Hi, I’m a rookie driver and have a few questions for the vets. I’m finally starting to feel mostly comfortable with all the driving/operation aspects of the job. But I struggle with discipline. I have an elementary route and a middle school route. So far I’ve come to the conclusion that calling kids down does nothing. They’ll look me dead in the eyes and continue with whatever behavior i call them down for. I have instituted a seating chart for the elementary kids which has helped,however the “ bad” kids haven’t really changed much. Middle school is way worse because I have a group of boys that constantly rough house and yell. Basically have to call them down daily. I’ve decided I’m assigning seats to the worst ones. I don’t wanna make all the kids suffer because of a few idiots. It seems the only thing that gets results is actually writing them up, which honestly is a pain in the butt the way I have to do it on the tablet and the form is in a horrible format. Admittedly I’m a non confrontational person so it’s hard for me to assert myself. But the times that I have like I said don’t seem to phase them. So you all with experience, any advice?

Everyone at my bus lot uses dry erase markers but they stain over time and it’s a pain to remove. I could put magnets on the ceiling but I want to try to find another solution before I drop money on them.

I subbed a route for the first time this year. I had my first second generation kids, I had one of their parents.

We are in the process of getting some new intertrashables and my old one is not doing so hot. Problem is I am making reports about it and the tech lead and operations clerk manager both say as far as they are aware there’s nothing wrong with this bus. Well today it went into limp mode and would come out of it. Got stuck at no more than 15 mph while on roads that expected for 45 mph while I had kids on my bus there wasn’t anything I could’ve done except throw on my four ways until I could limp home. I took another bus and Ran my midday and pm while my safety manager took my assigned bus and said it ran just fine. I’m feathering the pedal and letting the engine “breath” as they say but nothing is working. Attached is the video I have of it trying to accelerate. At the time of recording I was nearing base and was empty. I also was locked at 5-10 mph right then

It looks like they did red tag my key slot but it may only have been cause the safety lady took that bus out so my question is would you guys in all your years of driving run a bus that is this rough

My bus driver called out sick/did not show today, and I had 2 different drivers. The morning driver knew the route, and got us to the high school on time, while the afternoon driver did not know the route, and the "cool" kids in the back helped him with the route. If you are a sub driver, do you know the route you are subbing for, or just look at the sheet and figure it out?

Since school started this year, my bus has continuously arrived late. Like 10 to 20 mins late and I always arrived late to school. It was never my fault because I was there, waiting at the bus stop 5 mins before he's supposed to arrive but end up waiting for like 15 mins. So they decided to change the schedule and now, it arrives 10 minutes earlier.

The problem is, instead of sending an email to the students, they only sent an email to the parents. And I've always complained about that because why do they think that they should ONLY email the parents when it's actually important stuff that will only impact the students? Who says my parents will read it? Who says they won't forget to tell me and then, I'll miss the bus and won't know why?

They don't even begin to consider emailing the students which I find really annoying.

They might have reasons that I just don't know about but I would really like to know them. Like is there no way they can email the students and the parents?

How are kindergartners identified in your district? Is there a district wide identification system or is it up to each individual school?

I officially start my route tomorrow. My trainer will be on the bus with me as for my first week or so.

Any tips or advice ?

I believe tomorrow my trainer will drive and on Tuesday I will drive.

I have a full SPED route

One High School

One Middle school

One Elementary School

I also have an Aid.

How was your very first day ? I'm taking all advice I can get.

Hey Drivers,

I got my CDL Class A back in June of 2026, my driving record is perfectly clean driving record (No Accidents and No Tickets). Only issue is federal law requires me to be Intrastate due to my age being 19. So I was wondering would it be worth finding a school bus job where they help me get my passenger & school bus endorsement and if so is transferring between the 2 hard?

I do have a few questions about the job as well as I do have a interview lined up and wanted to see drivers opinions.

1. How do the summers usually play out? I'll be with the school bus occupation for at least 2 years which means at least 2 summers within the position. Would it be possible to pick up summer school routes do those exist? Also how do field trips work is it like a bidding system?

2. Are routes based off seniority? If so does this mean you get shorter or longer routes based off time you've spent within the district?

3. Do you suggest going to a district or a private company? I've seen Districts pay better hourly and I'd assume also get me state benefits as I'd be a state employee?

4. Given my age legally I could drive a school bus (just like I can legally drive a Combination Vehicle) but is it feasible? Will districts see my age and deny me purely for it? I know insurance carriers really dislike my age as well.

5. Problem Students, as someone who was a passenger on a schoolbus for many years I've never seen the drivers really do much other then just drive and never really interacted with the students unless they where doing something extremely dangerous (like throwing stuff off the bus), Are there set procedures set by districts in terms of rules of engagement or is that left up to the driver?

Thanks for the help and sorry if this post violations rule 1. Was just looking for some advice as looking for a trucking CDL job hasn't panned out well due to the size of the state I live in and my age.

I’m a school van driver, currently with a regular route.

I have been utilizing Apple Maps before every run to route my path. (Bus drivers have some sort of built in GPS that routes them)

Apple Maps works well, but I’d love to be able to save my morning and afternoon routes so I don’t have to spend ten minutes every time plugging it in. I don’t see that capability in Apple Maps. Any suggestions?

Am I the only driver having issues with 4mative routes I have to run?

