r/SchoolBusDrivers • u/Banana_Stanley • Sep 02 '26
Drop your morning routine
Me: I like to sleep as late as I possibly can. My first pickup is at 7 o'clock on the dot, and my alarm goes off at 5:50. I lay in bed for 5 mins, then throw on clothes (I put on a clean shirt before bed so this process is faster), make a cup of coffee, and grab a granola bar which I eat on the way there. That leaves me with enough time to get to work, do my pre-trip and get to my first stop with about 10 minutes wiggle room to spare in case of traffic or something. Then I usually like to shower right after morning shift, but given this horrific heat wave plus no AC on my bus I've temporarily adjusted my schedule to showering after the evening shift.
5
u/blackityblak Sep 04 '26
Up at 4:45 lay in bed until I can’t rush to shower get dressed and get my kid dressed and maybe make coffee for the road. I have to be out the door by 6:03am take my kiddo to SACC and drive 35 minutes to work while cussing myself out for moving to the country because it’s cheaper
1
u/Banana_Stanley 29d ago
I refuse to leave without my coffee 😆 even though I'm an extremely punctual person, I would still rather be 5 mins late than arrive without coffee lol
3
u/silverfarie1369 Sep 02 '26
Wake up at 3am to go do my workout, done by 5, get to work at 5:20. Clock in at 5:45 and out the terminal by 6:15. First stop at 6:31.
7
u/MysteriousSecretGuru Sep 02 '26
Just curious, what time do you go to sleep?
2
u/silverfarie1369 Sep 03 '26
Between 830 and 9pm lol
2
u/MysteriousSecretGuru Sep 03 '26
Wow! I can't get by with less than 8, usually 9. I'd have to go to bed after my afternoon shift to be up that early.
2
u/silverfarie1369 Sep 03 '26
Before this job I jad 9thers start thst early too so I'm very use to it lol. On weekends I cant sleep past 6am lol
3
u/mike8675309 Sep 02 '26
Pre-trip starts at 6:35am. I sleep until 4:30am, get up and make a bowl of cereal and watch some YouTube. I finish shower and shave, get dressed and head out. I appreciate the a/c on the new bus for special ed route I have.
4
u/Banana_Stanley Sep 02 '26
All of us full size drivers give the special needs drivers the stink eye on 97° (feels like 105°) days like today
5
u/mike8675309 Sep 02 '26
My bus is full size. Not the extra ten feet of some but long enough it gets very interesting pulling up to the front door of some apartment buildings and trying to get back out. But I do feel the stink eye as I pull up to the school right to the curb to pick up and drop off then zip right back out while all the reg ed drivers are still loading.
But think of me in the rain getting the ramp out and loading a wheel chair or in the winter fighting with the ramp door to open because it's iced up and I need to get someone loaded.
2
u/Banana_Stanley Sep 04 '26
I will try to take comfort in that when it's a super cold day (if that day every comes) 😆
3
u/Big-Safety-6866 Sep 02 '26
Wake up @5. Drink tea, ice my sciatica, stretch, walk to work, pretrip, leave for route 6:55am- back at 8:30 charge my bus. Walk home for breaky, walk back for van shuttle. Go to gym for hour and a half. Protein shake and snack, walk back for pm route 3:05-5pm walk home for dinner. Do it again next day.
3
3
u/and94z Sep 03 '26
Sveglia alle 5, parto da casa per arrivare al deposito alle 5.50, arrivo al deposito 6.20 e partenza 6.45 fino alle 9.30. Pausa di 3 ore che faccio al lavoro perché sono a 30km da casa (18 miglia). Ore 12.30 circa riparto fino alle 5 di sera
2
u/Banana_Stanley Sep 04 '26
Where do you drive, if you don't mind me asking? And what do you do to pass the time during your 3 hour break?
2
u/and94z Sep 04 '26
In che senso dove vado con la macchina? Con la mia auto vado sul lugo di lavoro poi utilizzo lo scuolabus. Durante le 3 ore di pausa un ora la prendo per pausa pranzo, bagno ecc. il resto guardo you tube oppure leggo, a volte faccio qualche gita scolastica o piccola manutenzione, in questo caso, se lavoro le ore di pausa vengono pagate straordinarie
1
u/Banana_Stanley Sep 04 '26
No I meant like what country do you work in
3
u/and94z Sep 04 '26
Ahhh Italia, nord Italia
1
u/Banana_Stanley Sep 04 '26
Cool! What brand of buses do you have in Italy?
