 Questions

Share:

Last Answer on February 07, 2021

Best Rated

Hi, what do you think will happen if they decided to close schools for the rest of the semester? Will we do online, mailing, or just pass us for the next grade (or graduate) Thanks!

Asked by Joe over 6 years ago

That's hard to say and also depends on the individual districts. I'm sure the extenuating circumstances will be taken into account when deciding what to do. The issue is in many rural areas kids do not have access to online like urban areas do and that puts them at a disadvantage.

Have you ever had a bus fire? What did/would happen?

Asked by Johnson over 6 years ago

Not personally but there have been a few fires in my district. Thankfully no students injured and in both the fire was quickly extinguished by either the driver or the fire department. As for your other question which has been removed i took items out of my bio that i felt could be used to narrow it down to where i am and my district. Its a protection.

Good point. Now would it be better if the bus was used on a long route or be a extra spare bus until needed for a district that had a lot of trips that went out of state. Or is this still overkill?

Asked by Interviewer over 6 years ago

That's a tough question. Most districts purchase buses based on capacity and usability. The capacity of these buses are 48 passenger, 40 for the ones that are wheelchair accessible. The standard capacity for a school bus is 72 passengers at 3 to a seat. Of course this figure is impossible the older and larger a child gets. My route alone takes me an hour and a half in the morning and almost 2 hours in the afternoon. I transport more than 85 to 90 children across all age groups on a good day. A bus like that while appealing because of the comfort items, is impractical because even at full capacity i would need to make at minimum 2 rounds to get everyone to and from school. Many routes are designed to have the maximum number of ridership and in some cases will exceed that amount. Even on the longer routes. If the district had drivers available and enough finances available then sure. But otherwise i think it would waste valuable resources.

Has someone ever tried watching porn on your bus? If yes what happened? If no what would/will you do in that situation?

Asked by Rocco over 6 years ago

Generally if someone chooses to watch explicit material they are discreet about it and use headphones. I can usually tell if something isn't right by the looks on kids faces and whether or not they draw a crowd. With the added availability of technology everywhere, explicit material is widely available to even the youngest person. If someone were to be reported for watching porn, I would have to write them up and confiscate the device.

What do I do if the bus is always later then the posted stop time by five, ten, sometimes fifteen minutes but substitutes come pretty close to the stop time. Would calling the transportation director and asking to have the stop time raised be okay?

Asked by Sydney almost 7 years ago

Actually thats a good solution. If your regular driver runs late but the sub runs on time then the transportation needs to be aware so that they can make changes to the route so kids don't miss the bus by mistake.

Yea but can it be considered vandalism if you pressed the issue? Or even theft? What about throwing a pack of cigarettes or chew away?

Asked by Samantha about 7 years ago

Still illegal.

Do you need a CDL to drive a mini bus?

Asked by Joel over 6 years ago

It's always best to have a cdl class b to drive any commercial vehicle but it depends on the company's requirements.