I need a better job.
I want my CDL.
I can drive big things pretty easily.
I'm in a college.
What kind of school bus or other bus driving position could I get and what should I be talking when I interview at these places? I know most will pay for your CDL, but they want a contract signed. That's difficult to do when I may need to take an 9am course or a something at 2:30 in the afternoon.
Anyone previously or currently in the field know how a college student might make bus driving a decent job?
from riding a bus to and from school for a while, and being a college (and then grad school) student, I can say that in my experience:
Bus drivers work weird schedules
College students work regular schedules.
It would probably be hard to reconcile the two.
If you really want to drive a truck you might want to look into a paper route, or late night deliveries (flower companies, milk companies, vending machine supply, water deliveries, all kinds of ish like that) that wouldn't interefere with your school schedule.
Beyond that, call these places and ask what a typical schedule would be and ask them if they could be flexible enough to work with you around your classes.
they'd known better than me.
Is there a commercial truck or bus operation near you?
Do they perhaps have a parts counterman or service writer position open on second shift?
You might use this to find a future driver position to fit your schedule, and you'll have a learning opportunity for another end of the business...
I don't know about bus driving, but the large hospitals around here have couriers driving vans around to the outlying clinics. Picking up lab samples, paperwork, etc. MIght be worth a look.
In Charlottesville (home of UVA, BOO!), most of the University Transit busses aredriven by students. At least, all of the ones that I have ridden have had student drivers. So, I'm sure that they are used to the driver's schedules changing every semester. You might have to do your best to get your classes in blocks, so that you could maximize your potential for shifts.
mistanfo said what I was going to say. Some of the Wolfline buses at NCSU are driven by students, towards the end of semesters there were fliers posted on the bus looking for drivers. They didn't pay very well, ~$10/hr but that's $3/hr more than you could get working at the student cinema, convenience store, or admissions office.
slantvaliant wrote:I don't know about bus driving, but the large hospitals around here have couriers driving vans around to the outlying clinics. Picking up lab samples, paperwork, etc. MIght be worth a look.
On a similar vein, check out wheel chair vans run by ambulance companys. They usually have EMT's or so driving them around so its easier to pick up odd shifts because they (emergency workers) would rather be responding to emergencies than driving recovered people home from the hospital.
I drove a university "shuttle" my senior year. It was owned and operated by the school and paid POORLY. However, two weekend shifts paid about the same as my rent so I put up with it.
A real job would have paid better, but a school job (work-study stuff) is hard to get fired from and has more flexibility.
Btw, the 1 ton Chevy passenger vans would do mean brake stands.
I drove a yellow school bus throughout university. I went in and applied for the job with practically no experience; they set me up for training and got me my bus license. They had an accredited driving examiner in house.
The job itself was great, I'd work from 7-9 and 2-4, and could structure my classes around that. On some days when I had nowhere to be the bus company would give me extra jobs (sports teams, field trips, etc.) for a little more cash. That said the small, locally-based bus line I was with were absolutely great to me; if the boss were a dickhead it could have been a nightmare.
My only complaint was that it didn't pay very much, but then I WAS living alone, paying mortgage and utilities on my 900 sq.ft. house myself, and I still had enough to eat every month. Not a lot left for hobby spending though.
J
Check around with some local school bus companies. Bus drivers don't usually work 9-5 like a normal job so it's possible that they can find a shift for your schedule or use you as an extra to fill in for people that are out or cover extra work. Here School bus drivers are in fairly short supply so you still see places that offer free training and a bonus if you stay for a certain period of time. Being near Lancaster some of those companies may also run buses to the outlets and various tourist attractions so there may be other work they can give you besides school hours.
I had graduated college and had a couple false career starts. I started working as a city bus driver while I contemplated my future and decided which track to take. That was eleven years ago. In the meantime, I've married, bought a house and generally grown up a bit.
Bus driving is a great job for a student; our company had many drivers who are in classes to some degree (hardee-har-har) or another. Most drivers work a split shift, with about four hours off in the middle of the day, then back to work for the afternoon commute.
It's not only a great job for students, it's a fine job, period. If you enjoy driving, there are worse things you could do. You can't imagine how many people I carry everyday who seem to absolutely dread their desk jobs. Most transit--and many school bus systems--are unionized, so pay can be decent. Municipally-run systems often have good benefits and even pensions for retirees.
I know a guy that drove a bus for Ohio State while he was taking classes there. Seemed like a good gig.
+1 at the Univ. of Utah my Buddy drove the bus to help pay for his undergrad and first part of Med School. By "pay for" I mean, "shorten the time it will take him to pay off his Med School Loans by about 5 minutes."
Unfortunately the small college I go to (Millersville University of PA) doesn't have its own transit system...it uses the nearby Lancaster City transit to haul students around.
I did however just receive a Pell Grant that will pay for my entire senior year...doesn't cover the cost of living but it will cut down on how much I owe by a large margin.
I drove school and charter in college. Great job. I could drive am and pm and take classes in between. I found a company that did both, they trained me without any contract, and within a week I was driving rugrats during the week and charter tours on the weekend. School bus pay sucks. Charter pay is anywhere from terrible to kick-ass depending on where you live. I drove in PA where I got flat rate per mile and terrible tips. The north sucks for service-industry tips. In Mississippi I got $90 a day... which I thought sucked until I saw how southerners tipped. I drove about 12 days a month and I had money to spare. It wasn't uncommon for a good group of Baptists to drop $150 a day on tip. One good trip to Branson, MO or Orlando, FL and I was in the money. I took a 5-day trip to Chicago and came home with $820 after taxes. When you're living in Slidell, LA and your rent is $250 a month, that's big money.
The bottom line is that you should hook up with a school bus company to get the license. Most school companies are always looking for drivers, so they have at least one trainer in the company. Getting your class B is pretty easy that way. Take your licks, do your penance, and get the license. Quit when you want to. If you're like me, you'll find out that the crappy pay and screaming rugrats are tolerable, especially considering the family nature of many companies. My Christmas bonus was a frozen turkey and a 12-pack of beer. Its hard to beat that.
Most of the contract stuff is for class A licensing. You'll have an easier time getting the class B through a small company.
^^ You gotta love southerners huh? I've spent my entire life between Florida, Georgia and Alabama (with a brief stint in SoCal). It's a difficult transition whenever I visit large cities in the North and everyone is such an shiny happy person. Yes sir/ma'am, please/thank you, opening/holding doors for people, tipping well, smiling at random folks who catch your eye, and just generally treating people with respect and like you may possibly run into them again someday. I never want to leave the south 
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