School Bus Drivers

[Newbiedriver]

Hey All,

I’ve recently passed my PCV test privately and looking to drive buses. Didn’t want to be tied into a repayment contract with one of the big boys!

So I can only work as a school bus driver as I have carer responsibilities during the day and school hols. I’ve been offered a job but...

As I have no experience I don’t know what the rules are around transporting kids. I’ve seen them stood on the platform and upstairs of deckers and this is the route I’d probably be on.

My question is how do I handle them? Will the bus company tell me what to do with the kids or do I need to tell the kids?

Can I park the bus up and refuse to move it until they sit down?

Cheers.

 

[PG]

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on getting your licence

You mention having caring responsibilities - how do you deal with challenges in that role? How can your skills and knowledge help you when in charge of a PSV?

Kids can sense weakness a mile off - if you doubt your own abilities then they will feed off of that. If you are confident and don't stand for any nonsense then you'll likely be fine.

Finally do what you say you are going to - an empty promise or threat won't work a second time...

 

[Geordie driver]

I did 15 years on a rota that did schools at least twice a day, some times 4.

Your employer will, or at least should tell you what you are and aren't permitted to do.

In reality, or at least my 15 years experience of reality, neither the company, the school or the local authority care, as long as the kids get to school and get home safely.

Do not, under any circumstances, say you are going to do something like stopping the bus until they behave unless you are prepared to back it up. They probably won't behave anyway. Then what?

Effectively the kids are in charge, keep your head down and drive.

Don't expect any support on the road.

 

[lightning76]

Do you get on with kids? If not, this isn't the job for you.

You will remember being at school. There were teachers you respected. Yes, sir. No, miss. You did what you were told.

Then there were teachers where everybody played up.

Which are you?

I've been on the buses 26 years. I don't mind dealing with schoolkids, in fact I'd rather a bus full of kids than a bus full of moaning old people. I treat them like real people, and in my experience you get respect back. Of course you have to lay down the law now and again, but it's as well to remember we were all young once.

I agree with @PG and @Geordie driver , kids will sense weakness, and once you're out there you're on your own. Only you will know how you will react and whether its a job for you. Good luck!

 

[yorkie]

My question is how do I handle them? Will the bus company tell me what to do with the kids or do I need to tell the kids?

Not an easy one to answer, but for sure this gets a lot easier with experience.

I would definitely try to gain experience of seeing what others do (in an ideal world you wouldn't see examples of how not to behave, however the reality is that I have seen plenty of bad examples, and Im sure you will too!)

Kids can sense weakness a mile off - if you doubt your own abilities then they will feed off of that. If you are confident and don't stand for any nonsense then you'll likely be fine.

Finally do what you say you are going to - an empty promise or threat won't work a second time...

All very true; the trick is to be clear and assertive. Polite, but firm.

Being too strict and impolite won't gain their respect, but being unconfident and not seeming to be in control is also a big no-no.

.... I treat them like real people, and in my experience you get respect back..

Absolutely true (in the vast majority of cases).

An example of how not to behave was posted on this forum relating to a Northern guard recently; I will dig out the link and edit this post I due course.

Edit: below is an example of how not to behave:

Schoolboy, 15, dragged off train by conductor

Schoolboy, 15, dragged off train by conductor who 'asked him politely' I couldn't see any other mention of this on here. A 15-year-old boy appears to have been picked up and hurled off a Northern train by a conductor while on his way to school. Jennifer's teenage son, Marley, boarded the...

www.railforums.co.uk

Someone who knew how to handle situations would never get into this position (edit: such as @RJ, whose excellent post below i totally endorse).

(Also, just to add that if anyone is in the Yorkshire area and would like to gain some experience in this area, that could be something I might potentially be able to arrange; contact me if so).

 

[RJ]

I own a bus company and some of the work I took on (and drove myself invariably) involved school runs for a local comprehensive.

The children were well behaved, without exception. No problems at all. I'm pretty sure the school's staff would get involved if any incidents were reported.

The part of the world I’m in, bored children ride the buses to pass the time. I’d heard terrible things from people driving for other operators. I’ve seen messages posted on local community groups from bus drivers imploring parents to tell their kids to behave. Reports of children spitting at them, throwing chips and milkshake around, swinging at them etc. Then when I speak to their colleagues on the road, the consensus seems to be the driver, rather than the children are at fault. Some drivers squaring up to the kids, telling them to go get their Dad etc. Doing way too much.

I never have problems with them. I look everybody in the face as they get on so they know I am there. Some of them even fist bump me. I don’t mug them off and the behaviour is self regulating. The worst thing that’s happened is someone set off a stink bomb once. I stopped the bus and asked who did it. The culprit owned up, apologised, wiped it up and disposed of it off the bus and no more was said. Nothing of the like was done again.

As the driver you can't be letting the passengers run amok, but the idea is to remain in control at all times and not let things escalate. As soon as things do then the driver as the adult has already lost and there's nothing you can do without getting a bad name for yourself in the community.

 

[Geordie driver]

I own a bus company and some of the work I took on (and drove myself invariably) involved school runs for a local comprehensive.

The children were well behaved, without exception. No problems at all. I'm pretty sure the school's staff would get involved if any incidents were reported.

