A Bus Moved 40 Feet And The Kids Thought It Was Over

A kid predicts the end of America in 2025, then casually points at a house labeled 2525. Another day, a bus moves forward about 40 feet and suddenly dismissal turns into a roaming scavenger hunt of confused kindergartners. That’s the emotional whiplash of school bus driver life, and it’s exactly why we love talking about pupil transportation the way it really is.

We’re joined by Brian, a school bus driver in central Ohio, who tells the wild story of how he got into the job after moving from Florida and “semi-retiring” only to be recruited at a barn garage sale during the post-COVID bus driver shortage. From training to finding your feet by year two, Brian breaks down what makes a good driver beyond the CDL: calm leadership, consistency, and actually liking kids.

From there we trade stories from the road and get into the practical stuff that keeps routes safe and sane: handling inappropriate language when young kids repeat what they hear at home, using music playlists and the mic as behavior tools, and why being friends with your school bus mechanics can save your whole day. We also air out what grinds our gears, including Pokemon card trading drama, dangerous choices near the yellow line, and radio etiquette when someone tries to “manage” your bus over channel one.

If you drive a school bus, ride on one, or work in school transportation, you’ll hear yourself in these moments. Subscribe for more School Bus Banter, share this with a driver who needs a laugh, and leave a review so more routes can find us.

“These are our stories from the driver’s seat—our opinions only, not our  employer’s or school district’s. Student safety and privacy always come first, so no names, faces, routes, or ‘you know that kid’ details ever make it on the podcast.

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Transcript

Welcome And Spring Break Talk

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Hi guys, welcome to School Bus Banter episode 11. Really looking forward to recording today. We have a surprise guest, and it's not the superintendent. How's it going, Joe?

SPEAKER_03 0:37

Yeah, okay. So, yeah, you got me on that intro. Good job. Good job. We just in context here, I've tried to introduce this episode and it didn't go so good. So thanks, Jerry.

SPEAKER_00 0:50

You're you're welcome. Uh, somebody's got to be professional around here. So yeah, okay. Uh yeah, so today we're gonna talk with Brian. We'll get to him in a minute. But Joe, how was your week? What's going on?

SPEAKER_03 1:03

Um, we have a countdown on our bus till spring break. That's where we're at.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:09

Is it a little early for that though? Nope. There's eight and a half days. Well, now there's seven and a half. Is that it? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

No, there's more than that.

SPEAKER_03 1:18

No, well, Tuesday. Tuesday, Wednesday. Yeah. No, there's gonna be eight and a half, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:24

Oh, I guess you're right.

SPEAKER_03 1:25

Anyway, we're coming up on it. So I'm excited. I don't have any plans, but uh maybe a few plans, but um, I'm looking forward to not setting that alarm.

SPEAKER_00 1:33

Yes, for sure. And then me as well. Um, I'm depressed that today on the playground it was uh felt like uh 22 degrees, and I had to put all my gear on, and I was fussy about that. So um I'm I'm looking forward to some warm weather and uh ready to be. I'm ready for spring break too. But thankfully, I do have some pretty decent kids, but the playground is is making me get more gray than it already is.

SPEAKER_03 2:00

So we need a warm spring break, is what we need.

How Brian Became A Driver

SPEAKER_00 2:03

Yes, for sure. So uh I want to introduce Brian. Brian has been uh I guess with us kind of from the beginning. I'm not sure how he found us. My guess has read it. Um, but uh Brian is a bus driver in the central Ohio area, and he just started messaging us and we kind of started vibing. And I was like, I know Joe had been wanting to get somebody on just to kind of talk about people from other parts of the country, and uh Brian said he would, and uh appreciate you coming on, Brian.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

Absolutely no problem. My pleasure.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

So tell me a little bit about Brian. Um, I'm not gonna guess your age. I mean, I'm seeing you visually, you have gray like me, but I grayed a lot earlier. But how did you get into bus driving? Is this your main gig or or what's the story with you?

SPEAKER_01 2:51

Yeah, it currently is my main gig. I moved up here to central Ohio from Florida uh about seven years ago, and was just up here kind of I semi-retired, my family's up here. That's why I moved from Florida to Ohio. Still question that on cold days. And uh my sisters hold this huge garage sale in a barn every year. And I'm standing at this garage sale, and a lady walks up to me and goes, Hey, what do you do? And I look at her and go, Well, I'm kind of retired. She's a senior bus driver at the depot where I work. She goes, Well, you need to be driving a school bus. And I never thought of that. I'm like, really? She goes, We need you. We need bus drivers. This is right after COVID.

SPEAKER_02 3:36

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

We need school bus drivers. You need to fill out an application right now and get going. And literally, four or five months later, I'm driving past my house at five in the morning in a bus going, How did this happen? You know, you get so far into the training, you're like, Well, I'm here now. Let's do it. And it it has been one of the most rewarding things I've ever done in my life.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

Just wonderful. Amazing. I really like it. I'm glad, I'm glad you're in it. Um, you know, people get in it for different reasons, which we've talked about, right? And you kind of got to be in it because well, I always say, I wanted to give back to the community, but I want to get paid doing it. It's kind of like you can't just go for a job. I that's why if they made it$40 an hour, you'd get you'd get people in there that's doesn't that don't care about kids or or making a difference. So while I want the pay to be more, I also understand that it it can't be two grades.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

Yeah, that's a good point. I like that perspective.

SPEAKER_03 4:37

I I like how somebody in the barn saw like maybe your personality or or something and thought, like, you know, this you're gonna be good at this.

