Tales On The Bus

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.
– Albert Einstein

Shut your b*tt hole up!

Today was a very crazy day. I was about to pick up elementary school kids and drive them home. Since the time they boarded the bus, they were already fighting for seats. They didn’t want to follow the seat arrangement list. I had to convince them that unless they followed the list we would not move. Finally, they agreed but the noise did not subside. Screaming and yelling continued while I tried hard to focus on my driving until I heard Weylon, the smart kindergarten boy, yelled: “Shut your b*tt hole up!”
This is not right and I have to make a correction. I stopped the bus and talked to Weylon.
“Weylon, why did you say that words?”
“Adam is making fun of me!” he said.
“OK making fun is not right but you should not say bad words like that. You know, all b*tt holes in the world are shut, so no need to mention it! Don’t do that again, please!”
But because of this b*tt hole thing I missed one stop and had to make a loop to get back to that stop. And the kids blamed me for missing their stop.
“Bus driver you do this every day how could you miss the stop?”
OMG! Kids are kids!

You will never be a good wife

Overheard on my bus this morning a conversation between Domino and Bailey, both kindergarteners, discussing their pocket money spending.
“How much did you spend yesterday in the cafeteria?” asked Bailey
“I spent all of my pocket money,” Domino answered easily.
“Really? You wouldn’t do that!”
“Why wouldn’t I?” Domino asked back.
“You’ll never be a good wife Domino!”
Wow, seriously, Bailey! I held myself really hard not to laugh out loud out of respect to those young ladies discussing a serious home economic issue! Are you wives aware of this important qualification for you to be a good one? If not, you are no better than my kindergarten riders! 😀😀😀Why do fish swim in salt wate

Why do fish swim in salt water?

It was a beautiful Friday afternoon, the last day of the week. It was a cool shiny day, I was driving the 25 high school students to their home. As usual not much was happening with driving high school students. Mostly they are quiet, enjoying their gadgets or talking softly among themselves. Today was a bit different when one of the students, Hondo, suddenly called my name and talk.
“Francius, why does fish swim in salt water?” he asked.
“What is it?” I asked.
“It’s a joke,” he said.
“I think it depends on the fish,” I said not knowing the answer.
“No. If they swim in salt and pepper they will sneeze!” 
“Oh, OK. I have one for you,” I continued driving, eyes focused on traffic.
“Shoot!” he said.
“If a chicken says all chickens are liars, is she telling the truth?” I asked.
“Oh oh, this is tricky. If she is telling the truth she is one of the liars, then she can’t be telling the truth. OK, I give up, what is the answer?”
“The answer is we don’t know because chickens don’t talk.”
Then more fun quizzes came up like why is it when a cat crosses a busy street she always looks left then looks right or looks right then looks left. Also, which one is the bigger, Mr. Bigger, Mrs. Bigger or their 3 month-old baby, what does a snowman say to the other snowman, and many more.
It was interesting that finally we broke the ice and start talking. Have a good weekend guys! 

Let the children’s laughters remind us how we used to be.

It doesn’t smell me

I found a winter hat on the bus floor this morning. It could have been dropped by one of the students earlier. I kept it until the afternoon to show them so they could claim it. 
“Who lost a hat? Check here, if it is yours you can claim it,” I announced it on the PA.
No one came over, except Gaby, one of the third-grade students.
“Let me see!” she extended her hand asking for the hat.
I gave her the hat and she put it on her nose.
“Why do you smell it?” I asked curiously.
“It is not mine. It doesn’t smell me,” she answered smiling.
OMG! Why she didn’t just look at it I can only guess. Maybe she has the same hat, same color, so seeing is not believing. Smart girl! 😍

My mom’s mother died

Domino is a cheerful kindergarten girl. She talks a lot. That’s why when she was quiet her friends became suspicious.
“Bus driver something is wrong with Domino,” Gaby said.
“What happened?”
“She doesn’t want to talk and she looks so sad.”
I approached her and talked to her.
“Domino, what’s wrong? Tell me.” I ask softly.
“My mom’s mother died,” she said with a sad face almost crying. I had to comfort her for such a big loss.
“She is now happy in heaven Domino. Don’t feel sad,” I tried to cheer her up.
At her stop, as usual, her mom was there waiting for her. I stopped my bus, secured it and got out of my driver seat to meet her mom to offer my condolences.
“Domino is so sad today, she said that her grandmother passed away. Is that true?” I asked.
Her mom looked at Domino and asked: “Why did you say that?”
“But grandma Gloria died,” said Domino still showing her unhappy face. Her mom looked at me and whispered: “It was a while ago!”
OMG! That is what so beautiful with small kids. Their memory transcends space and time. Poor girl! 😊😊😊

If you think your life is so perfect you never drive a school bus!