The part of the world I’m in, bored children ride the buses to pass the time. I’d heard terrible things from people driving for other operators. I’ve seen messages posted on local community groups from bus drivers imploring parents to tell their kids to behave. Reports of children spitting at them, throwing chips and milkshake around, swinging at them etc. Then when I speak to their colleagues on the road, the consensus seems to be the driver, rather than the children are at fault. Some drivers squaring up to the kids, telling them to go get their Dad etc. Doing way too much.

I never have problems with them. I look everybody in the face as they get on so they know I am there. Some of them even fist bump me. I don’t mug them off and the behaviour is self regulating. The worst thing that’s happened is someone set off a stink bomb once. I stopped the bus and asked who did it. The culprit owned up, apologised, wiped it up and disposed of it off the bus and no more was said. Nothing of the like was done again.

As the driver you can't be letting the passengers run amok, but the idea is to remain in control at all times and not let things escalate. As soon as things do then the driver as the adult has already lost and there's nothing you can do without getting a bad name for yourself in the community.

I think that depends on the school.

We had one faith based school where the kids were very well behaved, any bother and the teachers came down on them like a ton of bricks.

We had another where 2 failing schools had been merged into one, much bigger, failing school, 4 teachers on board every afternoon trip, it was still mayhem.

Then there were all the schools in-between, some were just lively, some were plain nasty.

I once had 2 police women board my bus to " sort the kids out", I told them to leave it, they kids would have been off in 100 yards, but they were adamant.

By the time they got off they were close to tears.

 

[greenline712]

This was back in the 1980s .... I was driving a public bus that was intended for scholars, so no "real" passengers ever travelled.
The kids were horrors; other drivers would tell awful stories of the journey. I was new into the Garage, but had been a conductor and driver for 10 years by now.
On the first day I let them get on with it .... on the second day I read the riot act outside the school (including threatening to chuck them off), which made not a lot of difference.
Along the route, I stopped the bus on a quiet road, and carried out my threat. Once they were all off, I shut the doors and drove about 50 yards before opening the doors and inviting them back on.
As the reboarded, I told them that, next time, I wouldn't pick them up again.
From then on, they were (relatively) well behaved .... I frequently drove that bus in the future, because I hadn't refused to do it, as many drivers did.
TBF, with mobile phones involved nowadays, I probably wouldn't have got away with it !! It helped that I was over 6 foot tall with a loud voice.
You have to be in charge of the situation. I've known drivers that can manage kids, and others that simply can't.

For the OP .... good luck !!

 

[yorkie]

This was back in the 1980s .... I was driving a public bus that was intended for scholars, so no "real" passengers ever travelled.
The kids were horrors...

But I thought kids today are so much worse than kids in the past? (Yes, I know it's a myth; some people like to claim that behaviour/crime/attitudes etc are getting worse when the actual long-term trend is the opposite)

...TBF, with mobile phones involved nowadays, I probably wouldn't have got away with it !...

There is no way this would be considered remotely acceptable nowadays, or for the past couple of decades at least.

...It helped that I was over 6 foot tall with a loud voice...

I am not so sure about that; it's more about what you say and how you say it (i.e. tone) rather than the loudness.

We had another where 2 failing schools had been merged into one, much bigger, failing school, 4 teachers on board every afternoon trip, it was still mayhem.

Perhaps they weren't effective teachers. Merging schools is also a huge challenge, particularly in terms of managing behaviour. Also,if you have a member of school staff who the kids already know well and respect, that's very different to a random member of staff who isn't effective and not already known to them.

 

[Lewisham2221]

It should probably also be noted that there is no "one size fits all" solution.

Be realistic with your expectation of their behaviour. They probably already realise that the driver, ultimately, doesn't actually have a great deal of authority over them, so going in all guns blazing and trying to lay down the law would probably have limited effect.

I generally find that it helps if you can try and "trade off" some of the behaviour, sort of like "I don't mind you doing X, Y, Z but A, B, C are completely unacceptable".

Some of them may be acting up because they want the attention, so stopping and reacting to them may be exactly what they want and won't help the problem at all. You may find that by ignoring some of their initial antics, they actually calm down. Obviously if it became a genuine safety issue (e.g. opening emergency doors) you would have to react, it all depends on exactly what they are doing.

As for stopping and switching the bus off, it can sometimes work, but not how you intend. I tried it on one of our school runs, and over the course of the week it became less and less effective, or so I thought. The frequent stopping and waiting (coupled with some "cautious" driving because they were forever running around the bus) caused them to be late home every day. This attracted the attention of some of the parents, who asked their kids why the bus was late, and contacted the school, who then intervened.

 

[WM Bus]

Some time ago now I travelled on a open door morning journey many times, some things l saw, happen on normal routes as well smoking, vaping, fare evasion.
It would get absolutley rammed as well, and as normally happens they would tend to congregate around the front of the bus where the front wheel arch is.

I remember on one occasion all the kids rushed on and were standing on the top deck and the stairs, the driver switched the engine off and got a newspaper out, after about 5 minutes some of the kids told the others to take up vacant seats or come downstairs.
And i've seen drivers refuse to move while people are on the platform saying they need to see their mirrors and people need to move back.

At school starting/finishing times a normal services like the 23 birmingham to bartley green etc will probably be full of kids as well.