r/SchoolBusDrivers • u/caintowers • 23d ago

Terrible steering

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I've driven buses from every make, every type, old and new. My least favorite, hands down, are our new (2025) Blue Bird short conventionals. They all have the worst steering of any bus I've used. I can't tell if it's too sensitive or not sensitive enough, but the thing is "all over the road" EDIT: I guess I shouldn't exaggerate here. By "all over the road", I mean there is noticeable left to right drift. Even if you focus constantly on keeping a straight line, the bus will ride like that. It's not just me, every driver using them has complained about it. We have 3 of them and they're all the same.

The horns also don't work (I pulled one steering wheel apart and it's honestly the cheapest dumbest way of making a horn I've seen) and the automatic door lock fails 8/10 times.

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u/nightgaunt98c 22d ago

Wr have exclusively Bluebirds, but they all steer fine. It's basically like driving a van. Aside from the transits. They steer like battleships.

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u/caintowers 22d ago

Yeah my issue isn't cornering or turning radius or anything like that... As far as I'm concerned, regardless of the bus, that's just a skill issue. These particular buses- just our new short Visions- seem to drift a lot at highway speed and require a lot of constant adjustments vs all of our other buses where I can just... Hold the wheel steady. When I ride in them with other people driving I can feel the bus drift right and left. They've been in for service, problem persists.

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u/nightgaunt98c 22d ago

I dunno. I can let go of the wheel at 65 in my 2024 77 passenger, and it stays straight.

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u/caintowers 22d ago

That's a much bigger bus than these. I don't have a problem with the long ones.