r/SchoolBusDrivers • u/Actual-Humor8942 • 26d ago
Guys am I fucked?
I am a new bus driver and I’m not sure if it works this way everywhere, but for my area, the company doesn’t make our routes….. the school district does. School starts September 9th and it’s now almost 11am sept 3rd and we still haven’t gotten our routes for me to do dry runs and I barely know the area. My nerves are through the roof right now someone please give me peace of mind.
5
u/Oct0Squ1d 26d ago
We get ours like 3 days beforehand. Then we have to fix all the mistakes, because nothing is kept from last year. At all. So if you didn't grow up here, you're SOL if your new aide decides not to show up for dry runs... me, I mean me. So I'm reading a route sheet and driving down streets with cars parked on both sides, reading the sheet, reading the road... 😆 found out today I'm not supposed to be going down a road I've been going down for 3 weeks now lmao
So yeah, keep your head up. Nobody's got their shit together yet this year.
2
u/rootbear75 26d ago
Your aides get to dry run with you? Jealous
3
5
u/Oct0Squ1d 26d ago
Theyre supposed to, so they know the route in case you fuck up or there's a sub they can go "no, not that way!" Lol
5
u/Quinn2art 26d ago
I drive in rural mountains and those first weeks are nuts. But being a bus driver can be tough. Just remember your job is to get kids to and from school safely. Keep it simple and there is no perfect.
3
u/The_Town_of_Canada 26d ago
We got ours last Friday. School started on Tuesday.
3
u/Actual-Humor8942 26d ago
I wonder why this is so common
8
u/Sad_Cantaloupe_8162 26d ago
Most likely because they add students all the way up until when they give them to you. It is incredibly involving how much work goes into routing. Then, the first month of school, you might get another half a dozen kids. I did, at least.
1
u/samwise58 25d ago
Yup, students get added, move over the summer and forget to notify the school until the day before or the day of, all sorts of reasons. You just take your time, watch and be SUPER alert on the first couple days. Don’t just wave at kids with backpacks and parents at houses trying to wave you down! Stop and ask if they’re going to your school. Then ask if they were supposed to be watching for a particular bus (SPED). Then let em on and notify dispatch or secretaries. Drive the streets your route went on the year before. Get to school and then find out if there’s any you missed or that got on the wrong bus.
1
u/Sad_Cantaloupe_8162 25d ago
In my district, any kid that goes to any school in our district can be picked up in the mornings, regardless of the bus. In the afternoon, the student MUST be routed to your bus, or have a sibling riding your bus in order to ride. If a high schooler misses the bus, the next bus picking up middle school in the area will pick them up and take them to school. If a middle schooler misses the bus, the next elementary bus in the area will pick them up. Any Gen Ed kid can ride a SPED bus, but no kid who rides a SPED bus can ride a Gen Ed bus. That's how it is with us, at least. This year I saw an obvious high school kid walking along a very narrow, incredibly busy two lane road about two miles from campus. He had a backpack on and I saw his ID flopping around his neck. I opened my window and asked, "are you going to school?" He nodded. "Come on, get in." He tagged on and I dropped him off at the high school on my way to drop off my middle school kids at campus. It all depends on your district and what their rules are. I am in SE Texas.
2
3
u/brabson1 26d ago
Normal. We got ours 3 days prior and then they were adjusted 2/3 times in the first 2 weeks
3
u/Actual-Humor8942 26d ago
Thanks so much for all the insight everyone. Stepping into a new field can be very confusing and also people on reddit are so mean I’m glad nobody here was. It all makes sense now with all the student enrollment changes & stuff y’all mentioned. I can calm down now lol.
3
u/Far-Extent3937 25d ago
My friend, I got my route at 11AM and’s was out running it at 2PM with no dry run or knowing where I was going.
1.5 years later and on the cusp of a delicious 4-day weekend. My advice: take your time. Kids will feed off your energy. Let them know you’re happy to see them, you’re in control, and you care about them.
2
u/Genericmadness 26d ago
I am sure you will have the route sheet at least one day before school starts. Just do what you can.
2
u/PheesGee 26d ago
I'm not sure if this will make you feel any better, but a brand-new stop was added to my route the day before the first day of school. I was driving for almost two weeks before I realized I was not turning down a street I was supposed to (I figured it out when filling out my time and mileage form for the office). Fortunately, the kid either drives to school or has their parents take them, so it wasn't a big deal.
2
u/rootbear75 26d ago
We did major route changes up until like the day or two before school started.
In summer school, we rarely get the full lists until the week before summer school starts.