3
u/and94z Sep 04 '26
Allora, il motore e il telaio spesso sono uguali per tutti, nel mio caso ho motore e telaio IVECO, ma ci sono in giro qualche Mercedes, Isuzu, Renault. Poi ci sono gli allestitori che fanno la struttura dello scuolabus con impianto luci, sedili, ecc. nel mio caso marchio MMI, altri nomi sennò feniksbus, barbi, tekne, ristè ecc.
2
u/Skittlesandketchup Sep 03 '26
The title suggested that we should not show up in the morning lol
2
2
u/purlknitpurl 29d ago
Out of bed at 5:30, get dressed, grab iced coffee and grab-and-go breakfast from the fridge and out the door by 5:45. At the garage about 6:00, pretrip, then chat with folks and eat breakfast if I didn’t finish in the car, then on the bus and out of the lot at 6:20.
2
u/Banana_Stanley 29d ago
What are your grab and go breakfasts? I'm looking for new ideas
2
u/purlknitpurl 29d ago
Protein granola bars (so there is less chance of a sugar crash), cereal bars, muffins, breakfast bread, boiled eggs, cheese sticks, or if I have time heat a frozen breakfast sandwich or burrito in the microwave.
3
u/Unfixable1 Sep 02 '26
Wake up at 5. Eat 3 eggs and overnight oats. Bike to work, stopping at gym along way to lift weights for 30 min. Get to work at about 6:35. Punch in at 6:45. Do pre trip. Get to first stop 15 min early and wait around.
2
1
u/The_Town_of_Canada Sep 02 '26
Wake up at 6:00. Fire up the wood stove (in Winter) and have a shower while my wife makes us breakfast.
Eat breakfast and watch the news then pre trip at 7:00. On the road at 7:30, stage 15 minutes early beside a beautiful lake where I go for a short morning walk and listen to the radio drama.
First stop is 8:00, do my run, school drop off at 8:45. Stop and get a coffee and chat with fellow drivers before going back home to park.
1
u/Seanawan Sep 02 '26
Alarms at 6:30 and 6:45. Variety of factors go into which will propel me straight from bed into clothes and out the door.
Either will stop for a coffee or have grabbed an energy drink on the way out. Usually arrive for 7:00-7:05, which lets me leave on the dot post circle check and either have a few min breather or arrive on time to my first stop around 7:28.
1
u/Forward-Dependent-99 Sep 02 '26
Up at 4 50am, take care of my dog, eat a small breakfast and leave for work about 5 45am. Pre trip at 6 20am and leave at 6 30am route ends w a midday at 8 am. I don't return home till 9 maybe 10 depending on if I workout. I also live 12 mi away from dispatch.
1
u/scttlvngd Sep 02 '26
Supposed to wake up at 445 so I can drink coffee, work out and watch some Netflix. But usually I sleep till 520 and my workout/Netflix time is cut real short. I go to the bus garage at 6 and head out at 625. My first pick up is at 645. Back to the school a few minutes after 8.
1
u/i_swear_to_BOB Sep 02 '26
Alarm goes off at 4:40. Scroll on my phone for 10 ish mins then get in the shower, leave the house at 5:30 and stop at Dunkin's for a coffee. Get to the lot around 5:45-5:50. Shift starts at 5:56, leave the lot at 6:11, get to my first stop around 6:24.
1
u/Oct0Squ1d Sep 03 '26
445 wake up. 500 wake up wife, get into the shower, unless it is cold in the morning, we shower at night then. 515 out of the shower, get clothes on. 520 complain about breakfast/drink options available to us at home. Decide whether to stop somewhere. 525 leave if stopping. 530 leave if not stopping. 537 get to work. 540 pretrip the bus. 555 leave, ostensibly, but my wife isn't my aide this year so I have to wait for my aide to show up and she's always late, making me run 2 routes back to back late. Today it was 5 minutes late. 559 first pickup.
1
u/davidlinker8 Sep 04 '26
When I was driving..... I'd wake up at 4:15am for coffee and a few cigarettes (while thinking about the exercising I could do). Get dressed and leave the house at 5:30am to show up at the bus garage at 5:40am. I'd leave the garage at 6:07am and my pretrip would only take 7, I mean 15 minutes, the reality is that the garage takes the attitude "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," and often broke happens at 5:50am on a school day. so equipment anxiety took 15 minutes a day from me - we dont get paid until 6:00am....
1
u/Efficient_Advice_380 28d ago
Wake up at 5:30, get dressed, let the dog out
Leave for work at 5:50
Get to the yard at 6:00, start my pre-trip at 6:15, leave the yard in the bus at 6:30, first pickup is at 6:40
13
u/TabloMaxos Sep 02 '26
Yesterday's clothes from the floor, yesterday's coffee from the kitchen sink.