Busing or Trucking

I ain't haulin' no freight that can (and will) talk back.

 

Hi there,

I dont know the laws about age and crossing state lines with a bus. I have driven school, charter, and trucks. I started driving school busses when I was 21, they did not want me before then because of insurance. I had a very hard time with the kids since I was young, especailly high school boys LOL. In my first 6 months of driving a school bus I was mooned( its funny now, but a little scary then, he was bigger than me and kept telling me he loved me ) , and had kids smoking pot on my bus! I returned those kids to school and MADE school police deal with them, I refused to take those who were smoking on my bus home. Unless school police wanted to ride with me to watch them, well that didnt happen, their parents had to come and deal with them. After many similer problems I decided school bussing was not for me, so I thought a charter bus would be so much better, well guess what, I was school bus certified, so I got many of the school trips. Lucky me, the kids in well to do areas, who dont care, leave a huge mess and do not respect anyone because their parents can pay for any problems to make them go away. ( many of them were like that, not all ) Then the regular runs I got were usually bingo people going to a casino, well drunk people are often as bad, sometimes worse than some of the kids I had trouble with. The bingo people were very superstitious as well, They were very upset with me one night because I took a detour because there was a flooded road with barricades telling me to take a detour!! LOL After nights like that, I started thinking about trucking, because like the previous poster stated, the loads to not talk back!!

Trucking was a better fit for me, I have never gone out of state in a truck, I drove local for several years. You have to be a special person to handle school or charter bussing, I may be able to handle it at my age, but when I was 21 it was not a good job for me. You must have mountains of patience, and when your that young its hard to get the older kids to not look at you as one of them. Some of it will depend on the area you would be driving, does the district back up dicipline by the driver? ( write up, suspend from bus etc.. ) I was driving in a gang infested area, taking kids of rival gangs through each others areas. Also keep in mind you usually clean your own bus, cleaning up after all those people, in charter that includes the bathroom, and draining the black water tank. Dont get me wrong, I had great kids on my bus as well, I am just telling you the downside to it, no one told me these things before I started diving.

Whatever you decide, good luck to you. Dont get discouraged if there is something you really want, but you may be forced to wait until you are 21 because of insurance coverage.

 

At least in your truck you are the only one making the mess so you're less likely to spit gum all over the floor or clean out your cooler and throw rotting food all over the seat.

I started local when I was 19, my company had a non-cdl vehicle and I could drive that out of state when necessary, it was just a smaller box truck with no air brakes. I had a CDL and drove a regular truck on local runs, worked for me. Never had an interest in driving a bus, theres a lot of seniority issues in those companies the older drivers get all of the hours and the good routes. Most of the time you have to start out part time and work your way up. Don't think the money could be that great in school buses either, in my area they start at $13 an hour part time.

If you want a cake job just to pick up some extra cash right now until you turn 21 drive a shuttle bus.

 

I second that motion

 

10-4 on that. When I'm driving my fourwheeler, and the kids are getting on my nerves, I tell them "Shut up and be FREIGHT."