SPEAKER_01 4:46

I don't think that was it. I think they were desperate. Oh, geez, signed me up. And I I do field trips with it um Ann all the time, and it's fine. Uh, we're good friends, but uh that's kind of how I just fell into it. It was literally a kick in the butt. I was mowing lawns, just staying busy, semi-retired, and then um I got the opportunity to drive a school bus. And it takes a year or two, I think, to really find your feet, to really know what you're doing. And if you make it through the second year, then you're probably gonna stick with it because you're either gonna love or hate those kids.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

Right. Yeah, it sounds like you got some puppies back there.

SPEAKER_03 5:31

Somebody's not happy that he's on on the phone. Yeah, it's um I think I think for like how you said Brian, that um you you it's it's out of convenience, uh, you know, the hours, um, the pay, and if all that fits into, you know, we we do have a lot of people that retire and come back and do it because it's just an easy, I don't want to say easy, but a convenient gig to do, um, with the hours being like like that. You're gonna wake up early anyway during retirement, so you might as well just jump in a cold school bus and go get some kids.

SPEAKER_01 6:08

Right. A little earlier than normal, but now I'm acclimated to that 4.30 alarm.

SPEAKER_00 6:15

Whoa, you get up at 4:30. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 6:18

I do, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:18

Now, what time do you have to leave for your route? Because I get up at 5:30 and I don't have to leave till like 651. Like roll out of the the garage.

SPEAKER_01 6:28

I roll out of the uh the yard at 6:40. Okay, yeah, and I live f literally five minutes away from uh the barn, but I like mornings are my time, yeah. And so that's my time to make I do French pressed coffee. I'm a coffee snob, and feed the dogs, walk them. That's my thing.

SPEAKER_00 6:49

Okay, so I I'm the same way, I'm just not gonna get up two hours before.

SPEAKER_03 6:53

Yeah, no, actually, we have a lot of drivers that get there super early, they're there an hour before they have to go, and they like that camaraderie and they need that downtime, and then they hit the ground running. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 7:10

All right, so let's jump into stories from the road. Uh, I changed it up a little bit uh when we do business, Joe. So I this I did this on the fly, but stories from the road, this is something we just you know what happened in the last couple of weeks uh for you that kind of stood out that it doesn't have to be funny or whatever. Um, I'm gonna let Joe go first because she loves to talk.

SPEAKER_03 7:32

Well, that okay. The deal was I talk and you do all the editing, right? So we found we found Brian that way because um Brian, thank you for um saying that you know our banter is what we wanted to create back and forth is is good because we do this, we do this in the bus garage, and we both had the same idea to just say, hey, let's do it on the podcast so we can get more people to you know let's all do this together and figure it out together. But anyway, thank you. Um stories from the road. So I'm gonna give an update on one of our was it just our last podcast, Joe? Or I'm sorry, Jerry. Um, that uh we I talked about my 2525 student.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

Yep, I don't remember. I'm sorry, I don't remember if it was the last one because we record every two weeks and I get confused. So it doesn't really matter. I think it was two, two, two episodes ago.

SPEAKER_03 8:29

Well, I had that I had that student walk up to me. Um, he's from a different country, and walk up and and made the hair on my arms stand up when he said in 2025, everybody in America is going to die. And so if you heard that story, then that is what this is from. And when he got off, and I'm facing that house with the address of 2525, and then I went and bought the lottery ticket. Okay, so that was that story. So it was just, I don't know, maybe a few days from that time where that student comes up and you know I was saying goodbye. He never has his um shoes tied, so I always have to figure out how to tie his shoes. Oh, geez, and he looks up and he goes, Oh, Miss Joe, that house says 2525. And I'm like, Yeah, I know I saw that after you told me your story. He's like, Oh boy, I would hate to live there, and then he bounces down the stairs and off he goes, like just like that. He yeah, just like he so he never saw it either. Because I was thinking, or I think um Jerry, you had mentioned maybe he saw that address because why that specific date? But no, he's like, I would hate to live there, and then just bounces down the stairs and off he goes, run into his house.

SPEAKER_00 9:50

So and that's it. That's you have it like pried into his his psyche and be like, Are you okay, man?

SPEAKER_03 9:57

No, it's uh it is a busy street, so I do have cars that usually are coming up behind, but I'm gonna have that opportunity pretty soon, and then there'll be another update on that. Um, by one other thing that I thought was hysterical was we just got done with St. Patrick's Day, right? And um, I celebrate, you know, all these little holidays with my kids, candy or whatnot. And I was down to a few left um going home, and I was like, okay, how many of you know about St. Patrick's Day or how many of you are Irish? And I have a lot of sets of twins. I have 11 sets of twins throughout my day that get on and off my butt. Yes, 11 sets. No between my private, yeah, between my private run that I do and between yes, oh my gosh. So one of the sets, the um, the boy, a lot of boy girl sets too. The the boy gets up and he's like, I'm Irish and knowing his name, yeah, that makes sense. But the his twin sister got up and goes, We're uh mom says we're Irish, but we're also Christian. And so I was like, Okay, all right, so I'm Irish and Christian, that's good, that's good. And it was just then we got into this huge discussion on what everybody is. Oh gosh, and yeah, yeah, I was going, I'm like, okay, we're just let's just let's bring it back in. Let's bring it back into you know being Irish. But I I just thought that was cute. It was like, we're Irish, but we're Christian.

SPEAKER_00 11:23

Well, I wonder, I wonder if because a lot of people will say I'm Irish Catholic, like that is like a thing that so she I think she was trying to clarify that she wasn't because that's usually when people say they're like, I'm Irish Catholic, and they maybe she was like, Oh, I'm Irish Christian, not Catholic.

SPEAKER_03 11:40

Yeah, that could be, yeah. But I just I was just like, okay, and then everybody was discussing like what church they went to because you know we drive an area where there's a lot of churches. Um, but yeah, it was that was a good that was a fun conversation to be had with um kindergartners and first graders, and yeah, that oh, so that came from from from littles? Littles, littles.

