For those who were school bus drivers, would you recommend it?

My first CDL job 26 years ago was school bus driving. I was a gigging musician, and it was a perfect fit for my life at the time. I was in a beach town bar band, we played every weekend all year long and played 5-6 times a week in the summer, so it was great to have a job with nights and weekends free and 2 months off in the summer. The money wasn’t great, but my school district offered great benefits, which came in VERY handy when I had to have emergency gallbladder surgery!

 

I’ve always thought it would be kind of fun. The hours are sweet. Home for lunch. I know the kids are probably wild but I like kids for the most part.

 

I’d probably opt for driving the short bus. That way I would be able to relate better with my passengers.

 

Short Bus Alumni roll call
1. Me !
2. _______
3. ________
And for those with Jeckel and Hyde systoms
4. a________ b______

Lol i kill my self(s)

 

Today, I know of no one that drives any form of school bus. I do know several that did, and to a person, they swear they would never do it again.

If I could drive I would love to do this!

 

My retired neighbour drives a school bus the past year. He has no issues with it,,my area pays $23 hour so its just something to keep you in beer money or to get ya out of bed.

 

Got my CDL-A last summer. Thought it would be a good retirement gig turning 65.

Only after getting CDL A did I really dig into hiring market and find that shortage of truck drivers is a myth and the realities and pay of OTR life for a new CDL.

Were I younger it would be ok but not looking to pay my dues for a new profession at my place in life.

So I took a school bus driver job with some trepidation but also with a 5k hiring bonus.

That is the kind of thing that tells you there really is a shortage.

Work for a private company so we do a lot of charter stuff as well.

Kids can be problematic at times, more in the afternoon. Had one problem route that took me a couple of months to get pacified. Good monitor helps and just write kids up and let school take care of it.

Nice job for retired old guy. Would be tough to rely on solely for income, 40 hour weeks are rare, usually more about 30.

Pay in my area is low-mid 20s/hour. When I did the math and consider all the unpaid time in OTR in truck stops/rest areas, it pays more.

I like it. I ended up turning down some OTR job offers and still get solicitations.

A lot of job satisfaction in school bus driver comes from your local management is what forums tell you.

I would say go with a private company so you can do the extra work assignments which breaks up the monotony of doing only same school routes every day. At least for me that works.

There actually is an ongoing national shortage of school bus drivers unlike the mythical truck driver shortage. Plus, states tend to get heavily involved with training/certification of school bus drivers much more than CDL A. So a bit more barriers to entry.

The dealing with passengers, whether schoolkids or adults on charters is a whole vector that is absent from CDL A and is a major part of the job.