You can have a great impact on the youngsters in your care as a school bus driver. School bus drivers work regular hours and typically receive a benefits package comparable to that of most full-time school district employees. Paid vacations, health and dental insurance, retirement savings plans, and other compensation are examples of these perks.
Do school bus drivers get good benefits?
Sick leave, medical and life insurance, and retirement schemes are common benefits for full-time drivers. Drivers who work part-time may be eligible for fewer benefits. Permanent school bus drivers are entitled to paid vacations during school sessions.
Can you make a living off being a bus driver?
Cobb and her family finally got health insurance thanks to her new job driving a big yellow bus full of youngsters around country roads and into town.
Then there’s the additional revenue. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average salary in May 2015 was $14.70 per hour, with a yearly income of $30,580.
“However, when I added in the health insurance, I was probably making approximately $20K, which was well worth it for me,” she explains.
The schedule was great for a mother of a high school freshman. Cobb began her morning trips at 6:30 a.m. and completed them by 9:00 a.m. The schedule would have worked even if she had a full-time job.
She went home for the afternoon and did her own thing before returning to work about 2 p.m. on the afternoon route, which ran until around 4:30 p.m.
She also didn’t work weekends, got school holidays off, and had a long summer vacation.
“It’s a terrific job for a stay-at-home mom or someone who has a flexible work schedule,” Cobb says.
This may be a terrific adventure for freelance writers who establish their own schedules and don’t have health insurance.
Is it worth being a school bus driver?
A bus driver’s salary might range from $44,000 to $48,000 per year. Extra money-making options are frequently accessible. There are also various possibilities to work extra hours and benefit from the school’s employee benefits. Bus drivers frequently take on other jobs at the school, such as substitute teaching.
Is it good to be a bus driver?
Many employees would be satisfied with a career that offers little stress, a decent work-life balance, and great opportunities to advance, get promoted, and earn a higher pay. In terms of upward mobility, stress level, and flexibility, here’s how Bus Drivers rank their job happiness.
Where do bus drivers get paid the most?
New York ($64,330), Alaska ($60,400), Washington ($59,880), Massachusetts ($56,930), and California ($54,560) are the states and districts that pay the highest average wage to bus drivers.
The Category D driving exam will be conducted in the same car that you practiced in during your training. The examiner will normally begin the test by asking you some car safety questions, and then proceed to the reversing exercise. After that, you’ll spend the next 50 minutes to an hour driving on public roads, going over the test routes you’ve practiced during your training. The PCV examiner will assess your ability to engage with other road users throughout this period on the road.
After passing your PCV Category D practical test, you will receive Category D and Category D1 on your driver’s license, allowing you to operate any bus, minibus, or coach.
Is bus driving bad for your health?
Chronic work-related disorders are difficult to detect just by observing someone. Take, for example, your neighborhood bus driver. Bus drivers and other “passenger transit employees” had higher rates of disease than workers in many other industries and occupations, according to new data from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Transit work is one of the top three jobs where you’re most likely to catch one of ten prevalent diseases. Hazards on the job also contribute to the fact that these workers have a rate of 9 chronic diseases that is 120 percent higher than the national norm.
NIOSH’s Tim Bushnell presented these preliminary findings at a health and safety conference hosted by the International Transportation Federation in San Francisco in December 2011. He discovered the surprising figures by examining two insurance firms’ employer-based group health insurance medical claims. Rather than incomplete workers’ compensation claims, they reflect people’s true health concerns.
Bushnell looked at the records of 214,413 people across 55 industries, covering two-thirds of all probable workplaces. All forms of bus drivers, as well as commuter rail, streetcar, subway, van pool, airport limousine, taxi, and ambulance drivers, are considered “passenger transit workers.”
The most alarming conclusion was that 41.5 percent of transit workers had hypertension (high blood pressure), compared to 27.6% of the total 214,413 workers studied. High blood pressure can lead to a variety of other health issues, such as heart attacks and strokes. In the United States, heart disease is the leading cause of death.
The drivers’ rates for a variety of chronic conditions, including as low back pain, asthma, depression, and diabetes (see graphic), were likewise 120 percent higher than the rest of the 55 industries.
Dr. June Fisher, a long-time San Francisco General Hospital physician, was not surprised by the figures.
“Many years ago, the Transport Workers Union’s Local 250A in San Francisco was concerned about heart attacks among their MUNI system members,” she recalls. “We discovered significant rates of hypertension in the medical exams required for their commercial driver’s license. Even the healthiest drivers exhibited remarkable rises in blood pressure when we did continuous blood pressure monitoring while they were driving.”
Many studies since then have established that city bus drivers are at significant risk for a variety of ailments.
“We know from Denmark that city bus drivers have the highest rates of heart illness hospital admissions,” Fisher says. “DOT medical exams might now be utilized to track all drivers with hypertension and other health issues. We also need to avoid the dangers that those high numbers represent.”
According to preliminary data, transit drivers have higher incidence of these disorders than workers in 55 industries/sectors. When they’re in the top three for that condition, they’ll get a star.
“Dying at Work in California: The Hidden Stories Behind the Numbers” is an excerpt from the book “Dying at Work in California: The Hidden Stories Behind the Numbers.”
Are bus drivers in demand?
Over the next decade, demand for bus drivers is expected to stay relatively flat. Drivers who retire are likely to produce the majority of job openings in the profession. Aspiring drivers will face stiff competition, especially for higher-paying jobs with public transportation agencies. School bus driver employment will likely account for the majority of postings in fast increasing suburban areas, as these are often part-time professions with high turnover and fewer training requirements. However, restricted school district budgets may curb this expansion. Intercity motor coach drivers’ job prospects will be determined by tourism levels, seasonal and charter requirements, the growing popularity of train travel, and economic swings.
Bus drivers in the United States must have a high school diploma and a commercial driver’s license (CDL) with appropriate endorsements for the vehicles they run. They must also meet state age and overall health requirements, as well as vision and hearing standards and drug testing. Those with good driving records and a willingness to work part-time or on an irregular schedule will be in high demand and have the best career possibilities. Bus drivers must also have patience and excellent customer service skills. Although there are few opportunities for advancement in the profession, experienced drivers can work as supervisors, dispatchers, or driving instructors.