SPEAKER_00 12:01

Okay, I feel like that that's been implanted in that kid's head then because that I could see maybe a middle schooler like processing that a little differently.

SPEAKER_03 12:08

Oh, littles, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:10

Oh boy, yeah.

New Bus Problems And Confused Kids

SPEAKER_03 12:11

So there's there's my road stories for you.

SPEAKER_00 12:14

Awesome. So mine real quick is a bus breakdown, and and then Joe's gonna jump in to finish this story. I don't know about you, Brian, but our bus yard is very uh fortunate where we don't have a lot of talk technology in our buses, like we have paper maps and everything. If you're a sub, like there's no tablets or anything, but we get three brand new buses a year, and and a lot of districts don't get that. Well, I fortunately or unfortunately, however you want to look at it, got a new bus this year at brand new diesel, it's got air conditioning uh for the driver. Um yeah, it's it's nice, and um, so yeah, everything about it, like even the dash, it kind of reminds you of like a total car setup. It doesn't, if you think about like an older bus, it where it's everything's kind of clunky and the the heat barely works or it burns your left leg or whatever. This is like full air and uh heat, really nice. But unfortunately, these buses are coming off the line and they're just they're not shit, but there's so many problems. So, about I don't know, three weeks ago, whatever, my bus was kind of like hesitating, hesitate. I think I was on a field trip actually, and uh I I limped it back to the garage. It's happened right at the school that's close to the garage. Get back there, of course. Looks at it, nope, everything's you know, it checks out. I don't know, some compression thing, whatever. So then I don't know, two Fridays ago, I'm pulling into the elementary and it starts doing the same thing, right? And I'm like, okay, got on the radio right away. I'm like, hey, I'm gonna need another bus. This is this is happening, and and and I'm just finishing my my um secondary run, and then I need to go pick up the littles. So then it just dies. Like it wasn't even hesitating, it dies, and all of a sudden I'm like in this two-lane area where the buses are on the right, and basically I'm cranking it and coasting. I quick put it in neutral because I didn't want to block it. So finally I get there, whatever, and I get a new bus, and apparently five minutes later the bus started and they drove home with it, and it was fine. And I I've driven it since. So, like, while the new buses are great, don't be excited about it because they all are shit. So, anyways, my story kind of rolls into Joe's. So, I I survived my kids, of course, asked a million questions because I had this sub bus. But after I left, there was a little more drama that went on, eh?

SPEAKER_03 14:44

Lots of drama. Okay, I'm gonna try and paint the picture because our audience is just listening. But there's at this school, there's nine buses lined up, and I'm in the front, I'm the very first bus, and I'm way out from where the kids get out, right? So they have to walk a little bit to get to me, but we're all in order. And when Jerry's bus broke down, he had to pull in behind me so he wouldn't block that two-lane road that we're talking about. So another bus though had to park in that same area that Jerry was in, okay. And so I'm like, well, I'll move even further ahead so that second bus can get in behind me, and then Jerry's dead bus can just sit there. But I know this is gonna throw the students off, right? Because there's an extra bus. So the bell rings and I'm standing outside my bus so they can see clearly that I move forward, and this is the littles, so K through four, and they come out. Kindergartner comes out first, and they come out and they're like not even even to where my original spot was, and they're already confused. They're walking around, they're looking up in the sky, they're looking behind them. You think that I parked like out of town because it was 40. How's the length of our school bus? 40 feet, 44. 40, yeah, that much more feet ahead was all. And they're they're just they got their backpacks on, they're walking around, they have no idea to go. I'm standing there, they're making eye contact with me, right? So finally they're they're all coming on, and everyone that goes, Why are we up here? What's going on? Where's that bus? Why are we times 42? They had to get on. I said, Once everybody gets on, I'll get on my microphone one time and I will tell everybody what you know why we are up here. I mean, I'm in their direct line of sight, just you know, moved forward. So, yeah, once everybody got on, I got on my microphone, and I was like, there was a bus that broke down. Because now by this point, they have already started Jerry's dead bus. They got it started and moved, so now there's a gaping hole there. So, why is that hole there? You know, this is it. Oh, it was so funny. I wish I wish I could have videotaped them all just wandering, wandering around like I don't know, like a scavenger hunt that they couldn't find anything, you know, with backpacks on, just walking around. So, yeah, I explained two of them that this happens, and you know, you got to be prepared, make sure you know your bus number or your animal. Brian, do you guys have that too? You have um numbers and animals.

SPEAKER_01 17:24

A few of the buses um with special need student assignments have animals, but most of us do not. Oh, so my my kindergartners are one through five, and we don't use animals.

SPEAKER_00 17:38

Oh, okay. Interesting.

SPEAKER_03 17:40

I don't think even my high school could even tell what number might as they go by that animal.

SPEAKER_00 17:46

Yeah, the animal. Because I think it's lower and it's by the door, so they don't look up and see because our numbers are just at the top, they're not anywhere else.

SPEAKER_01 17:53

Yeah, or they're just teachers walk them out to the bus. Okay, so their instructors are with them as they get on the bus.

SPEAKER_00 18:01

Oh, interesting. Yeah, that doesn't happen by us. They, I mean, there are teachers out there, but they're just there to supervise, usually.

SPEAKER_03 18:07

Right. It what do you call that? Chinese fire drill. Yes, yes, come out of all the doors. I think windows also, they're just flying everywhere.

