Bus driver riddle drivers#
Krajniak hopes the newly created position will ease the burden on drivers and entice more people to consider applying for driver positions.Ĭhris Koehler, a new bus driver doing a ridealong with Irelan on Thursday morning, wasn’t nervous about crowd control on the bus.
Several bus aides joined APS bus routes on April 4. “It’s not just keeping your eyes on the road,” Krajniak said. Where ideally buses would hold no more than 40 students, sometimes bus drivers have to keep tabs on 60 or 70 students while navigating the oversized vehicle through four lanes of traffic. She’s had to consolidate several in-city runs to compensate for the short staffing. “You shouldn’t have to have a mechanic in a bus all day,” Krajniak said. She doesn’t remember ever running out of driver options before, but this school year, the district has had to notify parents of about 10 canceled runs, Krajniak said.īefore making that call, she puts every qualified staff member behind the wheel. It takes someone special to care about kids enough to work that kind of schedule, Krajniak said. Finished with the morning high school and elementary runs by 9 a.m., drivers have several free hours before sliding back behind the wheel in the early afternoon. The first bus of the day pulls out of the transportation department at 5 a.m.
and don’t return home until early evening. Many district drivers crawl out of bed at 3:30 a.m. Alpena Public Schools bus driver Kim Irelan finishes a morning school bus run as new driver Chris Koehler observes on Thursday.