For those who were school bus drivers, would you recommend it?

@Flint1 could probably tell you some stories.

 

drove an activity bus in the 70's, wasn't too bad kids had some sense of discipline then

these days? oh hell no!!!!!

 

Answer:

Only if you have an attorney on retainer that is at least as good as the one who defended O J Simpson....

-- L

 

It's not for everyone....
I was a dealership mechanic for 25 years. Drove truck hauling cars.
My wife started driving for a company and we ended up buying the company.
We operate 6 buses now. I've been driving 12 years. By far the best job I've had.
I drive the worst of the worst aggressive sped kids. I've got stories.
Like any driving job, there are those that are good at it, and some are not.

 

Let's ask Veronica Crabtree,,

 

I know someone who drove for two school seasons for a private company contracted with a public school, the first was alright, consistent work and good route assigned. The second the new manager decided to “shake things up” and it was miserable, most quit before the end of the school year, she thought it would be better to part time everyone, rotate them on the routes and when there was complaints, she would yell at the drivers. She lasted one year and sent packing.

 

1st of all, school buses are dinosaurs, and with on-line schooling, the buses in my area are getting smaller and smaller and even those are half filled. 2nd, with the current state of drivers, I question who is operating these things. It's not old Buck who has a billion safe miles doing it as a retirement job, it's grannies and poor folks with no other options, and we hear all the time of bus mishaps. Before cameras, I saw a documentary on school bus behavior. Before the camera, the bus was unruly, loud, fights, and after a camera was installed in plain view, disruptive behavior came to an abrupt stop.

 

I wouldn't drive a bus without cameras.
Our buses have 4 interior cameras. Keeps everyone including the driver in check.
Driver training improved greatly up here in canada with standardized Melt training. And wages have gone up 50% since the vid.
Min pay for our school division is 26 an hour. My drivers are making more then 30.

You have mainly bigger companies looking for meat in the seat. And companies looking for good drivers, who do the job well.
Just like trucking.

 

waaay back in the day, in the south it was normal to see a high school senior driving the school bus.