SPEAKER_00 18:15

Yeah, I think we it I think at our district, the the bus drivers are kind of in charge once the kids are out. Like, we they know like once my doors open that I don't have to wave them in. If I doors open, you can come in. And I'm always very diligent about keeping it closed until I'm ready, or if I'm using the bathroom or whatever. But yeah, the teachers are kind of just there to make sure all the kids get out of the school and that no one's running around before we leave. But other than that, we're kind of in control of our own kids.

SPEAKER_01 18:44

Wow. Okay. Do you get kids that shouldn't be on your bus happen often? Okay. Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 18:51

Yeah, now we do have bus buddies for the younger kids, uh, for the kindergartners all through the year. They change them out or whatever just to make sure they get. And then at the beginning, I don't know if your elementary does that, Joe, but ours has like uh an orange cone with the animal picture on it for the first couple weeks so that they can see where they need to line up.

Handling Bad Words With Care

SPEAKER_03 19:12

Well, the the littles are supposed to have like backpacks with their animal laminated on there, but you know that where the backpacks end up. So I end up just collecting all these little animal cards at the from the bottom of the bus. Right. We have safeties. Our our uh fourth graders are safeties, they have the belt and the hat. Yep, and um, I tell mine, take pride in that job because I need you, I need you to keep the chaos. I need you. This is your job, you signed up for it, and so they make sure um the right kids are on the right bus and going. Yeah, awesome.

SPEAKER_00 19:41

So, Brian, uh, we asked you to fill in your questions uh or stories from the road, and I have it written down the dock here, and it says, Second grader called another student a femboy. So I'm I'm really interested in this story.

SPEAKER_01 19:55

Oh no, yeah, it was well, they're the little ones as you call them. I call them my um elementary, so that's uh first through fifth grade, and they are they are great kids. Oh, the young ones always are, they're just adorable. Wish I could video record every day for the antics that go on. You could make movies from this stuff, or at least an ongoing TV series, right? You know, like America's funniest videos. But um, you know, I'm hearing that stuff was going on in the background, and I I come to a stop, and someone shouts, he just called, you know, so-and-so called me a femme boy. And I literally the hands on the steering wheel clutch it like, a fenboy? I I'm not even I'm thinking, I'm not sure what that is. I have an idea, I think. And so I get little Johnny to come up front once the bus came to a stop at a light and said, behind me. I go, what's a femme boy? I don't know. I go why would you call someone that if you don't know what it means? You must know it, it must mean something not good. I don't know. So I said, So, Johnny, you have an older brother. Yeah, how old is your older brother? He's 15. I go, okay, things are starting to come align here. So I said, What if when I drop you off today, I talk to your mom and ask her, tell her you said the word femboy, call someone a femboy, and tell her I think it's coming from your older brother because that way they'll both beat you when you get home. He his head was over the looking at me in the mirror, and it just slowly went down the morning.

SPEAKER_02 21:42

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 21:45

And I said, Well, I said, Maybe I don't need to call talk to mom about this today, but let's not have any more of those that language on the bus. He's like, Yes, Mr. Brian, okay. But uh like I I still think about Femboy, like, and he's just picking it up from his older brother, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_00 22:03

Of course.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

Um, but when it comes out of a second grader, yeah, what what what? It's like this isn't high school I'm driving, right?

SPEAKER_00 22:12

Yeah, yeah, that's funny. They pick, you know, those kids are little sponges from like first uh third. Third grade, they're just soaking up everything they hear and and they're just spitting it out. They don't know what it means, you know.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 22:26

And boy, yeah, that's yeah, that's not what something you want to hear.

SPEAKER_03 22:30

No, I'm proud of I really um I I really love how you handled it because there's so many drivers that just be like pretend they didn't hear it.

SPEAKER_01 22:40

Yeah, it's I guess it's easy to let go, but then the problem never goes away.

unknown 22:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:44

But if you address it while it happens, it it will show itself, but maybe not in the same manner. And and you build rapport with the children when you do that. And I love these kids. Even the high schoolers and middle schoolers, I always say this when they're on my bus, they're my ward, I'm Papa Bear.

SPEAKER_02 23:02

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 23:02

And I would, you know, put myself in front of a bullet for any one of them. And I get a little emotional talking about it because this is something they don't tell you when you're learning how to drive a bus. You may very well fall in love with the kids on your bus. You know, want to bring them all home if you could one day. Yeah, and that's how I feel, and that's why it's been the most rewarding thing I've ever done in my life. And I've had some pretty good gigs in my in my past, but I never came home feeling like that warm spot in my gut after a real good day with the children. It's really cool, it's really rewarding.

SPEAKER_03 23:35

That's that's so awesome. When your refrigerator is filled with drawings, and I think um Jar and I started the podcast, our first one, where I said, I am the best bus driver in the universe. I got a universe certificate, not the world, but the universe, yeah, and those things I'm keeping those forever. They're framed, they're go. I mean, that's just that means that means a lot. And what you know, when you get the the hello from somebody that hasn't said hi and a what, you know, those little things like that, and you're just like, Yes, you know, made a difference, made a difference.

SPEAKER_00 24:08

Or if you get a grunt from one of your high schoolers that you've been saying hi to for the last three months, and they finally went and you're like, Oh, yeah, no, no, no, I guess our high school here, my district, asked the students to fill out bus driver gratitude cards or something.

SPEAKER_01 24:27

What I only got three or four, okay, five, maybe, and they started getting on, and just people like you know, you get to grunt in the morning. That's about it from a high schooler. Yeah, or handing me these cards, and some of them put some really nice things on them. You played the best music ever, Mr. Bryan, and you're never late and you're always on time. But I'm like, that's coming from a high schooler, which really makes you feel good.

Why The Job Feels Big

SPEAKER_00 24:52

Yeah, it does. I think a lot of the high schoolers you wouldn't expect, like they're great kids, but they're just quiet, right? So if you you get a card from them, you're like, oh gosh, this this is very thoughtful.

