I’m a school bus driver myself. I’ll tell you the issue is that they’re short drivers because they pay peanuts. The buses are coming that late because drivers are doing routes after their first routes. All the school bus companies somehow pay the exact same rates. There is no competition between them, but “they’re trying everything.”
They have a set amount they are being paid and increasing cost for parts, insurance, and fuel.
I’m guessing the only thing they can control is wages. There’s always someone willing to step in at the lower wage but, seriously folks, try doing this job. It’s nuts.
In addition to:
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driving a bus full of screaming children (literally, my kids bus had an epidemic of kids screaming as loud as they could to see how mad it made the driver, they had to remove some kids permanently to make them stop),
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constantly being exposed to every virus you can think of, and
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manuevering a massive vehicle through streets clogged by parked double wide pick-up trucks ('Berta!)
You are also working odd hours for crap pay.
Then your colleagues start calling in sick, or quitting because some kid spit on them, or they don’t want to drive after a bad storm (they don’t close schools here, they will sometimes not run buses but I’ve seen them run when it really wasn’t safe) and you end up working double routes with parents giving you a hard time.
It’s no wonder the drivers are frustrated.
Couldn’t have said it better myself. Thank you.
I just retired as a driver. I never experienced any of that crap. Well, other than the rolling petri dish! An N95 dealt with that pretty nicely.
Honestly, I’m happy for you! I hear crazy stuff from my kid about the bus. Thanks for driving the kids!
Thanks! And you’re welcome!
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Can confirm that school buses are almost always lard for my daughter’s field trips.
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Edmonton has at least 6 private companies contracted to the school boards running busses. Busses running an hour and a half late on the daily is a failure for a transportation business. If these private companies can’t get our kids to school on time then maybe the province needs to step in.
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Or you can roll them in to the school board, stop running school busses for profit, bring the drivers on to the AUPE, treat them fairly, and attract enough drivers to fill the routes.
I don’t really care if it costs more. It’s an important part of education and we should be spending money on it.
I just retired from driving school bus in rural SK. The school division owns the buses and hires the drivers. We’re members of CUPE and get full benefits, including the same pension plan as the teachers.
They still have trouble finding drivers. Part of it might be the pay, although I was pretty happy. I think most of it is lack of information and stereotyping. Most people are surprised by the pay and benefits when compared to typical part time jobs. A lot of people think dealing with kids and their parents is a nightmare. I had very few problems and don’t know any drivers who struggle with kids or parents often enough to matter. I can tell you that it’s a lot easier than dealing with the general public and a boss looking over your shoulder in retail!
Obviously, it won’t work if you need high income full time work, but if you’re already juggling jobs, you might as well drive school bus as one of them, at least around here.
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Uhhh… k?
How about this solution? Work it in to their contracts that they pay heavy fines for busses running more than a half hour late in reasonable weather. It’s not the drivers making the busses late, it’s the companies.