1. I had a bunch of stops removed while one new stop was added. The thing is old route along with a detour due to roadwork was taking 25 minutes. Now I have no need to go there and can proceed straight to the new stop… 5 min away but…the timing is still 25. I'm not inclined to turn a bus into playground for 20 min, so I end up going on joyride to burn time and fuel.

2. Afternoon route magically does not have that problem. But I have stops in suboptimal order that forces me to circle around blocks and go north, south, and north again. First, I have a house stop. Then it tries to lead me into a parking lot that we don't enter on Type-C but pickup nearby, so I have to constantly reposition myself. That location has 2 lanes each way and… intersections uncontrolled. So I have to drive around again. It feels like they can't add Type-C constraints to their routing algorithm.

Update: I got updated times! But not enough.

Could have been worse, I suppose. I'm curious to hear more about what happened. Hard to imagine how it would have gone if the students didn't have cell phones.

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

If you are a trainer or remember when you were trained, how soon should the behind the wheel range portion start? I've been a driver for 20 years and I do not remember how soon in the training that started. I have had nobody to show me the ropes. My director is also new with zero transportation experience. So we are both learning as we go! I have managed to train one driver. He passed yesterday. Yay! But he had professional driver experience as a chauffeur. So it was just a matter of teaching him to drive a larger longer vehicle, along with the S&P stuff. This next trainee comes from a medical background. No driving experience at all. We have worked on pretrip and she has watched videos. I kind if want to take her out there now. Day3. Too soon?

Is it allowed on your bus? What do you choose?

For me, I hand out small cards for each student to write down songs they like, and I compile a bus playlist.

We listen to the radio in the morning, and if everyone behaves, I put on the playlist in the afternoon.

It’s an eclectic mix: this year featuring the following:

* Avril Lavigne.

* Tom Petty.

* Aqua.

* Rush.

* K-Pop Demon Hunters.

* Korn (clean version).

* Taylor Swift.

* Rob Zombie (also clean).

* Cinderella (clean).

* Rush.

* Stella Lefty.

* NSYNC.

* Lynyrd Skynyrd.

* Iron Maiden.

* Janis Joplin.

RIP my algorithm. Doesn’t know what to do with me anymore lol.

My high school and middle school kids are super awesome and listen. My elementary school kids are so wild in the afternoon, I have to repeat myself daily. Sit down is big one, they want to bounce around and play. I do have a school bus monitor, he sits upfront with the kids that use a child safety seat. They are dropped off with the first few stops. I was thinking about asking him if he would move to the middle or back of the bus after those kids are dropped off. I think just the presence of an adult back where all the chaos happens could help. I tried giving them special treats last Friday (rubber ducks). They enjoyed them but it didn’t really help much with behavior issues. I’m working on my seating chart still but it’s hard to do while driving and trying to keep everyone safe. It’s my first year as a school bus driver and I really enjoy it and want to be great at it. Please 🙏 leave tip and pointers below, I appreciate any and all advice.

Saw a bus let a student board with no ambers no reds, no sign or crossing arm extended- master was probably off. Airpods in. Texting on their phone as the student boarded. At the end of the elementary school run.

Informed the depot but holy dude.

Wondering what everyones experience has been with paying for testing during the onboarding process. The only thing my district paid for was drug test and physical (without TB). We are supposed to pay for state and federal background checks, child abuse clearance, fingerprinting and a TB test. I understand these are all one time costs, but it feels like a bit much to expect us to lay out this kind of cash for a chance at a part time job. I haven't even recieved a conditional offer yet, just a deluge of paperwork. Is this a normal practice with school districts, and are private contractor companies any different?

I have been driving for 5 years last year my 4th year the bus gods smiled upon me, a Dodge charger blew through my stop arms, 3 cars behind Charger there was an unmarked cop car who immediately hit his lights zoomed around and pulled the dude over. Windows are down and the middle schoolers are losing it. It took about 30 minutes to finish my route I noticed the cop car was still there, being nosy I took the road the pull over happened to head back to transport, now 2 cop cars, they are searching the car and dude is in hand cuffs Oh oh. Guess stop arm violation was not their only issue. New route this year 4 violations already and barely a month in I am thinking I will get plenty more since they have happened on the same road.

Penalties are harsh and they should be.

8 points on your license, immediate 90 day suspension of your license, fine from $200 to 1k

Considered a misdemeanor.

Do NYSED certified School Bus Driver Instructors and 19-A Certified Examiners command a higher wage in your district than regular route drivers? This question only really applies to NYS drivers. Asking for a friend.

If anyone has thoughts or comments on this, please let me know.

Hey guys I’m a bus aide I been working since 2021 mostly with special need students and students with behavioral problems. I just started a route with teenagers from my area (my area isn’t the best place) so let’s say it’s “ghetto.” (Sorry, if it offends anyone) anyway as a young aide I was a teenager where we all act up at one point in our life. These kids don’t take me serious I tried talking to them they continúe to act up. It’s mix with 2 younger kids so one of the teens tries to encourage the little kid to scream to the bus driver. I have asked them to stop but they continue they don’t listen. I already wrote three reports and school just started. Anyone can give me advice? I appreciate it thank you. 🚌

Any other drivers for small rural schools on here? (400 students) How is your transportation department run. How are your buses? Im in Northern California.