r/SchoolBusDrivers

Like it doesn't make sense why they don't have seatbelts I mean yeah there's something in front of the kids but that can still cause injury in crashes depending on the crash and also lots of kids have to constantly keep themselves in the seat during the ride which can be tiring especially after a long day of school and not to mention many kids in the back seat I see get flown upward to the ceiling of the bus depending on the drive and a lot feel traumatized and yeah they really should have seatbelts also ignoring the fact buses can tip over or other things during a crash and kids can go all over the place. But another reason for not having seatbelts is because kids can get off the bus faster in an accident but I could apply that same logic to a car because it can be harder for seatbelts in cars as well but we don't get rid of car seatbelts plus parents aren't always around during a crash possibly dead to get their kids out of their seatbelts. Maybe we can just get better seatbelts. It really does not make any sense

I'm a new driver and I take quite a few field trips. Losing a key during a trip is one of my worst fears. I leave the key in the glove box because I feel it's safer there than taking it with me. It's not attached to anything besides a tag with the bus number, so it's small.

We haven't went over what we do in that situation, but it's common sense to call dispatch. That'll suck when it's late at night and one of them has to leave home to deal with it. If it happened to you, what happened after ? And how far were you from base ?

Hey there, I'm new to school bus driving. Lately the company I work for has been sending out a lot of emails to all drivers clarifying payment, which is fine. Yesterday though we got an email that states:

>Please note that [Company Name] provides 15 minutes total per day for incidental duties, including circle checks and quick bus sweeps (for example, this would mean budgeting 7 minutes for the AM check and 8 minutes for the PM check with sweep).

Maybe I'm just slow since I'm a newbie, but that feels like a very tight time allowance to me. I take about 15-20 minutes in the morning and 10-15 minutes in the afternoon to do checks/cleaning (I admittedly go a bit extra on cleaning 'cause it feels like a nice thing to do for the students). It's looking like I'll have to fill out a timesheet for literally every day, which might not necessarily get approved.

This is all kinda rubbing me the wrong way since there's other issues I have with management. Lotta poor communication, disorganization, etc.

Hoping to get some advice from more experienced drivers on handling this.

Sometimes getting off work sucks cause i have to get back in my car 😂. It feels so weird, i love being high up and able to see anything & i love the sound of the air brakes. Driving buses helped made me start driving slower in my car which is good cause i have a heavy foot. Idk how to explain it, but when I first got on the highway and felt a bus at 65 I was like holy shit 65 is actually fast 😂 whereas in my car it feels slow but now I’m more ok with it.

See title.

I promise I didn't do it!

https://preview.redd.it/qcfjurkly5th1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=cd67582861590ca8acafd268ace8b21321e594fb

I get to drive this gem starting Monday. Don't be jealous.

https://preview.redd.it/tjtusehty5th1.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=fa786f54c9aca6b880063fea0965c22b15f9c37c

I am a brand new driver and have never seen one done an emergency evacuation drill. I am not much guidance from admin on how or when to perform. Comments welcomed.

This is my first year driving. I love my routes and I have a good group of kids who follow the rules and are polite enough. I'm naturally an organized person who likes things to look and smell clean, so when it comes to my bus I want it to reflect the same. Maintaining the inside of the bus is no problem. I have my antibacterial wipes, seat conditioners and my broom. I mop my floors on a regular basis and clean the inside of my windows.

But when it comes to the outside of the bus?!?!? I can never get my windows clean! My scrubbing leaves streaks. And I can only manage to knock off just enough dirt and debris to make it tolerable to look at. To be fair, our bus yard does have a major challenge. We are next to a stone quarry and all the dust makes it even more difficult to keep our buses clean. I have asked older bus drivers and their suggestion is to simply give the bus two to three passes. I don't always have that type of time.

I really don't see much of an option except to possibly invest in a high pressure washer. What are your secrets to washing the outside of your bus?

** For added context, I'm driving a 2018 Thomas. Some of the more experienced drivers have also said that buses over 5 years old aren't worth the extra effort.

Why do they send you on the worst possible route to get from point A to B? Is it driven by money?

Any help is appreciated, thanks

I know the rules and I will say I know I was put in a terrible and impossible position. Here is what happened.

I get a dispatch ticket saying simply to take M High School to E High School for a football game. Leave MHS and travel the 22 minutes to EHS at 3pm and leave EHS at 8pm and take them back. I got to MHS go over the ticket and he says, " no way it's EHS homecoming and 1st ball game in their new field the varsity won't even start until at the earliest 7pm. My problem is my "hours of service" (California) started at 6:25AM so I am sidelined at 10:25 PM no exceptions. Everyone in my fleet came in for their AM runs so we have no relief driver who will have more hours of service. I text my director at 3:25PM tell her straight away and come up with the only backup plan we can which is take them back to MHS and ground the bus and mark your O.T. and go get it on Sat.

The game is winding down it it's 9:50 PM we are in the 4th quarter when EHS ties the ball game going into O.T. now im sweating. Fast forward to the game was won by MHS ( the visitor team I drove ). Im assertively telling them to simple get on the bus even with their cleats on so we can go. They aren't listening I finally just just 6 kids on the bus amd tell 1 coach I HAVE to go NOW my Hours of Service are done. He says to just go as most have rides home since it is semi local. I ground the bus at the school amd left 1 coach and lot's of players because I could not get them to listen regardless of my efforts to tell them to get on the bus. I feel terrible cause I broke my hours of service and possibly left some football team and a coach ( they probably had rides but they never let me know the many times I addressed them in the locker room.

When I stop. And pull the emergency brake out. Im ready to drive now. I put the bus in drive , push my parking brake in to go while I step on the service brake for like one second. Is this the proper way to do it. Sometimes when I do this my bus doesn’t drive. And range inhibited comes up on the dash. Not sure if it’s an issue with the bus / air brakes ? I restart the process and my bus does drive correctly. Does the bus have to be in neutral when I push in the parking brake and then I switch gears to drive? Do I have to hold the service brakes for some time when I push in the parking brake or just for one second? Thanks for any help.

There's at least 0.5 mile of 2 dedicated exit lanes with their stripes painted differently, overhead signs explaining which part of the freeway goes where, etc.

But no, the best choice of action is to speed, cut off a school bus, and cut across not only several lanes of traffic but also the rapidly-disappearing wedge of pavement which will very shortly end at a concrete wall.

Used my wife's EGO leaf blower on the bus, and then her Dyson Battery Vac (Not sponsored). I did find some corrosion and some proud screws in the aisle. Looks like a small trip hazard on the left side of picture. I'm guessing there was some plywood in there at some point? I plan on submitting a maintenance request after my route on Monday. Also could use a good mopping,

After clean up

The area before I cleaned it up.