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

Why do some routes not start until past seven and others at 5:30? Am but in the PM they start about the same time

Asked by Jim over 6 years ago

Depending on where you live and how the bus system is set up will depend on how the routes start and end in both morning and evening. Some districts have the schools separated on each bus by school/grade level. For example there may be high school routes, middle school routes, and elementary routes that all start and end at different times based on when those schools start and end their day. Alternatively you may live in a county that puts all grade levels on each bus. There are positives and negatives to this. A positive is that if you are a family that has older siblings, the older ones are riding with the younger ones and you don't have to worry as much about childcare when your high schooler gets off with your second grader. Due to the distance from the schools will depend on when each route needs to start. You can guarantee that the one that starts early will end late in the afternoon due to the distance they have to cover with children.

It is no secret that buses are a breeding ground for bacteria, viruses, etc so how are the buses cleaned like this? What do you use? Or have you done cleaning at all?

Asked by COVID-19 about 6 years ago

We generally deep clean the buses at least once per year. By that I mean get in every nook and cranny, dig out trash between the seat and walls, scrape gum off the bottom of the seats. Wash the ceiling. In the mean time, we do sweep our buses at minimum once a week. During cold and flu season we spray the seats down with disinfectant spray or wipe them down with lysol wipes and spray or clean the windows.

Hello why do some places like to make you turn around a 100 times and then yell at you for being late? Also, what’s the point in going back and picking up a student and making everyone behind because they decided for the upteenth time to be late and got left?!

Asked by Mrs. Bitchyasshole over 6 years ago

It depends on district policy as to what is acceptable in certain circumstances. We live in an entitled world where the thought process is me first and never tell me "no". Sadly this is not how the world works primarily and the sooner kids learn this concept the better. For me, if a child is a chronically late person, they get bus left and i will not return to pick them up. If the child has never been late and was just having a bad morning or an off morning, i might consider going back if its not too far out of my way. We also have a policy that they need to be out at each stop 5 min prior to avoid issues like this.

Hi, do you think more districts should have programs that track buses and alert parents also alerts that say for delays, early arrivals, and other changes to the bus schedule? Do you think while convenient they raise privacy concerns or not?

Asked by 02983457 over 6 years ago

I would like to see something like this but it could get abused by parents. I think it could be regulated by each district and company. That way the company can relay info to parents without giving up location info to parents for safety of children.

Is the think gold line flag for bus drivers?

Asked by Cecil about 6 years ago

I'm not entirely sure what the gold line flag stands for.

Now that I remember I had a driver who had this rule too. Is this messed up or do you agree?

Asked by Confused over 6 years ago

Again every driver has different standards.

Can the board and transportation have desertion over whether to transport students who don’t live in the district but go to school in the district for one reason or another. I heard word on the street they may start but I don’t know if they can.

Asked by Don over 6 years ago

Yes they can have discretion to provide transportation to out of district kids. In our district if a parent chooses to enroll their child out of district, they are responsible for transporting that child.