How A Bus Obstacle Course Makes You Safer

We trade stories from a summer bonus hangout that starts with a school bus rodeo and ends with the emotional whiplash of the last day of school. We break down what the rodeo tests really teach about safe driving, then reflect on why routine and kindness matter so much for kids once summer begins.

• why we think every rookie should try a bus rodeo once 
• what a school bus rodeo is and how scoring works 
• the written test and why it can change results 
• judge consistency problems and ideas for faster, digital scoring 
• the hardest events like right turns, alley dock, offset alley, straight line, railroad crossing 
• how practice builds mirror use, reference points, and confidence 
• district participation, placements, and the rookie winner story 
• last-day hugs, tears, and how drivers say goodbye without saying goodbye 
• why some kids don’t want summer break and what routine means

“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.

Email us at schoolbusbanter@gmail.com

Call or text us at 757-529-1574

Join our Facebook Group with bus drivers around the world!

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:08

Happy summer, everybody that's listening. Thank you. We decided to drop a school bus banter episode summer edition. Episode whatever the frick you want to call this one.

SPEAKER_00 0:21

Yeah, I don't think we're gonna number it. We'll we'll I think summer edition sounds great.

SPEAKER_02 0:25

Summer edition,

Summer Bonus And Rodeo Setup

SPEAKER_02 0:26

yes. Hope everybody is enjoying their time off. It is so nice, good weather so far. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Well, we this is a bonus episode. We don't know when we're gonna drop it, but we're recording it the first day of summer break because uh Joe did rodeo over the weekend, and I thought, you know, that is a pretty nationwide thing, it's not unique just to our area. So I thought, well, let's just record a little bit about it. Tell us some stories about it, how it went, how you're never gonna do it again, those kind of things.

SPEAKER_02 1:00

No, no, that's fine. Um, no, I love rodeo. I think I think all districts that participate it should make their rookies come in and do a year of it. Um, and here's why I say that because you learn so much about your bus. You learn mirror

Why Rodeo Improves Real Driving

SPEAKER_02 1:20

placement, you learn and it then it just becomes second nature. But I the first year I was hooked because I like to be competitive with myself. So if I place a certain number, I'm like, well, next year I'm gonna do better. And actually, and then you do, you gradually do better because you know what it's all about. Don't let it scare you because you're like, oh, I got a parallel park my bus. Uh if your district has been doing this, chances are you've got course equipment that you can set up, you know, on the property, like we do. And then we measure and spray paint. We got paint all over the um pavement around our buses. And we have cones. Go to your maintenance guys, ask for some cones, and just measure it out. The book is online, the inspection books online, everything's online how to do it. And it's it's uh you practice and it's second nature now. So I'll I didn't do as well as I thought I would this year because I didn't get to practice enough, but I've placed pretty well in years past, and you have too.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

Yeah, before we dive into a little bit more, let's tell people what the rodeo is, because maybe some districts don't, but basically it's a bus obstacle course, like you kind of got some of that, like the parallel parking, and there's some challenging, you know, don't hit a tennis ball and stuff like that. And there's also a written test at the beginning

What A Bus Rodeo Includes

SPEAKER_00 2:38

uh that everyone hates because we're all bus drivers, right? We just want to drive bus, we don't want to take tests, and and so they combine those scores, certain amount of points from each. What was there? What is there like 10 um like what am I trying to say? Events?

SPEAKER_01 2:56

No, no, no, oh, events, yeah. Approximately 10 events, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:00

And then and then so they combine the points from that and um the written test, and then you get your score. Now I know uh Joe was there a long time on Saturday, and I my first complaint is or not really a complaint, like can we streamline this? Because there's a lot of like manually entering things, and I'm like, we need some sort of like spreadsheet or something to punch numbers in that does it quickly.

SPEAKER_02 3:28

Yeah, this is a all judge, so it's how the judges are feeling this day, right? And what they saw or what they didn't see. Um, so it's definitely, you know, it's judge base. Um the judges are trained, some of them are trained that morning. Um, and then they're given, yeah, well, that's true. They're given a sheet of what they judge on. And yeah, I say the it the first couple through, they're you know, they're a little bit like nervous on what they're judging on, then it gets better. But um it it so there's a piece of paper for each driver for each event. So one driver will have 10 pieces of paper throughout the day, plus they're written. So the scoring takes a long time. The judges and the people in charge are in there scoring because you want to see what you place, they want to get everybody in in order, first, second, third. And it it takes a long time. And for me, this year, I was driver number one out of 78.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

That's not good.

