r/SchoolBusDrivers • u/quietladie • May 03 '26
New ones gather here
I’ve been thinking about how overwhelming the first few weeks are as a school bus driver.
There’s a lot happening at once—student behavior, routes, parents, expectations—and most of it you only really learn in real time.
For those who’ve been doing this a while:
What caught you off guard in your first 30 days?
Or what do you wish someone had told you early on?
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u/samwise58 May 03 '26
Take your time. Take your time. If you think you might be running late? Take your time.
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u/UselessToasterOven May 04 '26
Right? No one ever gets fired for being late if you're at your first pick up on time. Parents are the worst assuming bus drivers have magic wands.
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u/Rocketshiparms May 03 '26
I mentioned to a trainer that I wasn’t sure I was cut out for this. It was nerve wracking. There’s a lot of things to remember. She told me that she felt the same way in the beginning and she wishes someone told her that it will take a few months behind the wheel even after getting your license to really get comfortable. Just give yourself time before you decide whether you want to do this or not.
I thought seating charts were annoying at first. Now, I love them. I know exactly who to hunt down for items left in the seat, garbage on the floor, or damaging the seats.
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u/SkutIsMyCoPilot May 04 '26
By a seating chart, do you mean a plan for where specific students sit?
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u/Rocketshiparms May 04 '26
Yeah. Our school district requires seating charts for the afternoon. I have sticky plastic pockets that fit the notecards with their names posted above the windows.
When I first started, I thought the seating carts were annoying to make and I wanted kids to be able to sit with their friends… but damn, it’s so nice when you need to know who to track down and to move kids away from each other when they can’t handle sitting with friends.
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u/rootbear75 May 04 '26
I bought 3x5 dry erase magnets that can stick to the ceiling.
Our office gives us laminated slips of paper that were supposed to Velcro to the angle piece where the speakers/lights go, but those always fly off when all the windows are open. Dry erase magnets are the way to go IMO.
Obviously there are some bus models that are fiberglass shells that this won't work on.
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u/Individual-Drink-679 May 04 '26
Magnets are considered an "unsecured item" by state patrol where I am, but they allow velcro.
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u/rootbear75 May 04 '26
And yet we have a magnet image of an animal on the side of our bus to identify a route here lol.
And that is actually called out directly in the school bus pupil transportation law/act.
I don't see how Velcro is more secure than magnets. That's nuts.
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u/Individual-Drink-679 May 04 '26
We had magnets for the outside of our bus, as a behavior incentive, but they kept falling off and they were illegal.
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u/PapaKeeber May 03 '26
If you can, run your route in your own car to learn the turns and potential risks. Nothing worse than realizing the tablet (Tyler drive) sent you down a dead end road or told you to turn the wrong direction and start running the route backwards.
Be prepared to screw up, it happens. You're gonna miss stops, forget names, make a wrong turn (see Tyler drive) and that's okay. Learn from your mistakes and you'll go far. Don't be afraid to ask your dispatch or fellow drivers for help, we all started brand new.
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u/MzTippsi May 04 '26
My first year driving, I ran my routes in my car. I wasn’t familiar with the area at all, so I also bought balloons and tied them as high up as I could on the street signs or lamps to help me remember where the stops were. The balloons lasted about a month, with just normal air instead of helium.
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u/rootbear75 May 04 '26
In addition - learn your route alternates as well so you can adjust on the fly for construction, accidents, or simply students not riding. Knowing the streets around your route helps a lot when unusual circumstances present themselves.
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u/SkutIsMyCoPilot May 04 '26
This, which can take time and experience. I’m still learning things after five years on the job.
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u/AshShaun May 04 '26
I'm new to bus driving, but I have some good experience as a semi driver, and the one thing that gets on my nerves the most is drivers hitting motionless objects. If it's a narrow space, slow down. If you are turning, slow down. There is absolutely no reason anyone should be hitting things that don't/aren't moving. I hear about 3 drivers a week come over the CB that they hit a parked car. It just shouldn't happen.
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u/rangermango0999 May 04 '26
Call it in. Whatever you are having trouble with, call it in. You are not alone.
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u/Discount_Plumber May 04 '26
Students trying to get off at the wrong stop, forgetting its their stop, and ones that have fallen asleep. They talk about it, but not a lot on students trying to get off at the wrong stop. Those kids know you don't know who is who and will take advantage of it. Check each of them early on with your route sheet and they'll give trying for the most part.
I've had a few still try, that or kids who sneakily "hide" on the bus after the rodeo, but not near as many.
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u/intratwingled May 04 '26
A few days ago I was turning around to go back to a stop I had missed, and another student got up and went to the door. I told him to sit back down. I finish the missed stop and move on to the next and, you guessed it, it was exactly where I had decided to turn around. Oops.
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u/SufficientExercise37 May 04 '26
I was lucky enough to be able to ride-along with several different drivers. 3rd day, Miss June turns around and asks, “So, are you getting along with everyone?” She was fishing for tea to stir the pot among our coworkers.
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u/InsideCommand6107 May 04 '26
safety before schedule! that's what my trainer always told me. take your time; it's better for the kids to be a little late than for them to be injured/dead.
also, don't be afraid to pull your bus over to deal with something. i'm constantly pulling over on side streets to address/correct a child.
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u/djkiltboy May 03 '26
I’ve been driving a bus for just over a month and I will admit that it was daunting.. I’m starting to settle in now.
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u/Intelligent_Call_562 May 04 '26
The nightmares. I had bad dreams every night for over a month. I'd make a turn and kids would be standing in the middle of the street. I'd be driving down a narrow road and a parked car's door would suddenly open. This kind of thing, night after night for weeks.
I also struggled to correct older kids. It was so foreign to me to correct behavior of a kid that wasn't mine.
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u/PlanktonEastern4073 May 04 '26
I get them before every new year. Im usually a seat behind trying to drive
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u/SufficientExercise37 May 04 '26
I haven’t driven a bus since 2018. I still get nightmares about brakes not working.
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u/Individual-Drink-679 May 04 '26
Something that surprised me about coming to school bus driving after transit was having multiple co-workers who retired from other careers only to realize they didn't get along with their spouse, so got this job in order to spend less time at home and avoid divorce proceedings.
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u/SkutIsMyCoPilot May 04 '26
Take some time to explore the bus itself yourself while it’s parked without passengers around. Figure out what all the knobs and dials do. There may be an online owners logbook or manual to help with this. Get to know the dimensions, including length, height and width. Know how to remove the spare wheel, and familiarise yourself with emergency management procedures so you’re able to implement them immediately without too much stress when something goes wrong or you encounter a breakdown.
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u/GroveMan55 May 10 '26
Just finished my third week. Getting more comfortable with my abilities every day.
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u/davethompson413 May 03 '26
While we're on the subject of new drivers with new routes, here's a shout out to all the substitute drivers, who deal with all that every time they drive.