Because I am not happy

While driving the Elementary School kids to school a little kindergarten boy left his seat and stood in the aisle. I asked him to get back to his seat with no success. I stopped and secured the bus and gently talked to him.
“Liam, why are you standing? Please get back to your seat!”
“No!” he said.
“Why is that?”
“Because I am not happy!”
“Why are you not happy Liam?”
“Because they make fun of me,” he said.
“OK. I heard that and I will take care of it. But you know Liam, if you are unhappy our bus will be unhappy too. And if our bus is unhappy he won’t start. If he won’t start we can’t get to school and will stay on the street until tomorrow. So, will you please be happy for the sake of our bus?”
Liam slowly moved back to his seat: “I am sorry!”
And I continued driving.
Definitely, a school bus driver needs much more qualification other than just a CDL! 😍😍😍

No one is stupid

Elementary students are the most honest creatures. Sometimes they are clearly straightforward and painfully blunt. One morning while driving them to school there was a great commotion on the bus. And the bad words like ‘stupid’ and ‘shut up’ were aired. This is not acceptable, and I had to stop it.
” QUIET! What was the problem?” I talked to them using the PA system.
“They called my dad stupid!” said Jaime.
What in the world were in this little creatures’ mind calling somebody’s parent ‘stupid’!
“Please listen up! No one is ‘stupid’. Not on this bus. Not you, especially not me, no one. Also, not Jaime’s father. Every single person in this world is ‘smart’! Understand? So stop mouthing bad words. No bad words on this bus!”
I didn’t know what else I could do, but they finally calmed down. 
Sitting back on my driver seat I wondered whether the word ‘mouthing’ that I just used is a bad word or a good one. Anyone can give me an answer?

Remind us our monkeys!

This is Friday morning at Charles F Tigard Elementary School. As usual, before I open the bus door to drop the students off I remind them that today is the last day of the week and I want them to promise that they will be good in class. 
“Remember today is the last day of the week. Will you promise me that you will be good in class?”
I am expecting a ‘NO!’ answer, but to my surprise, they all answer: “YESSS!”
Then someone in the back row shouts: “Remind us of our monkeys and our watermelons!”
This is funny, they remind me to remind them!
“OK! Before you get off the bus don’t forget your monkeys and your watermelons!”
All of the kids scream their usual answer: “We don’t have monkeys. We don’t have watermelons!”
Then two little girls approach me, one of them ask me a question.
“May I ask you something?”
“Sure!” I say.
“What are those monkeys and watermelons?”
” You don’t have a monkey or watermelon with you?”
” No!” the girls answer.
“Then don’t forget your lunch and your backpack!”
A big smile cracks her pretty face: “Ooh!”
“OK, bye bye kids! See you on Monday!”
I think our relationship is getting better! 😁😁😁

This is just too much

Driving a school bus full of kids is every day an adventure. I learn a lot about how to handle them effectively. You won’t expect grade school kids to behave like adults, it’s just impossible. What I do is just watch them carefully so they won’t hurt themselves. Maybe the school bus is the only place where they can go wild, not at home nor in the classroom. So, I can stand, even enjoy, the screams, one hitting another, calling names, calling someone’s parent stupid, nose bleeding and many other wild things. I can even stand the nasty smell of wild fart. But this one is just too much: one student stepped on dog poop and walk all over inside the bus! It took me more than half an hour to sanitize my bus and made the bus inhabitable again! 😕😕😕