SPEAKER_02 4:27

No, no, I had a long ass day. Now, again, the amount of people per day that are per event, um, sorry, per rodeo, per region, there we go. Um, depends on what districts participate. So you don't have to go. There was districts I haven't seen this year that they they didn't participate at all. And there are districts that I've never seen that were participating this year. So every year it depends on your region, where it is, what school hosts it. Usually, if you commit to hosting, you host for two years in a row. And um, you know, you could have rain, wind, um, hot as hell. It it's a lot for the judges to go through, it's a lot for the the drivers because um you are uh pretty nervous, you know, going into it. You can get pretty nervous.

SPEAKER_00 5:17

I personally think for the judging, I think if you're hosting for those two years, you should have to provide the judge and provide training to them. And so they're there. I mean, obviously you're gonna have a few slip through the cracks, they can't do the next year and they only can do this year, which is fine. But they need to have some more accountability

Fixing Judge Training And Scoring

SPEAKER_00 5:34

of like we, you know, this is the manual because it's statewide, right? So we can come up. I say we when I say we, I'm not saying like yeah, Joe and I or my school district, but whoever's the organizing body can come up with like a list of rules, and here's a little training packet, and you're gonna get it two weeks in advance, not coming in that morning, yeah, and learning it and you being the first driver, it really does hurt you because what are they looking at? Uh or it could, I guess, help you. They'd be like, ah, fuck it, I missed it. I'm just gonna give them 10 points or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 6:04

Exactly. You know, I look at it that way too.

SPEAKER_00 6:06

Right. So I guess it could go either way, but also it's like, I mean, that it is important to some people, and and you do you can go to state, and then state goes on to nationals, and so it yeah, it is a pretty prestigious award once you get further down the reins. So I just feel like it should be a little bit more, I guess, organized or accountability.

SPEAKER_02 6:27

It's hard because there are drivers that definitely take this seriously. They go to state every year, they go to nationals every year. And um, for me, I mean, it's like whenever anything is judge-based, I mean, look at the Olympics for ice skating, stuff like that. It's just it's it's whatever the judges think and they saw that time. So I take it with a grain of salt, I try and do my best, I learn a lot. I love the camaraderie.

SPEAKER_00 6:52

That's a tough one.

SPEAKER_02 6:54

I love that with other bus drivers. We get to talk to people that have been driving bus for 30, 40 years, and um, we always talk about behavioral and and mental and racism, and I mean the the subjects go on and on, and and it's a full day. Sometimes um the districts pay your drivers. Uh, we get paid, I think just we're we were there for eight hours, I believe, but we get paid for six. Um, some get t-shirts, um, you know, they do it all up, but you get there, you have breakfast, and everybody signs in, gets gets their

Walking The Course And Tight Turns

SPEAKER_02 7:25

lineup sheet. They then you all get on a bus and you go through the the obstacle courses. You go through it all so you can kind of see. And um, this was some really tight, it was a tight parking lot, so they had to cram all the events on a tight, tight parking lot, but it actually worked out. If you are any good at driving, you can maneuver it, no problem. But it was pretty tight turns. And then everybody just kind of hangs out until it's your time to go. You are allowed to watch the drivers, you can hang out in certain parts of the course, you just can't talk to the judges. And um, other drivers are taking pictures, you know, and stuff. So it's uh you get you get done with it. The course probably what do you think? The course probably takes about 20 minutes to go through because there's nobody like I was first up, so I could have gone through it. I I did actually did one way too fast because I messed up, but it's probably like a good 20, 23 minute course.

SPEAKER_00 8:22

Yeah, I can't believe you messed up on that one. That's the one where you don't even practice at home because you're like goddamn. If I can't do this, I shouldn't be a bus driver.

SPEAKER_02 8:31

Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

Well, so tell me to so it's not a cut on you. I'm just like me.

SPEAKER_02 8:38

I I got cocky. I got cocky.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

What what is the hardest one for you? Do you think? I mean, not the one you you lost the points on because that's it was just no, that is the hardest one for me, is the turn.

SPEAKER_02 8:49

It is not the left turn because that's out your driver's side, so I can see the boards, but you have to try um and do the left. So it the left turn is a board, it's a board with three stripes on it, and the front tire going over that board means nothing. It's all about lining up your duels to go over the yellow stripe in this tire. And if your front doesn't line up, you're not gonna see it in your duels, right? And that is the right turn, so it's off the passenger side, and um, I miss it every single year. And this year I didn't even see the board, had no clue where I was. And one of our drivers was like, puts his hands out like measuring a fish, you know, like you were this far from it. I'm like, Yeah, well, I didn't even see it. But the year that I did nail my turns, that I did do good on that board, and that turn and the backup and everything, I got third place. So those are really important because they're a lot of points.

