“It is said that as many days as there are in the whole journey, so many are the men and horses that stand along the road, each horse and man at the interval of a day’s journey; and these are stayed neither by snow nor rain nor heat nor darkness from accomplishing their appointed course with all speed.^[5]”

(From a passage in George Herbert Palmer‘s translation of Herodotus‘ Histories, referring to the courier service of the ancient Persian Empire):

Though this quote is often associated with the United States Postal Service (USPS) it could  equally apply to the women and men that drive the vehicles that deliver our community’s children to school, school activities and home again.

Day in and day out the heroes of the local bus routes make their appointed rounds, greeting child after child.

As little (and some not so little) feet scamper past the folding door, up the rubber coated steps and find their way to the smooth vinyl seats it’s the bus driver that bears the heavy responsibility of delivering our kids to their destinations.

I have never met anyone that has not ridden on a school bus at one time or another in their lives.  It’s a common rite of passage we share.  Everyone has a school bus story.

And for every school bus story to exist, somehow, there had to be a driver attached.

As a youngster I lived just 5 houses away from my elementary school and didn’t need a bus.  But every summer I and a dozen neighbors clambered aboard bus number 17 to catch a ride to the Parkrose High School swimming pool.  Mrs. Gardner was our regular driver and she always had a pleasant hello for us. To this day I can see her eyes reflected in her mirror as she continually scanned her little band of outlaws that were determined to find as much mischief as we could on her bus. If caught violating a rule, she would simply call out our name(s), ask us to stop doing whatever it was we were doing and give us a “mom stare” via that mirror that would coax us immediately back into compliance.

She would drop us at the pool, park her bus and wait for us to finish.  When done, we would climb aboard with eyes burning red from the chlorine in the water and we all were just a little quieter on the ride home, having exhausted most of our energy in the water. She made sure we got to our destination safely and that we would “go straight home.”

Thinking back, I don’t know if I fully appreciated the adults in my early life that took an interest in my well being.  Mrs. Gardner and the thousands more bus drivers like her-along with our teachers, police, fire fighters, mail carriers, etc.. in my neighborhood all seemed to understand that kids need someone to look out for them; to get them where they belong.

I had the chance to speak with representatives of First Student (the student transportation provider company that serves our local school district) and a couple of Lincoln City school bus drivers about what it’s like to chauffeur a gaggle of youngsters around our town (and sometimes much further).  What I expected were horror stories about awful kids and ungrateful parents.  Instead what I heard was how much these drivers enjoyed their jobs and how fulfilling it was to them to help families get their kids to school and after-school activities.

Staci, for example, is a Lincoln City resident who has driven a bus for First Student for nine years. She said, “I see a lot of the community. I make a lot of friends and I got to watch my kids grow up as they rode along with me on my route.”

First Student is currently recruiting for new drivers in the area and shared one of the benefits of working for First Student is a driver (if room permits) may bring their child(ren) aboard the bus during their route.

Corrine of First Student adds,  “This is a really good job for mom’s and stay-at-home moms that might want to pick up a few hours of work in between their kid’s school hours.  It offers someone like Staci to ‘stay in the mix;’ before school, after school-it gives her a chance to have her own time in between.”

Craig, also of First Student interjected, “I think our stories are our biggest assets. I was talking to a driver-a military veteran named Wayne-he still tells me, ‘This is the best job I’ve ever had.”

Craig continued, “Wayne had a student rider who was in middle school-who was struggling through his school year.  One day Wayne dropped the student off and the student said to him, ‘Bus driver Wayne, thank you for being here all year.  My home life hasn’t been real good but you’re someone I can always count on.’

Wayne said to me, ‘I’m 75 years old and nobody has ever said anything like that to me before.  It’s things like that that keep me coming back.'”

Kim, a 26 year bus driving veteran in Lincoln City says, “I’ve driven my kids and my grandkids to school. I just continue to love the job.  All but one driver (who’s moving away) are returning to their routes.  It’s a pretty happy place to be.”

Corrine adds, “We’re willing to work with people if they only have a couple of days per week availability. They can drive early mornings or afternoons.  We’ve got drivers that only drive home-to-school routes.  We have big bus driver, little bus driver, van driver and monitor positions available. We also have drivers that just do sports trips, field trips or private chartered events.

We work with people to give them what they need.  We’d love to have their help and we are willing to be flexible to get it.”

There are licensing and training requirements to become a certified school bus driver and First Student will help applicants get through the process and provide paid training.

“We have driver trainers that will help applicants study for their commercial drivers license as well as third party testers with the Department of Motor Vehicles at our Toledo yards. the process, on average, takes about 40 days from beginning to end with approximately 60-75 hours of paid training.”

Considering becoming a bus driver? Now is a great time to make the plunge as First Student is offering a $5,000 sign on bonus! Currently, the entry level wage is $20.50 per hour through June 30, 2024, and moves to $22.45 per hour on July 1, 2024.

The students of this area depend on us all to get them to their schools.  You could be that hero.

For more information click here.