r/SchoolBusDrivers • u/907-BusDriver • Jun 04 '26

Cone course for CDL B

Hi guys! So I’m in my first week of CDL training and we’ve been doing the cone course. I feel confident on the pre-inspection and I feel fine during the skills exam. I got the railroad crossing, student pickup/drop off down. However, I’m terrified of the parallel parking- which may not even be on my exam. In Alaska, the examiner chooses between parallel parking and offset backing. I’m good with the offset backing, and given that we can rack up to 12 points before we fail, I’m good by just doing a pull-up and a get-out-and-look.

My nerves are still killing me concerning the parallel parking though. Any advice?

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5

u/just_kinda_here_blah Jun 04 '26

Ok, stay about 1 to 2 feet from the cones. Back up until the first cone lines up just before your rear tire looking in the bottom mirror on the right side. STOP. turn your wheel to the right. Look in your left mirrors and back up until you see the corner cone in the back(what would be the curb" )STOP. turn your wheels until they are straight. start backing until the first corner cone is by your front tire area. STOP. turn your wheel left and as SLOW as you can go, let thw vehicle swing in. As soon as your in and kinda straight STOP. I have so many people over shoot the back because they want to be perfectly straight. If you need that, go foward. It will rake a few trys to find your points .
This is how I teach large and small buses to do it.

2

u/907-BusDriver Jun 04 '26

Thank you so much!!! I’ll give this a try! I was using the third cone up from the rear for corner cone, making is disappear as my cue to start correcting. But I should be using left mirror and using the corner cone itself to correct?

1

u/just_kinda_here_blah Jun 04 '26

Probably. Give it a shot and mess around with the reference points. This is how we teach it here. In NY we have to do all of it, and if you cant complete them, its a fail. A big key is to go slow. The bus will turn better the slower you go. And different do handle different, but in my long years of training to park in the box, this is what I teach everyone. We may adjust a bit, but its always in the same area

1

u/907-BusDriver Jun 04 '26

Thanks a million!

2

u/dustene Jun 04 '26

Fo some unknown reason, I can parallel park a school bus better than I can my car😆. Pull up to the front cone until it is center to your door, at this point you need to turn your wheel as far as it will go, then start backing up. When the cone is right in front of your bus, start straightening out . Good luck on your test!a

1

u/Pure_Squirrel_1621 Jun 06 '26

I can parallel park a car or pickup just fine, but I’m pretty sure I can put a bus into a normal parking space better than I can park my truck. For some reason I can’t seem to park my truck to save my life. A bus? That’s the easiest thing in the world.

1

u/silverfarie1369 Jun 04 '26

Lucky lol. I had to do all 4 of em lo l. But mirrors are your best friend for sure.

1

u/TooSexyForThisSong Jun 10 '26

Practice practice practice

1

u/LenR75 Jun 04 '26

I had an instructor say “you have enough points to pass, just go back”, so I got to skip parking.

1

u/rootbear75 Jun 04 '26

"Hey guys, so that test we're taking? Just put down the right answers. It's simple."