the city buses are just as bad. One hit my bosses car one time and who's insurance do you thin had to pay?

The flip side is they probably wouldn't want to hear about the behavior of many of their little angels while on the bus. School bus driving has to be one of the crappiest jobs in the world. It can be a chore keeping kids in line in a classroom where kids can be sent to administration to be dealt with let alone trying to keep order with a bus full of hyperactive, sometimes violent kids while navigating traffic all for crap pay. I'm surprised they find anyone to do the job.

My Wife drives a school bus and has for 15 years. Your description berates every hard working career bus driver who is committed to safely transporting kids to school 9 months a year in all weather conditions. She always gets cards and gifts at the end of a school year from grateful parents thanking her for a job done well!

I can not even begin to tell you all the horror stories I hear from her about what she has to endure on a regular basis....

Max ryant

Some of my closest calls have been with school buses. I called to report one of them once and it was a waste of time, it sounded like the person I talked with either was too busy handling other complaints or just didn't care. Either way, I'm glad I don't have kids riding on any of the buses I've seen around here.

Sounds like those kids have horrible parents more so than a horrible bus driver.

Oh I'm sure. There are always kids misbehaving on the bus. And I agree, I'm sure it's hard to find jobs, hence why they often go to the lowest bidder. Hence my comment of wondering why parents don't care. They were all in school once, they know the same thing I do.

I'm sowwy that I hurt your or your wife's feelings. Oh geeze there can never be any bad bus drivers because my wife is an angle and is the best bus driver in the world. :sarcasm: :roll eyes:

I swear people on the internet need thicker skins.

I'M telling you that MY bus drivers were CRAP. Hence ALL of the bus drivers I've ever dealt with were crap or extraordinarily mean. My parents (and my aunt and uncle) also hated our bus drivers and thought they were weird/creepy.

If she has to "endure" so much, why does she do it? Surely in those 15 years she could have found something that didn't deal with dozens of screaming, misbehaving children?

Seriously? Okay then no feelings were hurt but Apowogee cepted. As to why she hasnt she found other work? Well nothing that needs to be explained here or to you for sure.

Max Bryant

my middle school bus driver used to run over pets on purpose

driving a school bus is a tough and thankless job, and many that I've seen "drive angry", like they hate their job

oh and watch out for those mirrors. a man was killed while walking on the side of the road here and was hit by a school bus mirror. For many days the story was simply "man found on side of road dead"

it took a few days for authorities to figure he was hit by a bus mirror

Do you smoke? Stop and have a smoke for 5 minutes, or check your tires, let the bus get way ahead and then try to catch it. Turn the situation into sprint race.

More importantly, was she acute?

Or they'll call the police and have him hauled to the station for questioning. Even if the recent creepy clown reports were a media hoax, they'll still take very seriously a report of some guy dressed up as a clown following a school bus.

That's pretty good

That's a felony in South Carolina with up to five years in jail.


-Tim-

Well, my bus driver was great! Though it could be because she also lived in our neighborhood and her kids were close in age to us, so she knew many of us and our parents outside of school. We also lived across the street from our schools, so there wasn't much driving to do or time spent on the bus.

My sister-in-law is a bus driver, as is one of my friends. It works out well for them since they can work and take their younger kids with them. I've been considering it as well.

I am sure my High School bus driver in the early 80's was the model for Otto in the Simpsons. Pink Floyd, Cream, Deep Purple, etc was always blaring from the single speaker next to the driver and he was always stoned but never shared. I thought we were good kids.

Sounds like the "First Student" buses around here. Apparently becoming a driver for that company and the KCATA public busing anyone qualifies. Typically the school buses are empty when they've tried to kill me. One passed so close I could touch the bus without fulling extending my arm.

Your grandma could beat me in a sprint with her walker.

As a matter of public relations almost everybody is on the side of the safety of school children.


You got to compromise.

Yep, write or wrong, a cyclist is not going to win when it comes to what some see as a safety issue for school children.

Mother Theresa could get run over by a bus and they would say it was her fault.


-Tim-

Show me 100 of anything and I'm going to like some better than others. That goes for both school bus drivers and for bicycle riders. Some are just better at what they do than others.

Relative to passenger management. A certified middle school teacher probably averages around 25 students. The largest school busses have an 84 student capacity and the driver is facing the wrong way and also has to deal with all of the traffic issues that confront everybody else. If you think that's an easy task, pretty much every single school district is looking for drivers.

I once drove a charter including a parent chaperone. While negotiating I-64 traffic in St Louis the gentleman asked how much I was paid. I told him our union scale. He remarked that I was over paid. Just then, 2 boys in the back of the bus stood up so I grabbed my intercom mic. and told them to sit down. The very next words out of his mouth were "I couldn't do your job." End of discussion.

No problem. If one gets offended by stuff like that (and I don't) you probably shouldn't drive a school bus.

Other than parents (who I avoided as much as I could), how many adults did you choose to hang around with when you were in school. Have you considered the possibility that ALL of the people in your town might be weirdos?

Report him to the bus company and the school board!

Might work if you have real solid evidence of something that was real bad. The truth is every bussing operation that I'm aware of has trouble staying staffed. They really don't want to fire anybody.

Most of the drivers who got fired (that I'm aware of) lost their jobs for failing (or failing to take) a drug test. If you smoke marijuana eventually you are going to get caught because it stays in your system for a long time. Everybody else loves it when their number for testing comes up because they get an extra hour's pay. Easy money!

I have 3 schools on my morning route and I leave early to avoid the traffic when school is in. If I don't leave out between 6:00-6:15... I don't even attempt it. School traffic is hell and dangerous for cyclists.

Lets hope not. She's 30 years dead