Elaina stole a banana

Listening to kids reports on problems or complaints are part of a school bus driver duty not stated in the job description. The report might be about something real or just a colorful dramatization of an event perceived by kids. The regular kindergarten and grade students reports would be like ‘He hit me on my face’ or ‘She stood on the seat’ or ‘They called my dad stupid’ or ‘He didn’t let me read my book’ or ‘They make fun of me’ or ‘He screamed on my ear’. Whatever it is, as a school bus driver I must show proper respond or the kids would feel like being ignored. Usually, my response would be a standard like: ‘I’ll take care of it’ or ‘I’ll let his mother know’ or ‘Take it easy’ or ‘Nevermind!’. But today, this one kindergarten report really caught me off guard.
“Bus driver, Elaina stole a banana at the cafeteria,” Liam said.
“What?”
“Elaina stole a banana at cafeteria!”
I am at lost. I don’t believe the concept of ‘stealing’ is in a kindergarten mind. But I also don’t want to judge Liam as reporting a lie. After holding myself for a moment I found an answer.
Me: “I think she was not stealing, Liam. She was just borrowing. She might pay for it tomorrow. Will you keep your story just for yourself, OK?”
Liam: “OK.”
The truth is, I don’t know! 🙂🙂🙂

Bus driver …!

While driving my bus in a busy and narrow two-way street this afternoon, with a load of grade students and kindergarteners on board.
“Bus Driver, Lily moved seats!” said Sophia, a first grader.
“Lily back to your seat, or you will hurt yourself falling!” I responded through the PA.
“Bus Driver, Lily showed her tongue!” again Sophia reported.
“Lily tuck your tongue, or you will catch flies!” I said, still watching the busy traffic.
“Bus Driver, Lily kicked my leg!” once again Sophia reported.
“Never mind!” I said.
I continue driving! 😁😁😁

Jakx is showing something

I have three fifth grade students, Angela, Isabel, and Zoey, volunteering as students management helper, we call it ‘bus monitor’, on my school bus. They are pretty little girls with grown-up attitudes. They help me to calm down more than 50 wild younger kids, ask them to sit down or lower their voices and to better behave. To do that they need to occasionally walk down the bus aisle to talk to the younger kids, which is in fact against the rules. They know this so Angela asked me a question.
“Bus driver will we have a problem for standing on the bus while it is moving?”
I have to make my decision. These older girls know how to handle themselves in term of safety than those wild kids. A busload of wild little kids is much more dangerous than three bigger kids standing while the bus is moving.
“No, you won’t have any problem. As the captain of this bus, I give you this job.”
I got their first report.
“Bus Driver Jakx is showing a middle finger to me!” Angela said, pointing to a first grader Jakx.
Holy moly! Does a first grader really know what showing middle finger means? Dooh, where did he get this from? 🤨🤨🤨

Quiet or I’ll drive the bus …!

The most problem with driving a busload of kids is seating arrangement. There are kids that are incompatible with anyone on the bus. I have two of them: Adam and Ricky. Every time we put them in a row with some kid this kid reported a complaint. Yesterday the school admin tried one solution, they put Adam, who is a fourth grader, in the kindergarten row. We will see the result this coming week. As for Ricky one student Lucas, the one who is now in the same row with him, offered a solution.
“Ask Ricky who he wants to sit next to him and he will behave for the rest of the school year,” said Lucas stuttering. 
“ OK Lucas. I’ll talk about it with the Admin.”
But I have a different solution. I ask Ernesto, a big fifth grader, to sit in my driver seat. When they all get on the bus after school and saw Ernesto in my seat they asked what he is doing. I told them that he is the new bus driver.
All students: “NOOO! He can’t drive!”
“He can if I let him do it. Unless all of you behave Ernesto will be your new driver!” “Ernesto, use the PA and tell them to calm down!” I said to Ernesto.
Ernesto shouted on PA: “SHUT UP!”
“No, no! Don’t use a ‘shut up. Say QUIET!”
Ernesto rephrased it: “CALM DOWN! OR I’LL DRIVE THE BUS!”
Everyone calms down! 😃😃😃

Just open your butt

There is one kid rock song everybody on the bus loves: It’s Raining Tacos. The lyric goes like this: …it’s raining tacos, from out of the sky, tacos, no need to ask why, just open your mouth and close your eyes, it’s raining tacos … They always ask me to play this song and usually I play it on my iphone and pipe it through the PA system and they will dance like crazy. This time I wasn’t able to play it because I was busy driving, so they sang the song together but with a modified lyric. Instead of singing … just open your mouth and close your eyes … they sang … just open your butt and close your eyes … This is not right!
“Stop singing! No ‘butt’ word should be aired on my bus! That’s not good. I never say ‘butt’ in my life!”
“You said it just now!”
“You made me! Besides, tacos won’t fit your butt!” I said.
“OK. No more BUTT!
“Stop it!”
Dooh kids! How can I live without you! 🤨🤨🤨