SPEAKER_03 25:03

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That happened today. One um I drive for uh one of our private schools, I'm just one of their shuttles, and um I'm like, Oh, I haven't seen Jan for a while. Yeah. Well, my when my sister and I ride the bus, my sister has friends on this bus that ride, but I don't have any friends on this bus that ride. And I'm like, excuse me, you're talking to one, you know, and now he sits right behind me. And we because um he's also a hockey player and I'm number one hockey fan. So now I'm just like, I know where you're playing. I'm gonna go to your your games, and I mean, you know, I'm sorry you have to be friends with like, you know, your bus driver, but I'm here, I'm here for that. So yeah. And when when Brian, when you were saying that you brought little Johnny up to the front seat, um, you know, as we all do when there's a problem. Now I that like when I bring my little Johnny up to the front seat, sometimes they now they specifically ask to sit there because they're like, Oh, it's actually fun up here. Oh that's absolutely right.

SPEAKER_01 26:02

I love to live there with my kids while I'm driving. It gives me something to do rather than focus, of course, on the safety and look in the mirror. But it gives me someone to kind of chit-chat with when they're in a talking mode. I agree with that.

SPEAKER_03 26:14

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, and and you use music as I do. Um, the music has been, you know, just great. That we we have our own playlists, and when I see good behavior, they get to pick a new song that goes on the playlist. Oh, so amazing.

How To Reach The Hosts

SPEAKER_00 26:29

Amazing. Well before we jump into tips and tricks, just a little business. Email schoolbusbanter at gmail.com or our Facebook group. The link is in the description, and then of course our telephone number, 757-529-1574. Appreciate you guys reaching out like Brian did. It's um it's interesting, Brian. I have another podcast that I never get emails, and I'm and I'm saying I have a Telegram group, which is like a chat app with some of them, so maybe that's why. But I literally never get any feedback about the show, and I've recorded like 350 episodes. Um, and I keep doing it because I love it, but yeah, I really do appreciate you reaching out and just saying hi and that you like the show. So appreciate that.

SPEAKER_01 27:12

Well, I know not necessarily the email, but when I gave you the five-star on the podcast part, because I liked it so much, I want your show to succeed. Yeah, it's it's I look forward to this podcast more than anything else because it just directly relates to my life right now. Yes, it's my own little mini-series.

Tips: Mechanics Music And Mischief

SPEAKER_00 27:31

Aw, that's amazing. Um, all right, moving on, tips and tricks. Uh, I I wrote on mine I'm running out of these. Uh, and uh mine is is is just make friends with the mechanics. Uh, I don't know about by um I know you have a lot of a lot of buses in your area for the district you drive, but we don't have as many, but we have an a freaking amazing mechanic, and maybe every district says that. I don't know. Um, it's he's great, he is amazing, he's passionate about it. And if you stop in and need something, he's gonna hook him up, hook you up. Now, I think he likes me, so I think he does that. And that's my point, my tip and trick. Make friends with him because if you need something to pinch or a wiper changed, or um, you know, and you want to get it done before you run get your run back or whatever, it's always good to just be friends with him or like, hey, can I grab the power washer real quick? I can't see out of my back window, those kind of things. And you know, also just maybe little things like I got this rattle, and I literally do have this rattle, and I haven't told him yet. I mean, the bus only's got 9,000 miles on it, but it's vibrating in my seat, but you can't figure it out unless you have two people on the bus. So I'm hoping when it goes into the oil change, he'll do it. But this stuff like that, he's like, uh, Jerry's nice. I'm gonna take care of him, I'm gonna fix his stuff, and uh, and yeah, so that's my my basic tip is just be nice and mechanic, it's a hard job, and uh he can make or break your day if you got stuff going around on your bus.

SPEAKER_03 29:00

But he'll wanna he teach you about your bus. I know more about my bus with this mechanic than the before. I mean, whether you want to know about it or not, that's the problem. The next great. I mean, he's gonna tell you why it happened or what it could be, and using these words, and I'm like, nope, don't know what that means. But yeah, it's I love it.

SPEAKER_00 29:19

I typically with our mechanic, I'm like, uh-huh, uh-huh. I'm walking out there. Uh-huh. I gotta go. My kids are waiting. Bye, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 29:27

They don't see very often or underneath the bus.

SPEAKER_00 29:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:31

That's true. That's true.

SPEAKER_00 29:33

Uh, all right, Joe, what is your tip and trick for this week?

SPEAKER_03 29:36

Oh, I forgot to ask the driver today. Um, but I was wondering, um, Brian, too, if you have things on your bus for your kids to do. Um, example, uh, like seek and find books or fidget stuff or stuffies, stuffed animals. I know we're not supposed to have these things, you know, because they're flying around loose, but I know that there are kids or there are drivers in our district that have um books and stuff somehow wedged in there for kids to look at and fidget toys. I know I have some stuffed animals. I'm the mouse bus, so I have a mouse stuffy that sits up there. And we had a contest to name them, and that took like four weeks. I drew it out for like four weeks long of made naming it. And yeah, so I didn't I didn't know if for to if this works or if it's just now you've got just all this stuff on your bus that goes everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 30:32

Um, but if you guys do any of that stuff, I don't do anything like that specifically, especially with the books. Maybe because of the size of our district and the number of buses, our routes aren't very long. We're not driving, there's not a child on my bus for more than 10-15 minutes in all categories. So um, so there's really not enough time to open up a book and look at it, uh, especially when they're putting up with my antics on the mic as I'm driving.

SPEAKER_00 31:02

Are you a big mic user?

