Live From the Drivers Seat
Ok so I said that I would do this again so here it is
Ask The Driver has returned.
I am going to leave the questions open for two weeks this time so that ,hopefully, you will have time to read this and think of a question for me.
You can contact me via email, twitter and leaving a comment here. If you do use twitter please use the hashtag #askthedriver so I can find them.
I will look through them all and pick a few to answer on Jan 14th 2012.
Have fun.
Well it had finally arrived.
I had waited out the summer and passed the written test and the practical. Now I stood at the door to my very own School bus with my route sheets in hand ready to go out on my first ever school run. Of course I was worried. I had so much to think about. Would I forget someone? What if they were not ready for me? Would my rider not like me?
Ok so that’s a lot to take in for me on the first day but it was everything that was going through my head at that time. I had not slept very well the night before because of all this but the bottom line was that I was a bus driver again and transporting people safely was something that I knew how to do and I did it very well. All that I had to do was adapt this to my new bus driving.
The day before my wife and I had visited the depot that i would be based at and talked to my dispatcher and gotten my route sheet. Mine was a little different to the others as I would be one of the special ed buses. This means that as well as running a door to door service, I pick the kids up from home and take them back home at the end of the day, I would have wheelchairs on as well. We decided that it would be a good idea to drive the route beforehand so that I at least had some idea of where I was going and where to stop. I was not allowed to let kids cross the street in front of me, they had to always be on the door side of the bus so this meant I had to think a little more about where I had to go and make sure that I always had the pickup on the left. It took a lot of teamwork but we eventually figured it out and I knew where I was going.
The night before I studied my maps and read through the route once more just be sure what I was doing and where I was going, then after a very restless nights sleep it was time to be a driver again.
I got to the depot (hereafter known as the barn) in plenty of time and found my bus. What a sight it was. All gleaming and yellow and ready to go. After a very thorough pre-trip inspection, after all it hadn’t been used all summer, I got myself comfortable in the seat and turned the key. It thundered to life with the rumble that I hadn’t even realised that I missed. With a smile and a quiet “Geronimo” I was off on my first ever American School Bus Run.
My run starts with picking up an aide from the High School in town and this was easy. She was a very nice lady and we seemed to hit it off right away. She was waiting for me and even knew my name. She had already met most of the kids from previous years riding and was very happy to have a new driver for a change. Once she was onboard we started to go and collect kids. As it was the very first day of school a lot of my younger kids were not in yet and this made life a little easier for me. I only had a couple to collect and this helped the nerves a lot.
At the end of the run I had my first ever wheelchair to load and this was the main cause of my nerves. Not only did I have to find the house I had to make sure that I had enough room for the lift to work and finally I had to strap it down. Finding the house was easy and room for the lift was not a problem. Strapping the chair down, however, was not. The tie downs did not want to work for me at all and it took a lot longer than expected to get both them and the chair secure. After a few skinned knuckles later they finally cooperated. With that we set off for the schools. I had two to drop at and it all went very smoothly and everyone arrived safely.
My aide got off and thanked me for a very nice journey and I thanked her for all her help with the kids, not that they needed anything they were so quiet, and set off back for the barn.
I had a few hours to kill before I had to do the return trip but I was so looking forward to it.
It was a little different I only had to wait at one school to collect all my students. I had more than the morning due to a little different route but it wasnt going to be a problem. I had looked around the route again and knew where I was going very well. As the kids got on I made sure to smile and say hello. A couple of them said hi back and that made me feel a little better about it. After several drops and some laughs with the kids it was all done and I had to make my way back to the barn and put my bus away.
Once back my boss took me to one side and asked how I was doing. “Loved it” was my reply. I had just had a great day at work and I was once again doing something that I loved and getting paid for it.
It had been a great day and as I was soon to learn no day was going to be the same and the one before it.
I was shaking like a leaf. Today was test day. I had already passed the written tests and undergone all the trainingi could pack in. Now I had to prove myself worthy of the licence.
It was a lot more detailed that the test I underwent in England. They take the transport of children very seriously. It started out with the full pre trip inspection with questions thrown at me all the way round. My examiner was a very nice lady. Smiling and attempting to make me relax but still all business. Once I had completed that, if you fail you don’t drive, it was out onto the road.
I was expecting some driving to help me settle down but all I glt was a short stint and then onto the exercises.
These were a little un-nearving as I had to do them without the examiner being on the bus. She was standing by the road watching my everymove. They went fairly smoothly I just went a little too far back (6 inches) on the ally dock but she was ok with that. When I was asked to pull over and do my hill parking she picked a really bad spot but used the phrase “when its safe and legal to do so…”
Finally after about 30 mins of those it was off out onto the road for driving and pickups. I had to talk my way through the pickup and it was a good thing too. The examiner really liked it.
The driving portion was shorter than I expected and there was no in town driving. I asked my instructor about that and he said that if they are happy then they don’t bother with it. We made it back to the test center and she sat for a moment and looked at her sheet and then said “I am pleased to say you passed and I would be happy to let my kids ride with you”
Thus begins my school bus driving.
Now that I am writing again I will restart the Ask The Driver feature that ran on this blog. Start thinking of questions you can ask me and watch here and twitter for the date to send them in.
Ah the training.