Party pooper

Rainy morning, it was dark, cold and wet. Visibility was poor, so I had to drive my bus slowly and carefully. Makeko, a second grader, reports that Jaxk, a first grader, called her ‘a party pooper’. 
“Bus Driver Jaxk called me a party pooper,” Makeko shouted.
“What is it a ‘party pooper’?” I asked for not having any idea what it is.
“It’s someone who poops at a party,” other kids explained.
“Please, no one on this bus poop at a party. Jaxk, stop calling Makeko that! Or, I will have to move you to the front seat behind me!”
I still don’t understand why pooping at a party or in the office or at the mall or anywhere else for that matter could be so bad! As long as it is done in the toilet!
Oh, party poopers! 😛😛😛

Potty word

Every morning I learn new vocabularies from these little kids in the school bus. Some expressions I did not know before becoming my daily instruction. ‘Back to back’ means your back to the seat back which means sit down or the same thing with ‘on your bottom’ also means sit down. I also learn how to say things a different way. One morning I had this conversation.
“Bus Driver Jakob said a bad word!” Makeko said
“What bad word?”
“I can’t say it, it is a bad word.”
“Put it in a different way,” I said.
“It is a potty word!” answered Makeko.
Although I didn’t really know I could guess, it had to be the ‘sh*t’ word.
“Jakob with a ‘K’, please no ‘potty word’ on our bus or anywhere else!”
These kids are smart! 😁😁😁

Money is not everything. Driving a school bus is!

Don’t forget your watermelon

The second most important item about driving a school bus is the kid’s lunch. Of course, the kids are number one. When they left their jackets, their backpacks, their homework, those things can wait until tomorrow. But if they left their lunches, the bus driver must drive back to the school and take the lunches to the school admin so kids will not be left starving. I keep reminding them not to forget this important item before they get off the bus, but it still happens. I think because words like ‘lunch’ and ‘backpack’ are too familiar and tend to be ignored. So I changed them to get their attention.
“Don’t forget your watermelon. Don’t forget your monkeys!” I said through the PA system.
“We don’t have watermelon!” said one kid.
“We don’t have monkeys!” said another.
“OK so don’t forget whatever you have!”
Then conversation expanded.
“Did you have a monkey when you were a kid?” asked one of the kids.
“Yes, I did. I had one monkey and one watermelon. Go now! Be good in school”
The kid answered: “Bye. Oh .. my lunch!”
He dashed back to his seat to recover his lunch. Since then no lunches had been left in the bus. 😛😛😛

Do you want to trade hat?

It was the early morning run for my route, taking the High School students to school. I was wearing my Tommy Hilfiger hat when one of the students asked me if I wanted to trade hat with him because he liked my hat a lot. Without hesitation, I offered my hat for his and we traded hat. I could see in his sparkling eyes that he was so surprised and so happy, and I felt the same. It was a $30 Tommy Hilfiger hat, but what the heck. I can always buy another one. Besides, I will have reason to open my paydays envelopes before I forget where I put them. 😛😛😛

Bring your poop forward

Asking kids to do something with regular words is useless. They tend to ignore things that they see or hear so many times. They simply have no meaning to them. So, when I asked them to keep our bus clean by bringing forward their trash and put it in the trash basket, it just won’t work. So this is how I told them later on.
“Please keep our bus clean. Bring your monkey’s poop, or your watermelon’s poop forward and put them in the trash basket,” I addressed them through the PA system.
“We don’t have monkeys or watermelons!” one kid answered.
“Watermelons don’t poop!” said another kid.
“Ok, bring your own poop!”
“We don’t poop on the bus!”
“Bring your trash then!”
Since then our bus floor is clean because they don’t want me to ask: ‘Who poops on the bus?’ 🤣🤣🤣

Raining tacos

When kids get bored they create problems. They scream, smack one another, steal friends’ backpack, get a nose bleeding or poop on the bus. This morning I gave them something special just to kick them out of the boring routine. I stopped and secured the bus on a safe spot, played RAINING TACOS on my phone and piped it through the PA system. It changed the bus into a 2-and-a-half-minute chaotic disco and scream before I dropped them off at school with happy faces! And the news of RAINING TACOS played in the school bus spreads like wildfire! 😎😎😎