SPEAKER_01 31:04

Oh my god. I have I have a screaming goat, and when they're getting crazy, I'll take the mic and slap it right on the speaker. This thing shuts everyone up. So and um remote control fart machine. I mean, I'm really a Jim Carrie uh and personality type. So I'm always looking for a way to entertain them with a laugh and uh lots of practical jokes. Lots of practical jokes. That's hard because you don't have believe me or not, when I say something.

SPEAKER_03 31:42

That's hard because you don't even have them that long, so you have all of these good ideas, and then they're like off in 10 minutes. So that's exactly that's short run, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:52

It is. I do uh you mentioned Joe that you use a a music list or playlist, and I do that for my middle school and elementary. I let them pick the songs, they have to put it in writing so I can review them. Um and they've made some really like the elementary, it's like it's raining tacos and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_03 32:15

Oh my god, that just happened.

SPEAKER_01 32:18

And when you do a field trip as I did this afternoon with an elementary school, not mine, and I put that playlist on, those kids go crazy. And they're like, You are the best bus driver ever. I'm like, I just played the out, you know, my my kids' playlist. And you're like, no, because they were they knew the words to all the songs because the kids make those songs. I did.

SPEAKER_00 32:42

Right.

SPEAKER_01 32:42

And uh that was my trick. And as far as the middle school, it's Taylor Swift and the high school is like, whatever the middle schoolers are. Uh never thought I'd be a Taylor Swift fan, but I'll tell you what, those kids get off the bus and their music's still playing. I'm driving down the road to get my elementary, and I'm like, tears are welling up in my eyes. I'm like, she's banging the song out, man. I love Taylor Swift. That's so awesome.

SPEAKER_00 33:10

Taylor Swift's got some bangers. I love T Swift.

SPEAKER_01 33:12

She does. She really does. She has good music.

SPEAKER_03 33:16

Oh, I just was introduced to Raining Tacos within the last like 10 days, along with the hamster dance, the hamster song.

SPEAKER_01 33:26

Okay, I'll share my list with you, Joe. There's some really I even put um surfenbird on there. Everybody's heard about the word. Oh no. Oh my gosh. I love that song.

SPEAKER_00 33:44

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_03 33:46

Yeah, the the music works because for me, you get on your mic and do stuff where all I have to do is mute the music and then they're they settle. You know, then they can have it back on, but it's gonna go, it's gonna get turned down. I love a good dance party too, but you gotta do it from your seat.

SPEAKER_01 34:01

That's right. And Fridays, I will put the music on the outside speaker as you're as they're boarding the bus. And all the other bus students are jealous because they're boarding the bus with songs bellowing out of its grip.

SPEAKER_00 34:15

Oh, dude, I'm I'm using I'm using that idea because I on Fridays, I actually only play music on Fridays. I mean, I have like the radio on at a lower volume, but on Fridays, we I have a playlist and we crank that shit and we we rock out. But I have such a short route, like like you. I have I drop probably three-quarters of my elementary kids off in the first two minutes. And then it and then it's just one or twos all the way the rest of the way. But they they I try to get them the songs they like. Like we got we I put Barney on there, and they that they actually kind of jam out to it's like a a trap version of Barney, though. It's not the original, so it's got a little bit of like you know, hipness to it. But yeah, that I gotta do the exterior one, they'll lose their freaking mind if I do that on Friday. Uh, I think Joe's writing that down right now.

SPEAKER_03 35:06

You are you are our no, I I'm writing down songs that like um when the kids are singing it word for word when you play it, you know, like they didn't get that from me. They're listening to that stuff at home, too. You know, they're coming on the bus, they know. And I will put on the whole K-pop demon hunter soundtrack. Oh, yeah, and that golden song is there's kids that are like, we don't want to get off, we want to keep riding around with you. They don't want to, they don't want to get off at their stop. I'm like, I promise I'll put it back on when I see you again.

SPEAKER_00 35:38

I don't know. My kids are a little burnt out. The girls aren't burnt out of K-pop, but the boys, if it pops up in the playlist, they're like, Absolutely, yeah, like chill.

SPEAKER_01 35:47

So I'll give you one of my um funnier tricks I do with this phone and speaker situation, because I'm a practical joker. We had some really, really, really heavy fog. Like we shouldn't have been driving that heavy in patches. And I was pulling into a school and could barely see in front of the bus, right? And of course, I get the idea well, I've got to get some shit fog horn sounds going on this outside speaker because I'm rolling into these schools, and YouTube has everything. So sure enough, I'm I'm pulling into a school. You couldn't see me, but you all you heard was uh when I finally got to the door, everyone's looking around like, what's going on?

SPEAKER_00 36:34

Oh no, they weren't looking around, they go, Oh, it's Brian, he's playing jokes again.

SPEAKER_01 36:37

That's exactly what happens after a while. They see my bus show and go, Okay, never mind, they just turn around.

SPEAKER_00 36:44

Amazing.

SPEAKER_01 36:45

I do have fun.

SPEAKER_00 36:46

Sounds like you're a great bus driver and you have a lot of fun with them, so I'm sure they appreciate that.

SPEAKER_01 36:52

I think so. I hope so, but it doesn't matter. As long as they're laughing, yeah. You know, they're having a good day.

Grinds: Pokemon Safety Radio Etiquette

SPEAKER_00 36:57

Yep. Uh okay, let's get fussy. Uh, what grinds our gears? This is kind of like my favorite segment because I love to bitch. But um uh Joe, Pokemon drama, like really so Pokemon resurface, it cycles. Yes, right?

SPEAKER_03 37:15

It cycles through. We'll have a year where it's hot and then maybe two, three years where I don't see anything, um, find any cards or anything, but guess what? It's reared its ugly head this year.

