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

What do you do when a student leaves something on the bus and do you check the cameras to see if someone stole a lost item?

Asked by Ezethral over 8 years ago

The easiest thing to do is call the bus barn to let them know of a missing item. The driver can then search the bus. If the item is missing from the bus, then its likely someone picked it up. If that is the case you can ask to see if they can pull the cameras to see who did it but more often than not the cameras wont pick up much if a kid is being sneaky. Good luck.

While the kids are on break,do the bus driver still work or get paid

Asked by Tanisha almost 8 years ago

That depends on the local bus depot and district contracts. In my district we get paid year round so even through the summer we get a paycheck. It often means our monthly pay is lower than normal than if we were to only get paid for the months we actually work but it balances out because then we aren't left without pay during the times when school is out. Pay is often low enough that drivers have to take on second and third jobs just to support their families.

Recently my daughter's bus driver has been pulling over and waiting for five minutes on the side of the road whenever the kids are "misbehaving" and this is becoming a real problem because my daughter has after school activities. Can he do that?

Asked by Karaomo about 8 years ago

Yes. For safety reasons, we can pull the bus over if it is unsafe to continue to drive the bus while the kids are otherwise distracting the driver. Consider this, if you are driving down the road and you have 45 children sitting behind you being rowdy, throwing stuff out the window, being a hazard to other drivers on the road, shouting and screaming, and otherwise distracting you from hearing an ambulance that just ran a red light because of an emergency and struck the bus because you couldn't hear it due to the confusion.... would you rather the bus driver have pulled over and waited five minutes and your child be alive instead of in an accident? If this is becoming more of an issue, I suggest you find alternate transportation for your child.

How fast can a school bus go

Asked by Jayda almost 8 years ago

Legally speaking federal speed limit for school buses is 55 mph.

If I go to the bathroom and the bus driver closes the doors but I am there can she refuse to let me on

Asked by Jacob Thacker over 7 years ago

Did you get off the bus to use the bathroom and did you let the driver know where you were going or ask the driver if you could use the bathroom? If she let you off to use the bathroom and you returned expecting to get back on then you should have been let back on. If you assumed she would let you back on without notifying her then how would she have known where you were if you were either not on the bus to begin with or there on time when she was to pull off from school grounds? Typically if a student asks me if they can use the restroom, I let them provided its not too soon to their destination/school or a reasonable time to ask them to wait (5-15 minute time frame) I also take into consideration the age of the child and where their bus stop falls on my route. If they are my last stop, I will often let them use it more often than my first stop as that child is usually on the bus for 45 minutes to 60 minutes as opposed to only 10 to 15 minutes average.

My driving record is perfect except I got a ticket in my own vehicle this weekend for not wearing my seatbelt. Will this affect my CDL? Thanks

Asked by Bus driver about 7 years ago

If you got a ticket in your personal vehicle for not wearing your seat belt, then you should probably simply own up to your boss about the infraction. If your boss is anything like mine is, he or she may tell you just not to worry about it since it did not happen on the bus. That being said, its always better to be up front than to let them discover the infraction when they update your file and pull your driving history.

Someone threw the filling from inside the seat at someone else and thay threw at me, then I started to tell the guy next to me to stop talking the filling out, but in the meantime someone threw 1 at my eye and then I started to throw some i gt writen

Asked by Bobby about 7 years ago

1. Don't throw stuff.2. Don't throw stuff.3. Don't throw stuff.

Now that that's out of the way... the bus driver had every right to write you up for throwing stuff on the bus as well as everyone else involved in throwing the seat stuffing. I also hope that the driver and school makes you all clean the bus and repair the seat that was damaged. Just because you tried to tell them to stop doesn't negate the fact you threw it eventually yourself.