This channel covers all stuff about school bus driving. It's about getting kids to and from school safety to support learning. We'll talk about the lighter side of the student transport system. My wife and I married over 30 years ago. We raised two adult sons. We love our pets. I had a demanding and stressful career. In 2018, we decided to leave the rat race behind. I trained to be a school bus driver. This is my story of the joys and frustrations of driving big yellow machines.
Views and opinions expressed in all School Bus Talk videos are my own and do not reflect on my employer. FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY.
Email: [email protected]
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I drove public transit for years tired school bus driving wrnt back to public transit the low pay for school bus drivers is terrible for everything we have to put up with
@@FarBear-by6rw thanks for your comment. Lots of SBD’s become transit bus drivers. IMHO Pay & hours is leading reason for SBD shortage.
@@SchoolBusTalk like you said in your video I'm a single income earner and have no other income to fall back on so SBD wouldn't work for me or my life style. God bless though it takes a special person to do that job not only are you dealing with misbehaving kids but also their parents which is another nightmare 😭
Hello there, I am about to do all my CDL class B on Monday do you have any tips with kids and bus I should know about?
@@justinm8454 kzread.info/dash/bejne/pn5s0KqqdMWzpcY.htmlsi=V26tmo8BNrK1tPW9 Check out my video 5 Tips for New Drivers. Good luck. SBD’ing is a rewarding career.
kzread.info/dash/bejne/X4iErdaCm9PSebw.htmlsi=O5kDw7ewnJGU4e47 Here is a video that I created about Tips for Parents. I hope that it’s helpful.
Best bus driver ever
Aw shucks thanks.
This is soooo awesome! You make it fun!
@@edwardcostello3150 thanks bro for the nice comment.
I remember when the 6 new buses come back in 98 during my high school years under Pete Wilson
thanks keep up the good work
You bet. Thanks for the nice comment.
I’m a 19 year old amateur radio operator from Atlanta, GA and my mom is a school bus driver. This video is just perfect and when I was in high school, I’d cringe at the amount of drivers transmitting long, unnecessary traffic. For our exceedingly large district, 10 codes are the way to go and you better be proficient in them even before you start training for your CDL!
I was in the crash
@@user-qp1ou1rl5e 😢
That's the entire issue his first topic is pay and hours he retired and became a bus driver. This job is only catered to retirees. You work 2 hours in the morning and two in the afternoon that's 4 maybe 5 hours a day most places use senority based systems when assigning charters/field trips so the money making opportunities are few when just started out.
Thanks for the good comment. You’re right about everything assigned based on seniority: routes and equipment.
I love my job as a bus driver. In my district I have found I get plenty of support, great benefits and the pay is over $30 per hour depending on your experience. I guess I'm lucky.
Sounds like a good pay rate being a certified SBD. Thanks for the nice comment. I appreciate you. Have a good summer vacation!
@@SchoolBusTalk I’m actually working the extended school year for 5 weeks but that still leaves 5 glorious vacation weeks until school starts. 😊 Have a great break too!!
Had my CDL Class A before and drove OTR semi trucks I did not stick to it due to family issues and someone being sick at that time now years later going for school bus job I mean I'm excited as heck! & the study material is super easy for me lol😅 no factor.Yes I think they need to raise the pay, you cannot complain about driver retention + a shortage if what you pay is low. There seems to be a great opportunity for school bus drivers after a year of good driving through companies like grey hound or city or government passenger bus jobs something to think about. Good luck to everyone!
You want me to what for how much? This comment goes out to all boards of education.
As a European schoolbus driver it is very interesting to learn about American schoolbusdrivers.
Thanks for the comment. I appreciate you. What color are school buses in Europe?
@@SchoolBusTalk I live in the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, school buses are driven by taxi companies. The vans (8 persons) drive in the color of the taxi company. We do not drive large buses, except for trips etc., and they are mainly special needs children. Children with ADHD, autism, Down syndrome and physically handicapped children. I drive an electric Fiat van with a range of up to 210 miles. In the winter a lot less.
@@Djekkie-gj7jzThat’s very informative. Thanks for the comment. In the USA, small SB’s that transport less than 16 students are called Type 2. Typically, Type 2 buses transport special needs kids to school. I currently drive Type 1 SB which is the larger machines (>16 passengers) and is used primarily general education kids.