SPEAKER_02 37:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 37:28

And yeah, I'm finding Pokemon cards. I'm hearing the trades going on, and then hey, Miss Joe, I didn't mean to um trade that card, they won't give it back to me. And oh yeah, this is getting bad. And so I went and I at one of the teachers was out there, and I'm like, what do you do? Because I know that um Pokemon is in the classroom too, and she's like, No Pokemons, they can do it in the hallway or they can do it at recess, but not in the classroom at all. And then we uh she goes, I actually sent a letter home in their Friday folders that just if we could leave Pokemon cards at home because it is be beginning to be a disruption. And I thought they were cool because I liked looking through the books. It was something like, Hey, we're getting to um Johnny's uh stop, he's gonna have his portfolio filled with these, you know. Then oh, he takes one out and then it's not crisp and clean around the edges anymore. And so I kind of I felt like at fault because I wanted to see, you know, some of the stuff, but um, I'm like, you guys just don't take your cards out, no trading on the bus. I had to I had to stand up and make some rules about Pokemon, and I just I didn't want there was some relationships that weren't, you know, like I had to actually change seats because they were not, you know, they weren't friends anymore because they were trading, yeah, over Pokemon. Yeah, so I'm like, nope, that's that's done. It was short-lived and it was a very stressful week or two, 10 days. Um and so now if I see Pokemon cards, they get, you know, I I tell them, please put them in your backpack or they're mine for until you get back. And then, you know, that that's usually been working, but yeah, that's my drama.

SPEAKER_00 39:17

It's tough to know what to do because you don't want some of the older kids to take advantage, and I don't know shit about them. So like he could be say, Oh, it's an equal trade, and I'm like, I don't know, man. Like, you are you being honest about that? And um, I thankfully it it has reared it a little bit on the playground where I work my midday, but not on the bus yet. So I'm thankful for that. But yeah, it's tough to know what to do with that. I I I like your thought, just shut it down, like it will not happen on the bus. If I see it, I take them away.

SPEAKER_03 39:45

Yeah, what I thought was gonna be like a good time just turned it up not being.

SPEAKER_00 39:50

So frustrating. Um, for me, is uh this actually happened at my elementary, and and I've and I've see I'm sure Joe has seen this too, but all our sidewalks have yellow stripes down the middle of it, meaning you stay on this side because bus's tails, you know, and I'm sure you know Brian's nod his head and yes, same thing. And the kids don't realize it, and I don't think they remember the expectations. Uh, one thing I don't I'm gonna do a little tangent here. One thing that my principal at where I work at, they do uh they do the expectations after every long break. So, like after spring break, we'll have to go there and go over all the playground rules again. And while I hate it because I don't want to come in early because it's like it's spring break, we have six weeks left. What are we doing? But I think that needs to be done with kids that about that yellow line. It's so important. And and let's be frank, there's some drivers that I'm sure Brian knows some and and Joe and Jerry that had don't know their head from a hole in the ground and don't pay attention to that stuff. Well, the other day I saw a kid as one of the buses was making that turn. This kid went to try to grab the bumper of the bus as it was turning, as its tail was turning away. And I'm like, Yeah, I'm like, I can't see. I'm like pointing, I'm like, Yeah, yeah, come here. Like, I didn't even know who the kid was, and she's like, and I'm like, come here. And I'm I'm like yelling, and my kids are like looking like I don't ever hear him yell. I'm like, what's your name? And and she says, that though I was like, don't ever, ever, ever, ever do that. And I didn't go into the school, and maybe I should have, but I had to go pick up my next run. But I am I am deathly afraid of a kid getting hit there, and she I don't think she's gonna do that again. But I mean, not only did she cross the line, she tried to touch it, and she got close. I mean, it was like just missed it. So scary.

SPEAKER_01 41:52

Oh, yeah. You really you're watching that unfold in front of you, the adrenaline rush, and like a parent. Yeah, you've got to get that kid to never do that again. You know, they don't understand you could be mortally injured by doing what you're doing. I get it.

SPEAKER_00 42:11

Yeah, those kids, they just don't understand those, but I mean, you know, it's a bus, it's not a car, and even a car could do something like that. But yeah, I I got a little frustrated with her. I mean, I was like, girl, you cannot do this, like, hello. But maybe we need to ri have a another thing with at least I don't know if you have that issue. Although you're sorry, Joe, your um you have a lot of teachers that are very involved there, are pretty good with that stuff, but I know not that mine's not, it's just not a top priority. So yeah, uh, all right, Brian. Oh, I saw yours, and I'm like, oh god, I could talk about this forever. So tell us about what grinds you're y'all can, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:55

So you're driving down the road, and our first channel, as I explained before, is broadcast everywhere. It goes to the office, actually, to the police department. Admin can hear it among and all the other buses can when you're on channel one. And you'll hear, hey, bus 120, you've got kids standing up in the back of your bus. And you feel like grabbing the mic and saying, Thanks for broadcasting that to everyone. I have the situation handled. Don't manage my kids for me ever. Now, if they're starting a fire and I, you know, they notice I'm not looking, or the kids are you're literally beating the shit out of each other. Okay, hey, 120. But I've told other drivers try to say bus going north on Main Street. You've got an issue with students in the back. That way you're not calling anyone out. Yeah, you're not managing their and if you're going north on Main Street, you're gonna look in your mirror to see if it's your bus. Right. So and it just it it does grind my gears that uh other bus drivers manage my student management for me from the back window.

SPEAKER_00 44:03

Right. It happens too often, and putting it on channel one, you know it goes everywhere. Switch to a different channel, don't be an idiot. Right, right. Joe, do we have a few people that do that?

SPEAKER_03 44:16

Oh no, we're all just very good on the radio.