SPEAKER_00 9:45

Well, the board, the board has two colors, right? If you hit the yellow, you're you're the max, and then like if you hit the black, you see.

SPEAKER_02 9:51

There's a black and then there's red on the end.

SPEAKER_00 9:53

Oh, okay. So just try to hit the board. Yeah, you know what I find frustrating, and I I've done it, I did it two years in a row. I did okay. Um, is like the problem with like you you struggle with that right turn is how do you figure out like you've tried it a million times and you just can't get it. Like someday you're gonna practice and all of a sudden you're gonna like, oh my god, what did I just do there? Because I nailed it. That's the frustrating part is you can't figure out the strategy to make it right.

SPEAKER_02 10:23

It's lining your hood up and looking at things on your hood that okay, if I go over this board with it being on my between my mirror and that little hood ornament bump, then I'm gonna get it. Same with the straight line, it's tennis balls. Your duels have to go through with what half an inch on each side. It's it's so hard to do. Yeah, but if you line your hood up right and you keep it straight, you'll you'll go through it. And it's fun. I like it because I I think I am a better bus driver for doing it. And I've done this, it was probably my tenth time doing, I've only missed a few years, and they didn't do it during COVID. So after COVID, we really are struggling to get districts to participate.

SPEAKER_00 11:01

I mean, shit really struggling to get drivers to drive a route.

SPEAKER_02 11:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:06

Um, yeah, so our district, what um what places did we come in?

SPEAKER_02 11:12

So out of um for our district, we took four drivers with us, which is not good. Out of what 40 some drivers that we have, right? Um, we should have more participation, but that's okay, I understand. And one, let's see, one driver was

Results Rookies And Why It Matters

SPEAKER_02 11:30

five, fifth, yeah. Our rookie driver was seventh, which was amazing. Yeah, he's gonna continue to do very well. And then I was 15, which um isn't my best year, and then um the other driver uh was 17.

SPEAKER_00 11:48

So that's pretty good. That's pretty good. Out of 78 drivers, you guys all top 20, which yeah, that's incredible.

SPEAKER_02 11:56

Yeah, thank you. So thank you. It's fun. There were about 10 districts. I'm looking at the sheet right now, about 10 districts from um region rodeo. And um, so they're yeah, 10, 10 districts that came forward, and some brought 11 drivers, so they're gonna get their trophy because they brought 11 drivers. Let's say even 11 drivers all placed top 20, top 30, top four. They still accumulate the points to get the trophy overall.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

And wasn't it driver? The winner was uh like a 20-year-old kid.

SPEAKER_02 12:27

So this this this rookie driver won it this year, and he comes up. Man, he looks so young. He came up and got the trophy, and uh they were taking the picture, and somebody in the back goes, approve you're a driver. I want to see your driver's license. He goes, Sure, it's vertical, but that's okay. Oh my god, it's a vertical. Oh, that killed me.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

That's wild.

SPEAKER_02 12:51

He's young, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:53

Well, good for him. I mean, that's I mean, it takes uh what am I trying to say? Like a very engineered brain can do well at it, and it takes, I mean, to have somebody a rookie driver do that. And again, I think that the written test plays a big role too, because our rookie driver is very bright. And my guess is I'm I'm so interested to see what he scored on that because you all get them in the mail like a month later.

SPEAKER_02 13:21

So you don't actually come home with your physical uh papers and judging papers, they mail them all out to you because it's just you know, they just want to get the rundown of the and the top 20 get certificates. So if you your name wasn't called in top 20, then you know you weren't in that part, and then you get your all your papers back so you can see what you did.

SPEAKER_00 13:39

Okay. Do you ever get nervous when you're doing it? Because I know there's one driver there that I know gets nervous quite a bit. I got like the first year I was okay, but the second year I was more nervous than the first year, and I did worse the second year. So I don't know if nerves played a role or I don't think I'm nervous anymore.

