School bus drivers – it’s not just a job

The Association of School Transportation Services of British Columbia “Your Child’s Safety Is Our Business”

By Dennis V. Powell

Throughout B.C., approximately 1,700 buses transport about 210,000 students to and from school each and every school day. Multiply that number by the number of school days, and it adds up to roughly 38 million students who get to and from school on a school bus. And, these numbers do not include the hundreds of field trips that students take throughout the year.

All of this transportation is being done with an exceptional safety record that this industry works hard to maintain and is extremely proud of. Just think of the challenge… the risk… the responsibility that school bus drivers across B.C. accept every working day. In my district, alone, each of my drivers transports between 100 to 300 students to/from school. My 15 buses stop to either pick up or drop off students over 700 times each and every school day. What a challenge; what risks; what responsibility that is!

A classroom teacher may have a class of 30 students facing them, and has help just next door if needed. A school bus driver might have as many as 84 elementary, 65 middle or 56 secondary students on board his/her school bus. Their back is to the students, with only a six-inch by 36-inch mirror to see what the students are doing; they are operating a 30,000-pound bus in today’s traffic – and all of this by themselves. It is definitely not a job for everybody!

I have had lots of people apply to be a bus driver; and many have said how much they love kids. When somebody who hasn’t driven a school bus applies with me, we tell them to ride with our driver coach for the day and after the day on the bus, to then let me know if this is a career they want to enter. I had a six-foot, four-inch 56-year-old retired RCMP officer who after a day riding with our coach, called me up and told me that life was too short and he would pass. He continued driving a school bus on field trips for a private school, taking children where they wanted to go; but when it came to driving children to/from school, he soon learned that a day-to-day school bus operator’s job was not for everyone.

Sammy Tong

Western Region Sales Manager

Mississauga Offi ce Tel: 866-805-7089

Sparks, NV 800-987-9042

Belimo Americas

219-6279 Eagles Drive Vancouver, BC V6T 2K7 Tel: 604-221-6105 Cell: 778-772-6273 sammy.tong@ca.belimo.com www.belimo.ca

Before I started driving a school bus, I had worked with hundreds of young people both at summer camps, youth groups and rallies. Professionally, I had driven over one million miles, operating different configurations of tractor trailers weighing anywhere from 80,000-pounds to 130,000-pounds; but nothing I had done prepared me for driving a school bus. For the first three weeks that I drove children to/from school, I ended the day with a migraine.

Drivers arrive early each morning to their very cold and lonely bus, spend 15 minutes doing a thorough pre-trip inspection and then off they go, picking up students on the side of the road. The school day begins for children as they talk amongst their friends and get warm on the bus. In the afternoon, the same students who were transported in the morning have somehow now become these very busy children. The ride home is so different than the morning. Now the bigger challenge begins! After being in school for the day, students are usually pretty excited about being let out and that shows on the bus ride home.

Bus routes around B.C. involve some very deserted rural areas, and some really busy urban areas, but all drivers have one thing in common: they believe that they are picking up their own children. Throughout my 26 years in this industry, I have never met a school bus driver who is only doing a job. They transport their own children – not just a youth wanting a ride, but one of their own. That is what makes them different from other bus drivers. I can’t tell you how many times that prospective drivers have applied for work, telling me how much they love children, only to find out, once they experience the job, how difficult it is. School bus drivers have an extremely difficult job with extreme challenges, exceptional risks and huge responsibilities.

I have met drivers who have transported Kindergarten students on their first day of school, bused them all through their schooling years, right up until they graduate, and then have been invited to these students’ graduation ceremonies. Think about the school bus drivers you might know. Do you know drivers who make a difference? If you do, then let them know. Let them know that you appreciate what they do because… to be a school bus driver, “it’s not just a job.”

About the Author

Dennis V. Powell is president of the Association of School Transportation Services of B.C. Powell has spent 18 years driving tractor trailers; 26 years a coordinator of services at School District No. 63 (Saanich); and 26 years on the executive of the ASTSBC. He has spent four years as president and Chair of the Canadian Pupil Transportation Conferences (2002 & 2008), and was previously a member of the provincial committee to update the Commercial Drivers license. Powell has been married 40 years, and has three children and three grandchildren. b