SPEAKER_00 44:21

I think you're lying.

SPEAKER_03 44:23

Yeah. Um oh my train of thought just I just lost it. Um yes I worry in the beginning when school started um the few first few weeks we're trying to even out our students right our ratio so like one neighborhood could be pretty heavy and then you still have to go to another neighborhood. So as we're getting that out we're pretty loaded um at the front end when school starts and I had a driver behind me say bus my bus number you have backpacks piled up in your back window and it looks like somebody's sitting against your back window. And um I'm just like thank you and I looked back there and I have this is my high school middle school at the time and I had 77 kids and they're big bodies. So sure I got one sitting on the floor maybe against the window maybe in between the seats but you know what at this point I don't know where to put them right I really don't know where to put them and if the backpacks are on the floor so they can sit on there that's just gonna happen that day. So we did even it out and um I didn't have to go down one neighborhood or something but um or actually a lot of families just decided oh my kids not going on that busy bus and they're bringing them to school now but which is fine. But yeah it when we're when we're that crowded and you you just got to do what you got to do that's a battle I'm not picking but somebody else is going to probably pick it for you because they're gonna let everybody know.

SPEAKER_00 45:56

Yeah I think that I think the biggest takeaway is if you're gonna do it just like Brian said just don't be descriptive like if someone someone says hey your hazards on I never say the number I just say it and what is everyone gonna do they're gonna look down on their butt and the the person that needs it will figure it out or yeah you know or your strobe is blinking or whatever it is. You don't have to call them out even if one of our close friends she called me out like not like meanly but she said my number and I pulled her aside I'm like God damn it like don't say my number like and she's like I know I'm sorry I forgot I'm like well it's just common courtesy just like unless it's like like you said there's a fire on the bus and you're just like oh my god you know what I mean that that's singing to Taylor Swift.

SPEAKER_01 46:40

Yeah almost any of those items except for the fire all you have to do is approach that driver back into garage and say I didn't want to say anything over the radio. Yeah but and you may have already known I'm just letting you know that you some of your students are standing up while you were going down the road. I appreciate that that's constructive criticism. Yeah um and not broadcasting it to everyone else out there. That's fine. That's how we learn um but to say it over the radio to everyone it's just going a little too far as far as I'm concerned.

SPEAKER_00 47:11

And you often wonder if they're actually because we have a few that I feel like are actually being mean and some that just trying to be helpful and they're just oblivious to like and they love to hear their voice on the radio so they just the rules of the road yeah maybe next time maybe talk to me directly so we don't chew up radio space where it's needed.

SPEAKER_03 47:31

But at minimum four drivers will tell you you have a headlight out oh my god minimum oh minimum for sure yeah how many how many years have you been driving Brian I'm in my seventh okay so I I think this is my third or fourth year.

Closing Thanks And Ten Four

SPEAKER_00 47:47

I've never had a headlight out oh I have not all the time really oh my god my mechanic I'll tell him and he'll just pull up to bay we have nine bus mechanics and one and one van mechanic because we have uh 20 vans on the road as well okay for special need transportation and you know I don't forget those guys at Christmas time with a gift card to the Starbucks and the two ladies up front that run dispatch who really are the glue when the shit hits the fan yeah I'm always bringing them a little chunky bar from something to say thanks I know what you do never gets appreciated but we all do really appreciate you keeping us together and keeping things going and that's all long way it does you know it's just life lesson so yeah do that stuff right so I'm sure they appreciate it yeah like left leftover Halloween candy go in the office dump you know because yeah and they're just sifting through it like you know Christmas yeah they they are the glue they I ours rock love it yeah love it so Brian I appreciate you coming on i i already you know when joe and i started recording i was pulling tips out of her like crazy i don't know if i mentioned it when i was recording because like i never go back and listen i edit it but once i edit it it's out of my it's out of my brain right but i'd be like damn joe that's a good idea damn why didn't i think of that so like even you coming on with the you know with the the exterior thing i'm like oh god that'd be so damn funny like i never think of that stuff so uh appreciate you coming on being our first guinea pig uh interview person and uh yeah it's amazing thank you so much it's been months you guys are doing a great job i really love your your podcast and uh i'll be a a listener forever and i uh i will do everything i can for your continued success i appreciate that did you find us on reddit that was where you found us right i think so yeah oh no no no i did a search on uh my apple podcast no you just did a random search bus drive and i got a few odd like school bus but yours came up with school bus banter and i i just listened to the intro because you hadn't even had a first episode yet okay and i'm like yeah okay these seem like normal people I can listen to normal after the first episode I was like this is a lot of fun okay I'm talking to the radio going yeah that's exactly what happens you know amazing someone is saying the same thing you experience every day oh I'm sorry Joe or Jerry I could go hours on time and and Jerry always has to be like like stop talking time out yeah stop talking because I have I'm just so excited about the job yeah oh well it's easy to talk about I'm glad you found an Apple Podcast I for some reason I thought you saw it on Reddit because I'll post on there a little bit I try to be respectful of the I'm a big Redditor oh I love Reddit Reddit yeah big reddit it's nice because I mean there's nothing out there I searched for a school bus podcast there's some that are still active or sorry they're still in the directories but they stopped recording like three or four years ago you know and I'm like damn Joe we gotta I think we need to pounce on this and I know take a little bit of time and uh to grow but yeah if people keep sharing it and um that kind of stuff I think it'll be great.

unknown 51:13

Cool.

SPEAKER_03 51:14

Sounds good you want to wrap up uh there with our little saying uh Josefina yeah Josefina uh thank you Brian appreciate you coming on thanks for listening everybody uh as always same bus same kids different stories and remember just say ten four I love saying that's the one