Cost of P endorsement?

What is passenger training endorsement whatever?

 

To drive a bus. Passenger bus.

 

Gotcha. I would rather drive dead chicken and crap around then folks who need the bus. No offense or anything.

 

Being on a Greyhound bus is like entering the Twilight Zone.

 

Costs can vary if you go to a school. As Chinatown stated, scheduled service.....can be quite the experience. Tours and private charters are the way to go. When I drove full-time (still do part-time), I've been to New England in the fall, Florida, New Orleans, and Canada. Transported AAA baseball for four seasons and many college sports teams. Stayed in a hotel every night, entered events and attractions for free, and had my meals comped almost everywhere. If interested, many bus companies will provide free training, much the way the mega carriers do, with some work commitments as little as 90 days or 6 months

 

On a greyhound there may be chickins that the bag lady brought on .

 

Free to a couple grand, depending on how you get it. Having a CDL already doesn't make much of a difference.

You will still need to complete the classroom, range and on-road Entry Level Driver Training program and take the pre-trip, skills and road test in a representative bus for what class you want to be endorsed for. A CDL school is going to charge as much for that as if you didn't have a CDL, but as mentioned above, a bus company often will provide the training for free -especially school bus companies- in exchange for working for them for a while.

What is your reason for adding the P endorsement? That may help with the best guidance on how to accomplish your goals. I have had my P and S since 1992, always kept the S current even though I have absolutely no intention of ever driving a school bus with students on it again, I can never say "never".

 

Yes. My first job right out of high school was with a school bus contractor for my local school district. They got me my class B with P and S at first, because all of our mechanics had to also be qualified to drive, and in Pennsylvania we needed a CDL with P and S to perform the state safety inspections. They then got me my class A after I proved myself so that I could tow in our broke down buses, and we were a third party test site, so that I could go become an examiner and give the CDL skills and road tests for the state.

As for making your license look more impressive, there are very few jobs that cross over between the freight and passenger world. A freight employer is not going to be impressed by the P endorsement, and may even discriminate against you by thinking you don't have any "real truck" experience. Same for a bus employer, they could care less how many miles you drove a truck, they want bus experience.

I keep mine active because I am still a state licensed safety inspection mechanic, and do a lot of driveaway transportation in my spare time. Other than delivering new trucks and buses for the manufacturers or dealers, the only other time a P endorsement will help (outside of being a bus driver) is if you get into touring with musicians and drive their tour bus. These jobs often require a class A and the P endorsement, because they tow a trailer behind the bus, and the tour bus qualifies as a P endorsement required vehicle.

In my 33 years out here, the only time my P or S endorsement has helped me make money, besides when I was a school bus driver/mechanic and/or when I drove coach bus for Shortline, was doing the driveaway type work because I can always grab a school bus to deliver if I wish. That said, I have not driven a bus in over 28 years except as required to maintain my S qualification in Pennsylvania (they require one trip per year and a check ride every 4 years) and when doing state safety inspections on buses.

One note about getting your P endorsement through a bus company, especially a school bus company, is they often give limited training for pre-trip inspections because in many states school bus drivers are exempt from doing the under hood or under bus inspection, however they get a "school bus only" restricted CDL. Now, since you already have your CDL this shouldn't be a problem, however make sure if you go through a school bus company that you will get a fully unrestricted Passenger endorsement.