![]() ![]() CDLs come in three classes that determine which vehicles you're permitted to drive: Class A, B and C. What are the classes of CDLs?Ī commercial driver's license allows you to operate large vehicles such as shipping trucks and passenger buses. Check with your local driver's license office and school district to determine their prerequisites. Additional endorsements for driving passenger vehicles (P) and school buses (S) are also required. Those interested in obtaining a bus driver's license should obtain a CDL. Examples include school buses and tour buses. What is a bus driver's license?Ī bus driver's license allows you to operate a large passenger vehicle for commercial purposes. In this article, we discuss what a bus driver's license is, how it is different from other CDLs and how to get one. Details of what you can and cannot operate within each class can be confusing and you may need help determining how to obtain the right license. There are multiple classes of CDLs that identify what type of vehicle you can drive but only one allows passenger buses. This supplemental appropriation was a big lift for the county and the school system that happened quickly after the pain of operating with too few drivers became apparent during the first week of school.To operate public transportation buses, you will need a commercial driver's license, known as a CDL. The bonus would be paid in six installments throughout the school year to encourage drivers to stay the full period.Ĭounty officials approved the funding for immediate implementation. Under this proposal, the raises and bonuses would be implemented immediately-and for all drivers and transportation staff, current and new. ![]() We did not have the funding needed to move forward with our long-term solution: increasing driver salaries by $3 per hour to make starting pay more than $20 per hour and offering $3,000 bonuses. In Virginia, the county government controls local funding for school divisions. This was only a temporary solution, so we met with county government officials for help resolving this problem. We opened our schools earlier each morning to accommodate early arrivals and used county police officers for traffic control. Our hardworking bus drivers took on double runs at assigned schools, bringing some students to school early in the morning and taking them home late in the afternoon. Our first solution was to ask parents ( via this video message ) to drive their children to and from school. Many candidates need a full four weeks to earn their learner’s permit and, subsequently, their commercial driver’s license.)īut when schools opened in mid-August, the district still had a severe shortage of drivers. (All new school bus drivers require some training, even if they already possess a commercial driver’s license with all endorsements. We also increased the availability of driver-training sessions, starting new cohorts of candidates as often as every Monday. Like most school systems, we held job fairs and advertised throughout the region and state. This does not include field trips, after-school events, and weekend activities.ĭuring the summer of 2021, we experienced an extreme shortage of bus drivers: 150 fewer than we needed. We employ more than 500 drivers-or I should say we attempt to employ that many drivers-to cover 1,250 routes in the morning and again in the afternoon. Like most school divisions in the United States, we have suffered over the past several years from a lack of bus drivers and staff to meet transportation needs. (Chesterfield County is a suburb of Richmond, with urban characteristics near the city, vast suburban neighborhoods, and significant rural areas in the south and west.) My district, the Chesterfield County public schools in Virginia, educates more than 64,000 students and transports at least 70 percent of them nearly 9 million miles each year. ![]() Now, we have begun to use the techniques that worked in transportation to improve hiring in other areas. ![]() But the school system I lead cracked the code and achieved 100 percent staffing in transportation this past spring. Hiring school bus drivers has been tough for years, then the pandemic made it even harder. ![]()
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