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disclosure: I am a diesel mechanic and i work on large commuter busses as well. Do you want the money to go to schools and learning, or opulently thumbing your

disclosure: I am a diesel mechanic and i work on large commuter busses as well. Do you want the money to go to schools and learning, or opulently thumbing your nose to kris kringle two or three days a year. I thought remote learning had basically axed the snow day anyway...a few big issues: 0. you cannot load a child onto a vehicle thats 2 feet off the ground. 1. most school bus drivers in the US dont have a CDL. now try to find one willing to pilot a half million dollar all wheel nine speed with electronic transfer (while screaming kids are in the back) and youll find skilled over the road drivers arent interested in this. 2. any driver you do find wants lot pay, holidays, benefits and 80k a year guaranteed. school bus drivers earn just a little more than minimum wage for about half a years work. 3. whoever you get to drive this still has an option to tell you to pound sand. most OTR long haulers or regional drivers will never drive in conditions too adverse to control the vehicle. 4. this vehicle might make it through a bad snow storm but not at a speed youre likely to enjoy. the kind of storms this thing is rated to tackle, most kids arent. 5. IF it becomes stuck, or the driver isnt competent, youve turned a regrettable snow day into a massive rescue effort that imperils dozens of kids.

jethro_tell 5y ago
Also, is that thing gonna pick up the front office staff, the teachers, janitors or any security staff? Food vendors for lunch programs or other supply vendors. There's so much more than just kids walking to school up hill both ways in the snow. For an area that doesn't have a lot of snow days, it's as much the operational logistics and cost of running the school during a snow day as it is getting the kids there. You have all your regular shit, plus traffic is going to move slower, because that's how it works in the snow, so people are late or have to start earlier, you have to clear enough snow (and possibly maintain that through out the day) so that there isn't a neglegent risk in injury. Most schools are pretty much right at or below capacity for staffing in a good day, let alone one where they start late with extra chores. And for all that what do you get? A bunch of kids spacing out wishing they were sledding.
- fooqux 5y ago
  > Also, is that thing gonna pick up the front office staff, the teachers, janitors or any security staff? Food vendors for lunch programs or other supply vendors. Of course not, but they're adults who are expected to put their lives and personal property on the line and drive into work anyway. Just look at how few snow days college staff get, or any other "non-essential" worker. Or the workplace that says "safety first" but still expects you to hit to highway in a foot of snow.
joe_the_user 5y ago
most school bus drivers in the US dont have a CDL. Great post generally but I don't think this is true, it doesn't jive with the bus driver friends I've known nor with a quick Google. A CDL is defined in California and most states I know of a license for someone transporting passengers or cargo for pay - and the Feds set the standard[1]. You drive your own 40' RV with a car license but driving ten kids in a van requires a CDL (commercial drivers license), not necessarily the same qualifications as a big driver but still a CDL. [1] https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/registration/commercial-drivers-license https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/registration/commercial-drivers-li... But still, a school bus driver indeed isn't going to qualified to drive some random. The 4x4 school bus idea is indeed dumb.
msla 5y ago
> you cannot load a child onto a vehicle thats 2 feet off the ground. Even if you could, you still can't load kids in wheelchairs onto this bus. Plus, there's the fact that there are kids who are inside the school's walk zone, or the part of the school's attendance zone the district has decided is too close to the school to be worth a bus trip. If the weather's bad enough that you're bringing out Frostilicus Maximus here, a number of parents in that zone will decide to keep their kids home and get rather irate when the school decides that such an absence merits an in-school suspension.
TheKnack 5y ago
A rural school district that I work with has to close the entire district during bad weather a few times a year because of three unpaved roads that prevent buses from reaching a small number of students. If they only had one or two of these they might be able to avoid closing school. In another district, a couple of buses have to drive more than 3000 miles a year further because they aren't allowed to drive on a road that has standing water across it occasionally, so they have to drive many extra miles to go around. Having one or two of these might avoid that. Bus drivers could potentially work an hour less per day for the same pay, which would be the result. Rural districts around here tend to pay drivers for a minimum number of hours worked per day. There are probably many instances where a district having a small number of these, rather than replacing the entire fleet, could solve real world problems in a way that benefits the district, students, and drivers.
- ramphastidae 5y ago
  Or they could just pave the roads?

jethro_tell 5y ago

Also, is that thing gonna pick up the front office staff, the teachers, janitors or any security staff? Food vendors for lunch programs or other supply vendors. There's so much more than just kids walking to school up hill both ways in the snow. For an area that doesn't have a lot of snow days, it's as much the operational logistics and cost of running the school during a snow day as it is getting the kids there. You have all your regular shit, plus traffic is going to move slower, because that's how it works in the snow, so people are late or have to start earlier, you have to clear enough snow (and possibly maintain that through out the day) so that there isn't a neglegent risk in injury. Most schools are pretty much right at or below capacity for staffing in a good day, let alone one where they start late with extra chores. And for all that what do you get? A bunch of kids spacing out wishing they were sledding.

fooqux 5y ago
> Also, is that thing gonna pick up the front office staff, the teachers, janitors or any security staff? Food vendors for lunch programs or other supply vendors. Of course not, but they're adults who are expected to put their lives and personal property on the line and drive into work anyway. Just look at how few snow days college staff get, or any other "non-essential" worker. Or the workplace that says "safety first" but still expects you to hit to highway in a foot of snow.

joe_the_user 5y ago

most school bus drivers in the US dont have a CDL. Great post generally but I don't think this is true, it doesn't jive with the bus driver friends I've known nor with a quick Google. A CDL is defined in California and most states I know of a license for someone transporting passengers or cargo for pay - and the Feds set the standard[1]. You drive your own 40' RV with a car license but driving ten kids in a van requires a CDL (commercial drivers license), not necessarily the same qualifications as a big driver but still a CDL. [1] https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/registration/commercial-drivers-license https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/registration/commercial-drivers-li... But still, a school bus driver indeed isn't going to qualified to drive some random. The 4x4 school bus idea is indeed dumb.

msla 5y ago

> you cannot load a child onto a vehicle thats 2 feet off the ground. Even if you could, you still can't load kids in wheelchairs onto this bus. Plus, there's the fact that there are kids who are inside the school's walk zone, or the part of the school's attendance zone the district has decided is too close to the school to be worth a bus trip. If the weather's bad enough that you're bringing out Frostilicus Maximus here, a number of parents in that zone will decide to keep their kids home and get rather irate when the school decides that such an absence merits an in-school suspension.

TheKnack 5y ago

A rural school district that I work with has to close the entire district during bad weather a few times a year because of three unpaved roads that prevent buses from reaching a small number of students. If they only had one or two of these they might be able to avoid closing school. In another district, a couple of buses have to drive more than 3000 miles a year further because they aren't allowed to drive on a road that has standing water across it occasionally, so they have to drive many extra miles to go around. Having one or two of these might avoid that. Bus drivers could potentially work an hour less per day for the same pay, which would be the result. Rural districts around here tend to pay drivers for a minimum number of hours worked per day. There are probably many instances where a district having a small number of these, rather than replacing the entire fleet, could solve real world problems in a way that benefits the district, students, and drivers.

ramphastidae 5y ago
Or they could just pave the roads?