SPEAKER_02 13:56

I'm excited

Nerves Key Events And Point Traps

SPEAKER_02 13:58

and overconfident because um the hard ones where you you back in, it's called an alley doc. And so you go past your mark and you back in, you can't touch anything, but you get a free pull up with no points taken off. If you have to put it back in drive and pull up and to recenter yourself, I don't even need to do that. I just back right in. Boom. Hug my horn, come on and judge me. I'm good, I got it. Parallel parking, got it, boom, good. Right turn or left turn, good. What are some of the other ones? Oh, railroad crossing. You have to pretend you're going over the railroad, you have to speak your railroad, you have to go over the railroad and put your back end of your bus no closer than 15 feet from that railroad. But you don't want to be too far away either because you'll get marked down. So I had that one right on. I mean, we'll see when my papers come through, but I already know that that turn, that right turn. I didn't even see the board, so I know that that was either 50 or 25 points right there. And then the serpentine belt you struggle with uh serpentine barrel was only like 12 points, but still 12 points.

SPEAKER_00 15:00

And then you got um you got offset alley, right?

SPEAKER_02 15:05

Yep, didn't touch a thing.

SPEAKER_00 15:06

Damn, nice job. I struggle with that one.

SPEAKER_02 15:09

Nope, didn't touch a thing.

SPEAKER_00 15:10

For for people that don't know it, you kind of got to turn into it's like there's um god, how do you describe it audio-wise?

SPEAKER_02 15:17

There's one, two, three, like six three, three poles on each side you have to go through, but then you have to offset your bus to go back to the room.

SPEAKER_00 15:26

Yeah, so you gotta kind of turn into one pole and then quick crank it the other way, and then and you and obviously you can't hit them. Um, you got diminishing alley where like the poles get shorter as as you go on.

SPEAKER_02 15:39

They're like cheerleaders out there, right? So you know you did good because they're like, Woo-hoo! You hear it and you're like, Oh, thank you, you know, because that makes you feel good going because you go right into the next event from there. And um, so they were so I know the ones that yeah, I did, and I know my my back. It the only thing with parallel parking is maybe I didn't get as close to the curb as I wanted to, but if you stay far away, it's certain points off, but if you touch it, it's 50. So don't touch it, stay further away.

SPEAKER_00 16:06

Yeah, and you know you did bad if you look in your mirror and they're giving you the middle finger, right?

SPEAKER_02 16:10

Like you're like, oh, that middle finger, they'll just give you the thumbs up, like maybe next year. Maybe next year. I love it. I have fun. Um, yeah, you spend all day together and they feed you, then the lunch came in, and they we had lunch, and they just kept coming out and apologizing that our judges are still trying to attempt because the more drivers there are, too, the more papers there are to go through. Well, that's the thing.

SPEAKER_00 16:35

They need they need to dial in the process.

SPEAKER_02 16:38

I really don't know how.

SPEAKER_00 16:39

I mean, you you'd have to get rid of the paperwork. Yeah, you'd have to do something digitally where you just punch it.

SPEAKER_02 16:47

You'd have to like scan it in. Like after all the papers come through, they get fed in like a voter.

SPEAKER_00 16:52

Something like that, yeah. Because that that takes forever. Or make sure you not hire, but ask, hey, I need 20 people at the end of the day. This is all you gotta do. You just gotta add this stuff up instead of having like three of them do it. So, yeah. Anything else?

SPEAKER_02 17:10

I'm glad it's over.

SPEAKER_00 17:11

You're glad it's over?

SPEAKER_02 17:12

I'm glad it's over. Yeah, summer officially began after that. Um, no, I guess how was your last day?

SPEAKER_00 17:21

Oh, yeah. We can we can chat.

SPEAKER_02 17:22

I mean, it was Did you cry or did well, did you have criers?

SPEAKER_00 17:26

No. Well, I did have one kid get off who is a third grader, which okay. Uh I saw him crying. I don't know if he's like gonna miss. I don't know what like maybe it's just all emotional for that day

Last Day Of School Emotions

SPEAKER_00 17:38

because he's gonna be back on the bus and he's gonna be back at the school. Uh I didn't have any fourth graders, they were seemed pretty happy and excited. I did I was able to distribute. No, we had talked to the last episode that I should have done it, you know, w a while ago. So that next day I went out, I got rid of all of them but one. And then the next day that girl ran uh drove or rode. Jesus. And uh I gave her that one. But yeah, no, no.

SPEAKER_02 18:05

Summer, you're drunk, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 18:06

Yeah, right. Yeah, sugar-free Fanta. Um, but yeah, it was okay. I was I was glad to be done. We had our end of the year party, and that was good. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:15

My head, one of my fourth graders was doing the cry that's so like the oh, like no ballin', ballin, yeah. And uh half of a twin. A twin decided to ride home with mom and dad, and and he stuck around to ride home with me one more time and just just blinking red eye of the tears away the whole time. Like I didn't even know what to say anymore.

