I work as a bus monitor for Durham and it's probably the most difficult right now with the shortage. The biggest issue is the pay, hours, and lack of support

My grandmother drove a school bus in rural West Virginia. She started out in the 1970s with a stick shift bus that didn't have power steering on these windy, narrow mountain roads. Some were just barely suitable for a bus.

Thanks for the video I have been an OTR driver in a semi For 20 years. I see I have many new things to learn

As a European schoolbus driver it is very interesting to learn about American schoolbusdrivers.

Some folks are naturally 'people persons' who enjoy interacting with others. Other folks aren't, and should have *no* contact with the public. They may be fantastic accountants, actuaries, or computer programmers, but they have no patience to tolerate the public. To quote Bruce Hornsby, "That's just the way it is."

New subscriber of yours! I’m going into CDL school and looking to possibly add my “S” endorsement. I enjoy working with kids and I already work a full time job but I have no benefits. Some districts offer benefits. But I’m not sure if I can get around my first job schedule

Our school district is bringing in over a trillion dollars which of course goes to everything, there's still no excuse to not paying Fair wages. The fact they design the job around less than 40 hrs to get out of benefits is sickening. My main reason for doing it is a change of pace, giving back to community, some stability and I can still do my regular job, HVAC, part time.

Don't get me started. 01) Low pay if you work for a district which includes lack of compensation when school is out for the summer. The same can be said when you work for a bus company when they negotiate their contract with a school district. 02) Low or no accountability from either the school district or the bus company. 03) Attitude of the students and sometimes the administration of the school that ride along on field trips. 04) Excessive amount of training required to drive a school bus from both the state DOT level and the Board of Education level. And these are just a few.

I will say pay and respect and accountability

In Canada our problems are similair but Canada is more expensive, so you feel the squeeze more. Also drivers tend to switch to city buses who make 30 something an hour or coach buses who make almost 40 an hour.

After 4 years driving school bus, I’m hanging it up. I love the students. But the management and requirements and pressure are too much. The shortage has us more crowded, longer routes, lots of scrambling. Many drivers don’t feel like the admin folks have their backs. I’m gonna miss it. But then again, I’m not.

Yes, lol thank you for your dedication. I agree the mechanical fall under the hood, even if they might be able to memorize and see what the items are we really have no idea what they’re looking at more of your time should be spent on focusing on techniques to drive the bus safely and keep the kids safe. I love the bus and yes, the pay should be double what it is today and the shortage will be solved.

Reason is the kids on the bus do not respect the driver. They once they out of classroom they think rules are not on the bus.

Hey man thanks so much for making this video about school buses shortage i agree with you 💯 percent due to the strict requirements on becoming a school bus driver with the mechanic information that should definitely be out of the test honestly that mechanic job to do that determine what's going on not the school bus driver.lol end of the day school bus driver is driving the kids they are not mechanics if they were they will be Fixing the school buses But all i can say is it got million times worse with the shortage the pandemic people lost all their jobs kids was not be able to go to school but my thing is this the requirements people have to have their driver's license at least three years to order to apply to become a school bus driver which is another reason why what is a shortage in school bus driver industry if they make it at least one year of having your driver's license that would be awesome for people who want to become school bus drivers because not everybody get their driver's license when they turn 18 or 20. The reason why I said that because school bus companies train people to learn how to drive a school bus from scratch sometimes it take 2 months or more. I always wanted to drive school buses right now but the reason why is holding me back due to I have my driver's license for 2 years right now but their requirements are at least 3 years of driving experience with a driver license to order to apply unfortunately. but in Canada their requirements at least one year if united states reduce it to 1 year of having driver license that will be awesome because school bus companies are already training people that will make it more opportunities for people to become a school bus driver. And school bus industry But the pay in your country is so so sad man 20 dollars per hour in salary that so crazy and cruel because person who are 20s or in their 30s fresh out of CDL school will make more money than that in trucking industry and on top of that less experience having a CDL license and a driver's license and on top of that driving a semi truck double with a Class A license but I feel like driving kids school bus drivers should make more bus drivers have more responsibility dealing with kids and disabilities and behavior issues they are human I feel like it unfair for California school bus drivers and others state's in this world and hopefully more school bus drivers can fight to get what they want doing my research this been going on for years with shortage

If you have a need for people to do a job that nobody wants to do, you are going to have to pay up. Maybe trim some fat at the school board. I can’t imagine driving a bus full of students that act like they do these days.

That’s crazy 6 months? I’ve been doing behind the wheel training for about 3 weeks now and will be ready to take my test by the 11th. So in total. Including. Classroom. Is like 6 weeks or so. I couldn’t imagine doing it for 6 months and not be licensed.

Sad that today students are not able to drive the buses. Sadder yet is the fact that the maturity level has declined to hinder this possibility. Back when I was in school, 1960s-70s, students drove, and there were other students that were available to back up the main drivers when needed. I cannot remember an accident, other than the loss of a mirror to a sign post, during my 12 years schooling.

Good stuff! I was a school bus driver for years and initially the pay was very low.

The three causes are kids, kids and kids.

Its the pay when i drove school buses we got paid 29 dollars an hour and got paid for 8 hours even though we only worked 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon

Scuba drivers should be getting paid just as much as a city bus driver gets paid the differences you don’t collect bus fares

Solution? Online learning. Less buses, less climate damage. lol

I work as a transit bus driver in a major city and can't understand why anyone would get the same license and be a school bus driver. Less pay and benefits and ironically, seemingly more unspoken responsibilities that have nothing to do with CDL driving. I went to CDL school to drive commercial vehicles, not be a teacher/daycare worker.