@@SchoolBusTalk In general, only special needs children travel by bus. Other children have to go to school on their own or with their parents or other adults. We pick up each child at the door (they then officially have 2 minutes to get to the bus) and then take them to school. And back in the afternoon of course.
Some folks are naturally 'people persons' who enjoy interacting with others. Other folks aren't, and should have *no* contact with the public. They may be fantastic accountants, actuaries, or computer programmers, but they have no patience to tolerate the public. To quote Bruce Hornsby, "That's just the way it is."
Thanks for the comment. I appreciate you. Being comfortable working with kids and youth is essential to be a school bus driver.
In Canada our problems are similair but Canada is more expensive, so you feel the squeeze more. Also drivers tend to switch to city buses who make 30 something an hour or coach buses who make almost 40 an hour.
Thanks for the comment from Canada. Yes, pay is the top reason for the SBD shortage. I appreciate you.
Don't get me started. 01) Low pay if you work for a district which includes lack of compensation when school is out for the summer. The same can be said when you work for a bus company when they negotiate their contract with a school district. 02) Low or no accountability from either the school district or the bus company. 03) Attitude of the students and sometimes the administration of the school that ride along on field trips. 04) Excessive amount of training required to drive a school bus from both the state DOT level and the Board of Education level. And these are just a few.
Yes yes Steve! Thanks for your comment. I appreciate you.
Pay is the main thing. Pay and no benefits.
❤❤❤ Now i know i wonder why my son smelled cookies😊 when he got home thanks for your services sir your in my prayers🙏
Thanks MommyGabe. I appreciate you. God bless.
After 4 years driving school bus, I’m hanging it up. I love the students. But the management and requirements and pressure are too much. The shortage has us more crowded, longer routes, lots of scrambling. Many drivers don’t feel like the admin folks have their backs. I’m gonna miss it. But then again, I’m not.
I appreciate you and your comment. It speaks to how many SBDer’s feel. The licensing and certification requirements are numerous. You’re exactly right about more crowded routes. One person calls in sick and the whole day goes into scramble mode. Sorry about your supervisor is not properly supporting you. That’s a terrible place to be. At the outfit that I work we have a good man in charge, and the boss drives routes when we’re short handed. I pray that you find a new rewarding job. Thanks for your comment.
Thanks for the video I have been an OTR driver in a semi For 20 years. I see I have many new things to learn
Congratulations on season 2, Looking forward to next season, Cheers!
Thanks Bro! Have good and safe summer!
Btw…. Check out Music Vegetation. It’s a Dale Snale production. Very chill long form grooves.
Hey Paul I found you!!!! Thank you for the shout out. I look forward to watching your past videos. I just subscribed to you. Have a great summer break.
Back at ya Oobie! Next week is my last week of school and I have a couple ideas for shorts before the last day. I may go live on the last too. I appreciate you. It’s good for us SBDers to be connected.
Because drivers these days don't pay attention to what the hell they're doing
New subscriber of yours! I’m going into CDL school and looking to possibly add my “S” endorsement. I enjoy working with kids and I already work a full time job but I have no benefits. Some districts offer benefits. But I’m not sure if I can get around my first job schedule
Thanks for subscribing. I appreciate you. Sounds like you’re seeking a change. As a new SBD looking for benefits you may need to take supplemental hours working as campus supervisor or aide to get enough hours to qualify for full benefits. Good luck. I enjoy working in education because it is rewarding and I like the vacation time off.