SPEAKER_01 18:37

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:38

Just so emotional. Yeah, lots of hugs, you know. And I always tell my kids, I'm like, this isn't bye, this is I'll see you later. Cause hopefully I run into you in the summer. Right. Or I drive the br the I drive uh the brush bus. Goodness, I'm drunk.

SPEAKER_00 18:54

You're drunk too.

SPEAKER_02 18:55

Yeah, I know. Um, in our community parade. So I'm like, come to the parade, come see me, you know, come yell my name. And yeah, um, so hopefully we do run into the kids.

SPEAKER_00 19:04

I had I had more emotion for my um my playground last day, which was Thursday, because you know, those kids, I actually have more of a honestly, like the I get more talking with them because a lot of times they stand around me the whole time. So I'm out there, they're out there for a half hour, so they're like, you know, we're talking, and like the bus is it's yeah, a little bit of talking. I mean, you're my front people, I talk all the time, right? Because they're close, but the kids in the back, I just don't get the opportunity. So I definitely had some fourth graders giving me hugs, and there was some little watery eyes because you know, they're going to the the next building up. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:44

So um my um my upper L, which consists, you know, we drive five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve. Um, I brought home maybe maybe three fourths of my normal crew, you know, a lot of them go out to lunch right after or something. So I brought home a good portion of them. And and um I always get on my speaker and I tell them, I'm like, oh, you know, sleep in tomorrow, have a have a great summer. If you see me, please say hi. And um, I love you guys for being you and being respectful and being safe on the bus because they really are. I they started clapping. I got clapping.

SPEAKER_00 20:19

They're like, what are you an airline pilot? I always hate show. Uh oh, I fucked that up. I'm sorry. I talked over you and you you said your wrong name.

SPEAKER_02 20:30

I said my name, yeah. They're like, yeah, so they were clapping. I was like, oh, so excited. Yeah, that just meant a lot because you know, they acknowledge me and they are, they are very respectful, they are very safe, and I do. I love, you know, tell kid, tell a kid you love them and watch what happens.

SPEAKER_00 20:46

Yeah, because a lot of those kids, I mean, we're blessed in our district to have pretty fair amount of, you know, I would say good family homes and stuff like that. But there are some kids out there that don't, or they might be going through something and just that little bit of you know, um love or just you know, communication can go a long way.

SPEAKER_02 21:08

Definitely kids that don't want summer vacation.

SPEAKER_00 21:12

Right, they're teaching. That's such a good point. Because like, now listen, uh, you know, just a quick insight into me, and we'll try to wrap it up. But like I had a terrible home life growing up. Like, I went to Christian school, everyone thought it was I

When Summer Break Is Not Easy

SPEAKER_00 21:26

had an amazing family, and and I didn't. And you know, summers were tough. You know what I mean? I I was outside all the time, you know what I mean, and and playing sports and stuff like that. But yeah, some kids don't want to go home, they don't want that summer break. They like the routine, they like being uh where they're safe.

SPEAKER_02 21:43

So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:44

All right. Well, I hope you enjoyed this little bonus episode. Good job on rodeo. I'm very proud of you for doing it. I'm proud of anybody to taking, even if you got last place, right? No one cares. You you took the initiative, you put yourself out there. It is a little putting yourself out, even though it's an individual

Wrap-Up And Listener Questions

SPEAKER_00 22:02

thing. You know, you're still putting yourself out there. So congratulations to everybody for doing that.

SPEAKER_02 22:08

Yeah, and if anybody has any questions, feel free to hit me up, call or um text um Jerry like in the middle of the night with my phone number.

SPEAKER_00 22:16

It's like we we took two months off from recording and we're both like dot geek. I know geek.

SPEAKER_02 22:22

Forgot how to talk. All right. Well, like I said, we're just drunk until August.

SPEAKER_00 22:26

Yeah, pretty much. All right, as always, same bus.

SPEAKER_02 22:30

Oh, I forgot what to say. Uh different stories?

SPEAKER_00 22:33

No, no, no, same bus, same kids, different stories. Okay, well, you just did it. Good job. Oh, no, we're we're cutting that again. And as always, same bus. Same kids, different stories.

SPEAKER_02 22:47

And for the love of all things, just saying.