No Trump’s trash

Yesterday morning I found a large portion of sandwich breakfast thrown on my bus floor by one of the high school students. This morning, before I dropped them at the school I pulled over at a safe spot, secured the bus and using the PA I faced them and talked.
“Good morning guys! Yesterday morning I found an unfinished breakfast, a half sandwich, thrown on the floor by one of you. It was disgusting. I don’t know what was in your mind when you did it, but I think you agree that this is not acceptable conduct and should not be done by anybody, let alone by high school students like you. I only asked you to bring your trash forward and dump it in the trash basket. Your own trash, not your neighbor’s trash, not my trash, not president Trump’s trash. I hope this will never happen again, and let us keep our bus clean for your own safety.”
Then I pointed to the three CCTV cameras installed in the bus.
“For your information, just in case you never notice. These three little things, two in front and one at the back, are CCTV cameras. This bus is monitored 24/7. What you do, what you say are monitored and recorded. Maybe, even what you think is also recorded. So, don’t even think! Thank you and have a nice day!”

Note: President Trump never rides my bus. Also, do you think CCTV camera records our thought? Just curious. 😎

Be good in class

It was Friday morning before I opened the bus door to let the kindergarten and elementary school kids got off the bus. 
“This is the last day of the week. Will you promise me to be good in class today?”
All Kids screamed: “NOOO…..!”
Oo, crazy kids!

Trust your watch

One morning when entering the bus at morning run, Waylon, the little kindergarten boy, showed off his new watch to me. It is a plastic toy watch with a printed dial showing a ‘ten-fifteen’. 
“I have a new watch,” he said showing the plastic toy watch to me.
“Wow! What a beautiful watch. Who gave it to you?”
“Mommy.”
“Mommy is good, huh? What time is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“OK Waylon, it shows ‘ten-fifteen’, so if people ask you time tell them it’s ten fifteen. But never ask other people time because your watch won’t like it. Your watch is a strong-willed watch. It will always show ‘ten-fifteen’ doesn’t matter what other people’s watch shows. Trust your fine watch, OK?”
“OK,” said Waylon firmly.
I can see his sparkling eyes. He is so happy with my explanation for his new watch! Congratulation, Waylon!😍😍😍

I only whispered

One afternoon while waiting for departure after school time. Makeko reported to me pointing at Adam.
“Bus driver, he screamed at my ears!”
“Adam, why did you do that to Makiko?” I asked Adam.
“No, I didn’t!”
“What did you do then?”
“I only whispered,” said Adam.
“What kind of whisper?”
“AAAAAAAAAAAARGH!”
Wow! That is the loudest whisper I ever heard in my whole life!
O, Adam. How can I do my job without you! 😂😂😂

Becoming serious

The bus driver is required to check his bus after all students leave the bus for sleeping students or any left items. Leaving a child on the bus without checking is a serious violation with job termination and possibly legal consequences. If a lunch box is left on the bus, the bus driver must make an extra run to the school and drop the lunch box at the school so the student won’t be left starving. So it becomes a routine for every driver, every day, every time, including myself, to do this ‘child-check’ thing. I never expect a high school student falls asleep or leaves his backpack on my bus, but what I found when I do this ‘child-check’ this evening really surprised me: a piece of new condom. I don’t know if this is common, or uncommon, but I understand that high school students are naturally all sexually active. Besides, this is America! 
I only hope this guy wasn’t planning to use it during the night, or he would be really disappointed! 😊

I did it

Middle School students are kids trying to be adults but don’t know how. That is why sometimes they are confusing and most often unpredictable. Yesterday, while transporting them from school to home, there was an unbelievably strong smell of fart floating inside the bus. All of the students were giggling and at the same time pinching their noses. I had to open my window and both doors to let fresh air flushed the terrible smell. Suddenly one male student confessed: ” I farted! I farted because I ate beans.”
I admired his courage to accept the responsibility of farting the worst fart inside a closed school bus, but not his fart. There is nothing I can do because there is no rule that demands a student not to fart inside the bus. I might try to suggest there should be a rule to prohibit a student from eating beans before school. 🙃🙃🙃

See you in the next post …!

When life pushes you to the edge of the cliff don’t be so discouraged. There are only two things can happen, either God will catch you when you fall or He will teach you how to fly! I know this because He taught me how to drive a school bus! 😃😃😃

One hot afternoon last summer, my wife and I were driving back home from our regular groceries shopping when we saw a school bus parked on the big parking lot next to the groceries store. There was a small white tent, a desk and some people manning the desk. There was a big sign saying “WE ARE HIRING SCHOOL BUS DRIVERS $17.10 / hr PAID TRAINING plus $1,500.00 SIGN UP BONUS.” My wife asked if I want to try that job just to keep me busy. I wasn’t working at that time but driving that gigantic machine as a job never crossed my mind. Out of curiosity we stopped at the booth and talk to the lady at the desk. She gave me a form to fill out and scheduled an interview the following day. The next day, it didn’t take long before they had me scheduled for my first-day training.

