Davenport schools closed today due to lack of bus drivers, I’m unsure it’s it all COVID related but I have to believe that’s playing a big part of it.
bus driver shortage
- Thread starter QChawks
- Start date
-
- Tags
- qcpizzasucks
Kimmie will pray for more drivers.
Problem solved.
Problem solved.
It’s been a big problem all year throughout the country.
fivethirtyeight.com
Would You Manage 70 Children And A 15-Ton Vehicle For $18 An Hour?
This article is a collaboration between FiveThirtyEight and The Fuller Project, a nonprofit newsroom reporting on issues that affect women. One day last spring,…
Ralph Kramden was the last dependable bus driver.
He drove a metro bus in New York City in the 1950's.
He and his wife Alice had a small apt. in Brooklyn.
He drove a metro bus in New York City in the 1950's.
He and his wife Alice had a small apt. in Brooklyn.
$20/hr times 4 hours is $80 a day. No wonder they can't find workers. And now they close schools because of this. We're insanely stupid at times.
More than likely they don’t get paid enough for the abuse that gets hurled at them from the kids….
No shit. Little Timmy hurls insults and objects at you and you gotta sit there and take it. **** that
Why get a job when the Libby’s will just hand you money to sit on your porch and sling drugs?
In our Winter of Discontent we have a shortage of
snowplow drivers, truck drivers, & bus drivers. We
also have a shortage of folks who are tall.
snowplow drivers, truck drivers, & bus drivers. We
also have a shortage of folks who are tall.
- Sep 13, 2002
- 96,035
- 197,044
- 113
He was a serial domestic abuser too, but that was ok in the 50s. 🙂
@billanole.......I am 6 feet tall and this stature has
served me well......not too short and not too tall.
served me well......not too short and not too tall.
I have a buddy in Oklahoma who was let go in a restructure about 2 years before he wanted to retire. He started driving g a school bus because they gave him full health care coverage. He loves it.
There was a Texaco gas station that I stopped in during high school years. This was towards the end of full service stations. The old man apologized one day for not cleaning the wind shield of my pickup, saying that “I’m built too close to the pavement to reach your window glass.”
I am not your stature Lute, but 5’10” has served me well also.
They can't find drivers so clearly retired people can't fill the demand. Shit pay isn't enticing younger people to this field.
Pay them more or suffer shortages. Surely you can agree with this.
Short bus. Student behind the wheel?Still better than her doing the job herself.
I got it from an article titled something like, “New York has a drunk bus driver problem”.
What younger people are going to want a 20 hour per week job?
and I would guess the pay isn’t the sticking point . It is dealing with little shits that have problems doing what they are told
Dealing with little shits is unavoidable. And so are 20 hour work weeks. Which is why pay needs to dramatically increase. We may not like paying $30 for school bus drivers but it looks like this will also be unavoidable.
The average age is most likely 70+. I know it is in our driver's room. My district is barely hanging on - we had zero backups this morning. One more absence and a route wouldn't be covered.
Old people get sick often or retire when they've finally had enough (they just don't want the stress any more) - and many snowbird it down south come February. Younger people don't even bother applying because it's part time and usually always excludes health insurance.
Yes, Covid hurt. We had several drivers quit before last school year because they didn't want to either hassle with the "Covid overhead" we drivers have to deal with - or simple fear of catching it from the germ factories schools and buses can be. But drivers actually catching it has been small so far this year.
But the real problem is simply getting people to want to apply for the job. Applications are quite rare, and the issue is overall compensation. Yes, pay rate is part of that - but health insurance I believe is the biggie.
You think it's bad now, wait until next Monday when the OSHA proof of vaccinations is due. You'll have unvaccinated drivers not wanting to pay on their dime for weekly testing. You'll have the "muh freedumz" vaccinated drivers thinking it's an invasion of privacy to show proof.
Districts will lose drivers come Monday.
Davenport is only the beginning. Get ready for a myriad of districts dropping routes completely/combining, some sort of school hours schedule change to where busing occurs across longer hours daily (drivers effectively driving 50% more kids daily via staggering trips/school times) or hybrid scheduling so what drivers districts do have can get half the students to school every other day while combining routes. Or...online classes full time.
It's coming, folks. It's bad. Most all larger districts are in the same boat.
A teacher friend told he they have several drivers out with COVID and a few more had travel issues coming back from the holidays
COVID as in their sick? Doubt it. Just the same as every other work sector that can't find staffing
It can be. It 100% depends on the driver. Bus driving is like any other job. You have ones great at it, you have average ones, you have poor ones.
Funny, but the best routes aren't the best because of the kids...it's because of the driver. I'm not talking solely the technical aspect of driving a bus - I'm talking the people aspect.
You'd be surprised how many kids want a strong driver. A driver that truly buys into what the job really is while also engaging the kids enough to let them know in no uncertain terms that they actually give a shit about them. You'd be surprised how simply knowing every kid's name and saying hello and goodbye and Merry Christmas etc to them all - how far that goes into getting a child to behave and actually thrive.
Bad drivers = bad buses. It really is that simple.
From what I have heard it just gets to the point where they don’t want hassle anymore. It’s just not worth dealing with headache of children and I am not sure increasing pay will be enough to entice the retired people to want to keep doing it
I think Covid has made people of all ages and professions question if doing something not enjoyable is really worth it
Oh sure...there's an age line that gets crossed where drivers are simply done with the headache of kids. Health trims most drivers IMHO - but there are multiple reasons why drivers leave.
That's why I say, districts MUST enlarge that pools of applicants by making it more attractive for younger drivers to even bother to apply. They'll never hire the potential driver that doesn't apply.
As mentioned, a lot of the bus drivers are retirees who just don't think it's worth anymore with covid. As far as replacing them with younger folks, how many people want to or can work what is essentially a split shift- 2.5 hrs in the morning and then 2.5 hrs in the afternoon? That labor pool is pretty small regardless of pay. I know some schools are essentially forcing their janitorial and maintenance staff to drive to make up for the shortage.
They gotta pay more, and offer more bennies - even if the job is part time - because of exactly that. Part time or not...the compensation is not enough. We've lost drivers here and there every year I've been there that leave to go drive OTR because of total compensation.
They gotta get butts in the door applying. How do they do that? By making the job more attractive financially.
My boy(no pics) is supposed to graduate early in about a week. I hope this doesn't **** with that.