My trainer was and is still a very nice guy. He is very knowing about the ins and outs of what I need to know for the test and also what I will need to know on the route. Unlike english school runs these are fairly controlled and well maintained. The actual requirements for the test were harsh but understandable. I would have to perform several manouvers. These are: Offset parking, the alley dock and reversing in a straight line. Also tested would be my driving skills and student pick up and drop off.
Not only would my driving be closely watched but I would also have to perform a pre-trip inspection on my bus. This basically makes sure that the bus is safe to use and suitable for kids to ride on.
It took me a while to get into the swing of it as there is so much to remember but I think that my exprience in the UK helped me out a lot here and once I had it figured out everything started falling into place and I was able to go through the inspection fairly quickly.
The driving was easy once I had figured out my bus size and I was able to get the manouvers done very quickly and well from the start. Once I was happy and my trainer was satisfied we applied for my test.
Ok so you are all probably wondering what I had to go through for my school bus licence. Over the next few posts I will be telling you what happens to me. It may not be every day but I will try to do the best I can bringing you up to date.
First things first though I had to take a written test and a driving test for my car licence. This was easy enought to do. I just had to turn up for the written test. If you fail there is no charge but once you pass you pay for the licence. Its the same for the skills part as well. Everything is much the same just on the other side of the road. I was very worried about it but managed to sneak through.
Skip forward a while and now I find myself looking at becoming a school bus driver here in the USA. I know what you all are thinking but let me tell you that its a lot different here. The school bus has rules, break them and you are off.
So off I go to take the first part of the test.
I needed to take four tests. Yes that’s right four. A general knowedge, a passenger transport, school bus and air brake tests. Fail anyone of those and you can’t drive BUT you can retake them and those you pass you don’t have to retake everything. Luckily for me I was able to pass three straight away and the fourth the following day.
Now I get to train in on their school bus.
More to come.
Yes you read that right. I am now a yellow bus driver here in the USA. I have finally returned to my basic skills and have signed up to become a school bus driver.
It should be interesting for me to compare the differences in the buses and kids. That won’t be for a while though as I frirst have to pass the test for it.
More on this change in a later post.
I look forward to reading your comments and thoughts and hopefully we can get this blog going again with more tales.
Yes this is number 100.
Another milestone in the history of the blog. Too many blogs that I used to read start out well but then run out in a couple of months as the user forgets about them and lets them fall away.
I hope that this one will continue for as long as I can post.
So let’s review what I’ve accomplished and had happen to me over the last 100 posts.
I’ve been featured on several blogs. In fact it was an article by Jon Bounds that launched me from just another blog to the high points.
A couple of newspapers wrote articles about me
BBC WM invited me in to do an interview with Les Ross. That was a great day
NXWM or TWM kept trying to find me but never achieved their goal although I did meet up with one of the pr bods who said that I was doing a good thing.
I started to write a book about life on the bus and I fully intend to complete it at some point soon. I just need to find the time to actually sit down and write some more.
And finally I moved to the USA a big move but one that I had been waiting for.
Now I am back in the land of the well contected internet wise I can sit down and write up my posts a little more often. It is a lot easier to type on a near full size keyboard than on a small phone one.
Heres to many more posts and to a happy healthy blog life
So once again I find myself sitting down at a keyboard and wondering what I need to write. Its going to be hard work for me to catch you all up on the last 18 months of my life but I will try.
So as you can probably tell I am no longer a bus driver but I have decided to stay with this blog because it feels so much like a part of me. I enjoyed writing for you all and I hope that I can continue to do this.
After arriving in the USA I spent four months without a job. Part of this was because I didn’t have my green card yet and part was the actual job hunting stage of things. It was a wonderful four months, but i did get cabin fever some days. I got to watch my son grow up a little and took a well earned rest and enjoyed life. It was hard four months. We had to struggle through things and every company that I talked to wanted some sort of security deposit to connect service along with a social security number which I didn’t have then. Once they heard that I was not a US citizen the security deposit usually doubled and then they wanted yet more proof of ID from me. This was just for the gas and electric companies! As it turns out the Social Security Number is something of a “much have” for the person wanting to live in America. It plays a major role in identifying who you are, how much tax you pay, what your credit score is, everything. Basically without it you dont exist in America. So I didn’t exist. WOW! So after many phone calls back and forth they finally agreed to take my alien registration number (meep meep just call me Marvin) and get services started so my family and I could survive. All I had to do now was get myself a job.
My wonderful wife supported our family while I was searching and we managed to pay our bills and survive very well.
It felt like a very long vacation for me. Having hardly had any time away from any sort of work for a long time it was a welcome break and one that I needed to adjust to the different pace of life and the weather.
So,
By now I have probably lost all my readers but it doesn’t bother me. I did not start this for the fame it was just a place to express my views on things and share some stories.
I have not been posting for so long for a couple of reasons. One of which has been the lack of internet. While I don’t have a connection at my house right now I do have a phone that has it and that is where I am writing from right now.
Now that I can finally write again, albeit with thumbs its time to try to get back into the swing of things.
You may ask yourself what I have to write about now that I am no longer a bus driver. Well plenty actually. I am approaching this as a new thing. I am a uk citizen that is attempting to become a citizen in the USA. My hope is that this will help anyone that wants to move over here.
I hope that I can also include some tales from my job in here as well as answering some questions that you may have about the difference between the uk and USA. Please bear with me as it can get a little difficult at times purely because I am working really long hours and all I want to do when I get home is sleep.
Please feel free to ask me any questions you may have and I will do my best to answer them.
Till the next time.