It was a two-week straightforward but meticulous video training on rules, regulations and safety procedures for driving a school bus. At the same time, I had to get a CDL (commercial driver license) permit from DMV before they put me on BTW (behind the wheel) or driving the real bus training. It took another week totaling 18 hours of driving. Then the big day came: pre-trip inspection test followed by drive test. I passed both tests 100%, and in no time they gave me my real CDL with school bus endorsement, one bus to drive, and one route schedule to do the next day on my own!

The School Bus

A school bus is the most powerful vehicle on the planet. It is a protected vehicle just like an endangered species is protected. When I stick out the STOP sign and the red lights flashing for kids pick up and drop off traffic freezes. Nothing moves! Not even an ambulance with its blaring siren and flashing strobe lights can beat my school bus! The school bus is the King. You beat the King, your jail is waiting! 😀

Many would think that driving a school bus is hard. It is not. It is just like driving your own car. The bus is big and heavy, 40 feet long and weigh 33.000 pounds, but you won’t feel it. Everything is powered. Steering and braking are easy because they are powered. The engine is so powerful that pulling a busload of students – my bus can accommodate 77 students – is a piece of cake. The only major difference is when you make a turn, especially right turn. Because of its length the rear wheels do not follow the front wheels, we call it off-tracking. So turning needs a wider radius. Turning left is OK because you are already in the wider lane, but turning right sometimes we need to take up the other lane not belong to us. Other motorists usually understand this issue and give us way. But sometimes I have to push the other motorists to back up so I can turn. Basically, school buses don’t follow the lane lines. With precious load inside it is the king!

The Route

They call my route Route #9, serving one high school, one middle school, and one elementary school in turns. The route schedule details everything: the street to follow, the stop number, and the time at each stop. The students are supposed to be at their bus stop 5 minutes before the schedule, and the bus is not supposed to arrive before the scheduled time. Each school has a different start time, for me, the first leg is the high school. It has 4 stops with 25 students. After drop them off at their school comes the elementary school and kindergarten leg that has 13 stops with 60 students. Drop them at school and the middle school leg is last with 10 stops of 25 students. Total distance for the route is only 20 miles but it takes 2.5 to 3 hours to complete depends on traffic. I do the same thing in the afternoon in reverse, from school to home. The first couple of days were terrible. I missed some stops, made wrong turns, running too early when there were no students yet at the stops. So stressful! But doing it twice a day, every day, quickly changed everything. Now it becomes my second nature!

The Kids

Driving a school bus is transporting the most precious cargo in the world: kids so safety is premium. The students have been briefed on the safety issues, what to do and what not. As the bus driver, I interact with three groups of students every day. High school students are easy to handle, they are old enough to know the difference between good and bad attitudes and consequences of anything they do. They are young adults with responsibility, you tell them something once and they respond properly. Elementary school students and kindergarteners are really wild but they follow instructions easily. My only problem with them is they want attention and keep talking to me while I am driving. Middle school students are unpredictable. They are kids want to be adults but don’t know how. Each age group needs to be handled differently. If things went a little wild and it affected safety I would stop the bus, secured it in a safe place, faced them and talked to them through the PA system. The bus is equipped with security cameras, three of them, so I would just let them know that everything they do or say on the bus is recorded for safety purposes. And the record is available to their school any time. It’s a good deterrent!

The Job

School bus driving is a part-time job, with a guaranteed 5 hrs minimum a day. But you can easily build it into a full time of 8 hours or more a day if you take school trips and school activities. My regular route is 6 to 9 am for home to school, then 2 to 5 pm for school to home trip. Between those trips, I can enjoy time at home or doing other activities like banking, or doctor appointment, or simply lunch and taking a nap. What is super with this job is it follows the school calendar. You get two weeks winter break, two weeks spring break and 3 months paid summer holidays! No job that I know offers these luxuries. Interacting with kids is another bonus. It’s never a boring day, every day is an adventure, as what you will see in my next posting. Wanna drive a school bus? Join me! It is fun!