What does a school bus driver do?
A school bus driver is responsible for students' safe transportation during school days or any related events. Aside from ensuring that the students get to their destination on time, a school bus driver must ensure to abide by the traffic laws and regulations at all times and follow particular routes for picking-up and dropping off students. Furthermore, a school bus driver must ensure students' safety at all times by conducting daily bus maintenance and maintaining order inside the vehicle.
School bus driver responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real school bus driver resumes:
- Transport clients to doctor appointments, health clinic, and rehabilitation clinics for non-emergency services
- Obtain CDL and perform daily safety checks on the bus for the security of the students.
- Train and develop skills in using automatic defibrillator, CPR, and first-aid techniques to be prepare for emergency situations.
- Aid as a monitor at high school during lunch periods in the commons to make sure the kids are safe.
- Maintain minor vehicle maintenance and cleanliness.
- Perform daily pre-trip and post trip.
- Prepare students to pass their driving test and the DMV
- Pick up and deliver OTR drivers from switching stations.
- Evaluate and audit pre-trip and post trip documentation each day.
- Operate bus in a professional manner and according to dot regulation.
- Supply the courts and MVA with information essential to making judgment.
- Perform daily pre-trip inspection on vehicle and equipment prior to leaving garage.
- Drop and hook in automatic semi truck, experience want in OTR.
- Follow all safety polices of the company, state DMV, and other licensing agencies.
- Deliver a wide variety of food products to different customers through different routes using GPS.
School bus driver skills and personality traits
We calculated that 27% of School Bus Drivers are proficient in Vehicle Inspections, Customer Service, and Safety Rules. They’re also known for soft skills such as Customer-service skills, Patience, and Hand-eye coordination.
We break down the percentage of School Bus Drivers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Vehicle Inspections, 27%
Maintained vehicle cleanliness and kept vehicle inspection and operations records.
- Customer Service, 25%
Transported passengers to and from designated locations, provided excellent customer service.
- Safety Rules, 7%
Maintained safety regulations while operating bus and ensured students adhered to safety rules.
- DOT, 6%
Demonstrated proficiency in operating a 72-passenger school bus safely in accordance with Georgia DOT guidelines.
- Post-Trip Inspections, 3%
Executed daily Safety, Pre-Trip, and Post-Trip Inspections, logging all findings as needed.
- Passenger Endorsement, 3%
Retained all certifications required to operate a Class B vehicle with passenger endorsements.
"vehicle inspections," "customer service," and "safety rules" are among the most common skills that school bus drivers use at work. You can find even more school bus driver responsibilities below, including:
Customer-service skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a school bus driver to have is customer-service skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "bus drivers regularly interact with passengers and must be courteous and helpful." School bus drivers often use customer-service skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "provide customer focused transportation services including home to school, specialty transportation, charter trips, and school to home transportation"
Patience. Another essential skill to perform school bus driver duties is patience. School bus drivers responsibilities require that "because of possible traffic congestion and sometimes unruly passengers, bus drivers are put in stressful situations and must remain calm and continue to operate their bus." School bus drivers also use patience in their role according to a real resume snippet: "transport passengers safely to and from all scheduled destinations exercise patience, understanding, and mature judgment. "
Hand-eye coordination. school bus drivers are also known for hand-eye coordination, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to school bus driver responsibilities, because "driving a bus requires the controlled use of multiple limbs on the basis of what a person observes." A school bus driver resume example shows how hand-eye coordination is used in the workplace: "provided administrative services and coordination for the activities of the public transportation system, which includes fixed-route bus"
Physical health. school bus driver responsibilities often require "physical health." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "federal and state regulations do not allow people to become bus drivers if they have a medical condition, such as high blood pressure or epilepsy, which may interfere with their operation of a bus." This resume example shows what school bus drivers do with physical health on a typical day: "maintained a healthy and clean bus environment at all times. "
Visual ability. A commonly-found skill in school bus driver job descriptions, "visual ability" is essential to what school bus drivers do. School bus driver responsibilities rely on this skill because "bus drivers must be able to pass vision tests." You can also see how school bus driver duties rely on visual ability in this resume example: "performed a visual safety check of the bus every morning before beginning the daily route. "
The three companies that hire the most school bus drivers are:
- National Express452 school bus drivers jobs
- Student Transportation Inc.452 school bus drivers jobs
- First Transit418 school bus drivers jobs
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Compare different school bus drivers
School bus driver vs. Bus monitor
A bus monitor is responsible for supervising students on school buses and coordinating with bus drivers, ensuring a safe transport service for everyone. They are in charge of monitoring the students' behavior, assisting the students with mobility issues, maintaining order, and enforcing the safety rules and policies. During a school or field trip, they also handle attendance sheets and execute roll calls to ensure no one is left behind. Moreover, there are also times when they must produce progress reports and coordinate with school administrators when addressing and resolving student conflicts.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between school bus drivers and bus monitor. For instance, school bus driver responsibilities require skills such as "vehicle inspections," "dot," "post-trip inspections," and "passenger endorsement." Whereas a bus monitor is skilled in "behavior problems," "kids," "medical problems," and "evacuation procedures." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Bus monitors earn the highest salaries when working in the transportation industry, with an average yearly salary of $28,018. On the other hand, school bus drivers are paid more in the education industry with an average salary of $39,173.The education levels that bus monitors earn slightly differ from school bus drivers. In particular, bus monitors are 1.0% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a school bus driver. Additionally, they're 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.School bus driver vs. Bus matron
Bus operators have different roles and responsibilities. These include providing bus driver training, ensuring all drivers have a valid license, and conducting an audit of the bus drivers' performance periodically. To accomplish these responsibilities, a bus operator should possess specific skills, including customer service skills, hearing ability, and hand-eye coordination. There are several qualifications to become a transit bus operator, including having a commercial driver's license, experience in a relevant job, or as a bus operator.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, school bus driver responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "vehicle inspections," "customer service," "dot," and "post-trip inspections." Meanwhile, a bus matron has duties that require skills in areas such as "wheelchair," "assist bus," "incident reports," and "emotional state." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
In general, bus matrons achieve similar levels of education than school bus drivers. They're 2.5% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for school bus drivers in the next 3-5 years?
Don Lefeve
President & Chairman of the Board, CVTA
School bus driver vs. Bus operator
A transportation driver is responsible for transporting people and goods from one place to another. A transportation driver must have a clean driving record to operate vehicles carefully and efficiently. Transportation drivers must ensure that the passengers are safe and comfortable during the trip and that goods are in proper condition to avoid damage and defects. They should strictly adhere to the transport schedules and assigned routes to avoid delays of operations. A transportation driver should also understand maintenance basics of vehicles to perform repair and reconditioning of any engine malfunction.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, school bus drivers are more likely to have skills like "dot," "cdl license," "cpr," and "transportation services." But a bus operator is more likely to have skills like "cdl," "incident reports," "local traffic regulations," and "defensive driving."
Bus operators make a very good living in the education industry with an average annual salary of $40,248. On the other hand, school bus drivers are paid the highest salary in the education industry, with average annual pay of $39,173.bus operators typically earn similar educational levels compared to school bus drivers. Specifically, they're 0.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.School bus driver vs. Transportation driver
Types of school bus driver
Updated January 8, 2025
