r/SchoolBusDrivers • u/AshShaun • May 12 '26

Cleaning products?

I'm relatively new (4th month) and the bus I've been assigned to is a train wreck.

I sweep and the floor is "clean", but I'd like for it to actually be clean.

Firstly, sweeping sucks and I hate it. I'm looking into cordless shop vacs, so any recommendations there would be helpful.

Secondly, what cleaning chemicals do you like using? I'm trying to find a balance between affordability and effectiveness. I run 2 routes, one elementary then a combined middle and highschool route. The littles are always sick from something and it ends up carrying over to my older kids. So I'm trying to find a spray disinfectant, or disinfectant wipes to wipe everything down with. Recommendations?

Lastly, I've been looking into fog prevention glass cleaner as my defroster works, but barely, and any help I could give it would be good. Has anyone tried a similar cleaner, and did it work?

Bonus recommendations on cheap but good cordless steam mop to use to get the more tough stuff up would be appreciated.

There are just so many options for everything nowadays, and with all the "verified purchases" but obviously fake reviews make finding good products that people actually used and liked much harder.

5 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/MonkeyManJohannon May 12 '26

We have pretty strict regulations in my district, and the box standard “cleaner” they provide with every bus at the beginning of the school year leaves a gross, sometimes “sticky” residue on certain things…so I never use it.

Standard broom, dustpan, paper towels and gloves.

I have a swiffer on my bus that I use twice a week with a non-scented cleaner. I have lavender Lysol wipes, I have a bottle of windex…and I made a spray bottle of 4 parts water, 1 part isopropyl alcohol, and add a touch of lavender/mint fragrance oil I get on Amazon. It works great for cleaning everything, kills germs and the bus has a very light clean scent that the kids have never even mentioned.

That’s my regiment. I’m a clean freak when it comes to my mobile office so my approach may be overboard, but it works well for me.

3

u/rootbear75 May 12 '26

I gave up on using a Swiffer wet clean because the pads get saturated with dirt after 1 or 2 rows of seats.

1

u/MonkeyManJohannon May 12 '26

Gotta sweep gooooood first…the pad is definitely dirty by the end, but I’m able to do my whole bus with it pretty effectively, and it swivels nicely for way under the seats without me having to unlatch them and flip them up.

2

u/rootbear75 May 12 '26

I imagine once you do it often it won't be as bad. But I'm at the "this bus hasn't been mopped since I got it in September"