Watching Kids Grow Up From The Drivers Seat

Watching Kids Grow Up From The Drivers Seat

BY ASHLEY HANLEY

The wheels on the Palmer Bus Service buses go round and round, round and round North Mankato. A sure sign of back-to-school time is seeing those big yellow buses making stops in North Mankato neighborhoods and having a friendly face smiling back at students as they board the buses. One of those smiling faces belongs to Tim Murry. Murry’s smile gets bigger late summer as he prepares for a new school year. This is his 13th year of driving for Palmer.

“It keeps me busy in ‘retirement’,” Murry says. “My son-inlaw drove a bus and suggested it would be a good fit for me since I like kids and have been around them through my other gig: umpiring. Sure enough, it was such a good fit I’ve been doing it for more than a decade!”

Headquartered in North Mankato, Palmer Bus Service has been delivering kids, adults and smiles since 1996. Palmer has 88 employees who help drive 17 education, big bus routes, 12 special-education mini-bus routes and nine van routes.

Murry has worked for Palmer Bus Service for 13 years.

Murray says there are so many rewarding aspects of the job, but atop that list, without a doubt, are the kids.

“I get to know the kids and it has been great,” Murry says. “Just recently I saw kids that I drove a bus for in kindergarten and now 13 years later, they’ve graduated. I run into them all over town and at places where they work. It is so fun to talk with them and catch up.”

Murry currently drives for K-8th grade, mostly for students from upper North Mankato that go to Monroe Elementary in lower North. He also takes kids to Dakota Meadows Middle School in North Mankato.

Murray got all his training from Palmer Bus Service. He says it involves a written test, and a driving test.

“Just like when you turn 16 and get the driver’s license,” he muses.

Murry says another benefit of the job is the comradery with his fellow bus drivers.

“Some of them I get to see bright and early before we go on our routes, and it has been a great blessing,” says Murry.

Shelly Goettl, the Palmer Bus Service Site Manager in North Mankato, agrees.

“Being a part of a very special team of employees that are dedicated to safely transporting students to and from school and other special events is the best part of the job. As well as seeing the connection that my team has created with the students, they transport daily. It is very rewarding for my employees to be the first person a student sees in the morning on their way to school and the last person they see on their way home.”

Overall, Palmer transports about 2,200 students on a daily basis.

The drivers will start their day with a cup of coffee and comradery in the break room. Every driver will do what is known as a pre-trip. They will thoroughly check over the entire vehicle to make sure everything is working properly. Most routes leave the bus garage between 6:30 and 7 a.m. and are completed with the morning route by 9 a.m. In the afternoon, the drivers leave at 2 p.m. to ensure they arrive at the elementary schools in time for dismissal. They are done for the day when the last student is transported home safely around 4 to 4:30 p.m.

Along with school routes, Palmer also transports people to and from field trips and other community endeavors. They also have drivers who drive solely for athletic teams year-round or on a seasonal basis.

During the summer months they transport approximately 250 students to and from summer school, preschool and field trips. But it is the preparations for each new school year that truly gets them excited.

“We spend a lot of hours cleaning every vehicle inside and out. All buses and vans are deep cleaned over the summer months so they are ready for the upcoming school year. The mechanics, myself and my office staff keep busy getting ready for our annual DOT inspection,” Goettl adds.

Like many businesses in the area, Palmer is also hiring for a number of positions that fit their company values.

“Driving a school bus is a very rewarding position. If you are the type of person that wants to give back to your community, have a soft spot for children, like to feel part of a family at work and likes coffee and treats, then you would make the perfect school bus driver,” Goettl says.

Then you, too, like Murry and Goettl, can help the wheels on the bus go around and around for the next generation of students in the Mankato/North Mankato area.