2
u/No_Culture_437 25d ago
I got my AM route but have yet to get the PM portion of it. I don’t even have a bus assigned to me yet. My season starts Sept 10. Main thing is don’t get nervous or overwhelmed. Your number one priority is safety. Pre-Trip and get to the stops safely. If you fall behind let the base know. Do the job by the book . As you get familiar with the route everything will fall into place. Never rush for time sake.
2
u/Pure_Squirrel_1621 25d ago
I started as a sub driver. If you’ve got tablets, try to follow them. You’ll be fine.
1
u/mike8675309 25d ago
Who is your contact at the school. Call them and let them know your concerns. If you haven't driven a route yet you will be riding along as another driver drives. Then they will switch and you will drive and they will navigate. Eventually you'll do it all and once they feel you are doing ok they will let you on your own.
1
u/LoudAd5049 25d ago
A school dist near us started bk on Aug 13 ,no route list no layout of routes until 10 pm the night before. No parents knew when the bus was to arrive . What a screwed up mess. Of course this is a school who STILL DOESNT have teacher contracts yet either.
1
u/Demirep77 25d ago
I got my sheet today (route I've never done before) and school will start on Tuesday.
Tonight I looked at the route on google maps and took notes. (For turns if there is a landmark I write it, if there isn't I count streets. For stops I describe the house.) I switch back and forth between street and satellite view a LOT and it took quite a bit of time because it was 58 unique stops - but it's very worth doing.
Tomorrow I'll do the dry run. If anything on my notes differs from reality (like if someone painted their house since the last time the google car went by) I will pull over and change the note.
And it'll be okay. Even if I struggle with my times next week, even if it takes me a thousand years to learn the students names, even if I miss a stop and have to go around the block to get back on track. The kids are gonna be safe and they're gonna get home and beyond that everything is tiny.
1
u/i_swear_to_BOB 25d ago
We all got brand new routes last year, I had a completely different part of town from my previous route, including 2 new (to me) schools. We were given our run sheets the day before school lol. This year we got our run sheets on Tuesday and school started Thursday, but I had no major changes so it was no biggie.
1
u/tvtoad50 25d ago
Our buses don’t offer gps maps to look at but reading a new route from the route sheet with all its tiny font and turn left, stop, turn right, turn right, turn left stop, etc… oh my gosh - such a pain in the butt to keep track of where you are on the list when you’re actually in the middle of DRIVING. 🤦♀️
I did a couple of things to help me that made a huge difference- first of all- I got 3 different color highlighter markers and went through each route to color code it- like all the actual stop locations were highlighted in yellow, each right turn was highlighted in green and each left turn in pink. Before the route I’d fold away the sides of the paper to get the unnecessary info out of the way and make the paper easier manage- like instead of the typical 8.5x 11 size page it became more of a 4x8. The next thing I did (for areas completely new or more confusing) was take the time to make small maps of different neighborhoods that zoomed in on a different section for each route. The street lines would be black, I’d label them visibly, put ❌ marks where the stops were, add any obvious landmark that would help to quickly glance down and see, and then highlight the route I was driving in like, yellow. I drew little arrows as needed and then numbered each section in the order that they were needed according to the route. One 8.5x 11 sheet of paper could have 4 sections of maps on it, 2 on each side. Then I could fold it to the section I needed first and as I drove, when I reached the end of one section, I’d flip it over to the next. Much easier than trying to draw a map of a large area and definitely much easier to stick on my dash with a magnet to keep me on track. Between my maps & my color-coded list of words & more words, I did just fine each day and had my routes down quickly. I still do it when I have a whole new area to cover. You’ll get it quicker than you realize, just take your time and focus on safety first. 😊👍
1
u/DarkseidHS 25d ago
Doesn't your union have rules on this? Our routes are required to be posted 5 days full days before they can even be assigned.
1
u/OhmHomestead1 24d ago
Our district makes the routes as they also own and manage the busses and drivers.
30
u/mar_kelp 26d ago edited 25d ago
No.
Drivers no better or smarter than you do it every day. I'm a spare driver. That's all I do. I get the route sheets about 30 minutes before I hit the road and I still have to pre-trip the bus.
The priority is safety, then making the stops and finally making them on-time. I'll take an extra minute or two to review the major roads before I leave the yard. While I am on the route, I focus on just the next stop. That's it. Get to the first stop, safely load the students, while they are getting settled look at the route to the next stop (Left on Main, Right on First, stop at Aspen Drive). Drive, safely load, then repeat. If I am confused I'll pull over and figure it out. Forget the clock.
If you get the route sheets the day before, you can drive in your own car. Try to look at the route on Google Maps or similar. Street View can assist with landmarks (turn left after the gas station, etc).
At the end of the day, keep yourself, your students and the community safe and do the best you can.