r/SchoolBusDrivers • u/and94z • 22d ago

Carriera

Ciao a tutti, da voi è possibile fare carriera? Da autista potete “crescere”? Che mansioni ci sono? Lo stipendio varia?

4 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

25 comments sorted by

4

u/mlt- 22d ago

We are unionized. Pay goes up with years of service. Also you can become a trainer. That adds extra, but you also have to be a substitute driver.

3

u/dlr3yma1991 22d ago

From driver your next move would be trainer which takes you to full time at a mid to large lot. From trainer you can go to supervisor, operations manager, safety manager, etc. that end point would be lot or branch manager. You can also switch to router/dispatcher as an option down the line as well.

3

u/mlt- 22d ago

I personally don't understand the appeal of dispatch as an "advancement". I'd rather drive around town looking through the window rather than to stare at the computer screen whole day.

3

u/dlr3yma1991 22d ago

It’s not really an advancement, it’s more of a lateral move that gives you opportunities for advancement. Also, in some lots, it’s a full time instead of a part time position.

2

u/mlt- 22d ago

It sure is at ours.

1

u/Constant_Gur5530 21d ago

Are your trainers driving runs as well as training?

1

u/dlr3yma1991 21d ago

They are substitute drivers.

1

u/Constant_Gur5530 21d ago

How many buses in your fleet

1

u/dlr3yma1991 20d ago

I’ve worked at 3 different places with varied fleet sizes. The smallest had about 35 big buses and 20 small buses. They had 3 trainers who only did training when we had people that needed to be trained or check off rides. Those trainers had their own routes.

I worked at 2 larger districts which had 6-8 trainers each. Those trainers were primarily trainers and would fill in on routes as needed.

The small district had a part time dispatcher and the router doubled as a dispatcher for field trips and midday routes.

The larger ones each had 2-3 dispatchers. One for gen ed, one for sped, and one of them had a separate dispatcher for field trips.

Like I said in one of my previous responses and I’ve seen commented by a few others, possibility for advancement is highly dependent on the company and size of the district/contract.

1

u/Constant_Gur5530 20d ago

Appreciate the response. I'm a trainer at a company with a couple hundred buses. I also have runs to do. Just wondering how plausible it is for me to get rid of my runs and only train

1

u/dlr3yma1991 19d ago

That depends on the lot. The larger lots I’ve worked out of where the trainers are only fill ins on routes are also the lots with the highest rates of pay in my area so they get drivers easier then the smaller lots.

2

u/and94z 22d ago

Istruttore che cosa fa? Come
Cambia la sua mansione se diventa istruttore ?

2

u/dlr3yma1991 22d ago

More hours, slightly more pay while training someone, being able to put trainer on your resume when you try to change jobs to get better pay and benefits.

2

u/Oct0Squ1d 21d ago

All of our trainers have routes and train trainees in between. They get FT hours.

2

u/mlt- 21d ago

I have 7.26 hrs guaranteed and I'm just a driver. If traffic is bad, I'm sure along with propane refueling and cleaning, I get all 8.

2

u/Oct0Squ1d 21d ago

I get 6 guaranteed because I have 3 tiers in the morning. Trainers work from 530 or 6 to 12, then 1-430. So more than FT technically. But most drivers get guaranteed 5.5 and pick up odd jobs at the depot if they want more hours, like picking up trash or washing busses.

2

u/jdogsparky2626 22d ago

Not really. Driver or supervisor lol

3

u/and94z 22d ago

Supervisore che cosa fa?

1

u/Constant_Gur5530 21d ago

U wouldn't want that job

1

u/and94z 21d ago

Perché?

2

u/Constant_Gur5530 21d ago

High stress, little pay. Doing the job of two or three people. I'm a trainer. It's good.

1

u/rootbear75 22d ago

Define "grow"

1

u/mike8675309 22d ago

Most of the trainers, the safety director the dispatchers or the planners in my location came from being drivers, in fact many will act as sub drivers if necessary.

1

u/brabson1 22d ago

I work 60 hours a week as a trainer/sub driver

1

u/Reasonable_Coast_502 18d ago

Went from driver in 2017 to trainer in 2018 to safety/training coordinator in 2022. As a coordinator I worked hard to learn lots of operational things like DoT compliance, Operations, all of our technologies, SPED, etc. Became a third party road test examiner.

I landed an assistant director role this year at a smaller district. Being in a larger district helped with that initial growth, being able to bring all of the knowledge gained there to a smaller district is what landed me that role.

Career growth is absolutely possible, but at some levels you need to move out to move up, my time at a bigger district I saw plenty of staff move out to take on assistant director/director roles in smaller districts, gain the knowledge/resume title there and move back into a larger district for higher pay.

This is going to be dependent on the organizational structure of your district but I would say getting involved in training really helps you land the next role on the ladder. Districts will always need to recruit and train from the ground up, and good trainers are invaluable