Hey man thanks so much for making this video about school buses shortage i agree with you 💯 percent due to the strict requirements on becoming a school bus driver with the mechanic information that should definitely be out of the test honestly that mechanic job to do that determine what's going on not the school bus driver.lol end of the day school bus driver is driving the kids they are not mechanics if they were they will be Fixing the school buses But all i can say is it got million times worse with the shortage the pandemic people lost all their jobs kids was not be able to go to school but my thing is this the requirements people have to have their driver's license at least three years to order to apply to become a school bus driver which is another reason why what is a shortage in school bus driver industry if they make it at least one year of having your driver's license that would be awesome for people who want to become school bus drivers because not everybody get their driver's license when they turn 18 or 20. The reason why I said that because school bus companies train people to learn how to drive a school bus from scratch sometimes it take 2 months or more. I always wanted to drive school buses right now but the reason why is holding me back due to I have my driver's license for 2 years right now but their requirements are at least 3 years of driving experience with a driver license to order to apply unfortunately. but in Canada their requirements at least one year if united states reduce it to 1 year of having driver license that will be awesome because school bus companies are already training people that will make it more opportunities for people to become a school bus driver. And school bus industry But the pay in your country is so so sad man 20 dollars per hour in salary that so crazy and cruel because person who are 20s or in their 30s fresh out of CDL school will make more money than that in trucking industry and on top of that less experience having a CDL license and a driver's license and on top of that driving a semi truck double with a Class A license but I feel like driving kids school bus drivers should make more bus drivers have more responsibility dealing with kids and disabilities and behavior issues they are human I feel like it unfair for California school bus drivers and others state's in this world and hopefully more school bus drivers can fight to get what they want doing my research this been going on for years with shortage
Thanks cowboy for the comment. I appreciate you. In California where I drive SB, the minimum age to qualify to drive SB is 18YOA. You must have a clean record and be fingerprinted and pass a CHP background check.
Absolute brother anytime I hope and pray they will hire me next year I always wanted to drive schools since I was little kid riding school buses long time ago in my state. To be honest I have no criminal record at all and no points on my license lm all set 🚍🚍🚍🚍🚍🚍🚍🚍
Why’s this guys talking so weird
Thanks for your constructive feedback. I am just a school bus driver that makes videos about the school bus safety to support learning. I am not a professional voiceover actor. Please check out my other videos and comment. It’s good for my engagement.
A true hero - I hope he is recognized for his deed.
That’s a fact. Last year, an Australian school girl that took control of a runaway bus was awarded AU$100.
Real mf heroes out here. Get homie a medal fr.
Hell yeah kid!
On your first point, I was one of the lucky kids where the bus had to pass back by on the way out of our neighborhood. We always had 5-10 kids or some years even more who used our stop since we lived on a very long dead end street. The bus driver was always ready to stop on the way back since it was a regular occurrence for someone to have been late for the “official” stop and would get picked up then. Everyone knew if you missed the bus that was the stop to go to since that was one of 3 stops that stopped at a street instead of a house and the only one to get passed twice
The oldest bus I rode was a 1990 bluebird tc 2000 in 2011
Thanks for the comment. I appreciate you. 1990 BB’s were good machines. If properly maintained, they can roll for decades.
Is your electric bus not working
Thanks for the comment. I appreciate you. I am still driving an e-bus.
@@SchoolBusTalk okay 👍🏼
I'm spoiled now all of our sub buses are 2017 or newer All American RE's when I first started they were all early 90's Thomas RE's and MVP's
Thanks for the comment. I appreciated you. Old No. Five is a 1987 BB. I speculate that it may be permanently taken out of service in the next 12 months. That’s why when I was assigned to drive it as a sub bus I took the opportunity to make this video.
Pushing the algorithm for you, comment people!
Wow. I appreciate you. Thank you. School Bus Talk is a passion project about keeping students on the transportation system safer to support learning. I am a working school bus driver. I posted up a new video this morning. Please check it out. Again, I am blown away by your kind comment.
This. Guy. Seems. To. Be. Reading. These. Words. Off. A. Page. One. Or. Two. Words. At. A. Time. It. Is. Really. Irritating.
Thanks for your constructive feedback. I am just a school bus driver that is making a passion project about student transportation safety to promote learning. Your comment is good for my engagement. Not a professional voiceover artist but trying my best. Please check out my other content and make comments. Have a good day!
I appreciate you sharing this story about an awesome person but you up inflect every sentence you're saying doesn't sound very professional. Just talk to us like you would anyone else. Not trying to be hurtful and only helpful. Keep sharing stories of people like this!
Thanks for the nice constructive comment. I will work on my voiceover presentation. School Bus Talk is about promoting student transportation safety to support education. Check out my videos where I do in depth coverage of all stuff about school buses. In KZread Shorts, I often react current stories about school bus heroes and villains. This story is a heroic act! To be prepared for the bad stuff that can happen, I also share stories about bad guys. Again thanks for your comment. Please like and subscribe.
Like the guy above said it does sound a bit robotic, the tone I mean, I thought there was going to be a punchline or something of the sort lol, hope you have a great day tho!
Super thanks for a constructive comment. I record my voiceover on my bus. I am an amateur working on a passion project to promote safety of student transportation to support learning.
He sounds like ai
Thanks for the nice constructive comment. I am school bus driver not a professional voice actor. Please make comments on my other content it’s good for my engagement.
Fun edit, too!
The bell, n soundtrack are perfect! Well done!
Thanks for the nice comment. It’s a departure from my usual video stylings. I wanted to try a music video narrative without voiceover. I hope that it works to tell a story. I appreciate you.
The noise generator/speaker could be wired with sound choices. For example, you could reward great passengers, "Hey Timmy, you stayed in your seat today. Here's the bus sound playlist. Choose one, please" (Timmy) Where's ice cream truck?" haha!
Thanks Ed for the nice comment. I appreciate you.
Honestly, I hadn't thought about it much, but I feel like a school bus is the perfect use case for EVs, since you generally have long breaks between uses so charge times don't have to be pushed down so far, thus keeping batteries in better shape for longer, and you could probably even kit different buses with different battery sizes for routes that are shorter/longer.
Thanks for the comment. I appreciate you. Please check out my other video where I give a bus driver’s review of the electric school bus. IMHO…. The e-bus works well for specific applications such as in-town routes. The e-bus does have range limitations which means that it’s not a good choice for rural routes or field trips. Also, heating on the e-bus is a challenge because it uses a lot of amperage. Regions with sustained cold winters may have issues with e-buses.
I helped wire a brand new thomas for Transpower.
At my school, they still have the old 80's chevy busses.
If well maintained it’s my experience that school buses can safely operate for many years. I am working on a video about driving a SB with 280k miles manufactured in 1987.
Why the F wouldnt they have a charge light right next to the socket? Like every EV on the planet (except, apparently, school buses) has.
Yes that would be an excellent improvement. The Bluebird Vision in the video is a 2019 so one of the earliest E-buses manufactured by BB.
Can you hear engine noise inside the bus?
Good question. There is no engine in an E-bus. The propulsion unit is a AC electric motor, therefore, no engine noise. There is road noise from tires.
I think he meant the space ship noise?
@@GeoRCCraft oh yes perhaps I read videodude’s question incorrectly. Yes, you are able to hear the noise generator inside the bus coach when driving. Most of the sound is projected forward into the traveled way.
@@SchoolBusTalk yes, I was referring to the noise generator. Thanks!
I love watching your video about ev bus,you do a great job .👌
So nice of you. I appreciate you.
@@SchoolBusTalk 😀
Sad that today students are not able to drive the buses. Sadder yet is the fact that the maturity level has declined to hinder this possibility. Back when I was in school, 1960s-70s, students drove, and there were other students that were available to back up the main drivers when needed. I cannot remember an accident, other than the loss of a mirror to a sign post, during my 12 years schooling.
thanks David for the comment. I appreciate you. That must have been back in the day! In my state, you have to be 21YOA to be certified to drive a SB. I know that there are licensing exemptions for kids to operate farm equipment as young as 13. My mom (born 1926) told stories about young people deemed essential (milk delivery) were permitted to drive during WWII. Please like and subscribe to my channel.
I do my dry runs on GoogleMaps.No, you don’t see the landmarks…but it is still a good way to memorize the stops. I just use my mouse pointer as my ‘bus’.
oh, haha….just watched the rest of the video…that is what you do also.
Thanks for talking about this topic Mr. Paul. Thank goodness for no serious injuries.
Yes fortunate that there were no serious injuries. I appreciate your comment.
Informative
Thanks for the nice comment. I appreciate you.
Reason is the kids on the bus do not respect the driver. They once they out of classroom they think rules are not on the bus.
I feel ya babb1344. I am fortunate to have an excellent supervisor and onboard video surveillance. I appreciate your comment.
@@SchoolBusTalk I had a camera on the my bus also. I had to show my manager first then to the school principal before the students could be removed from the bus.