Reply to Any Bus Drivers for FCPS read this forum?

Forum Index » Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS)

Reply to "Any Bus Drivers for FCPS read this forum?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]A friend of mine is a relatively new driver for FCPS. She likes it, in part because the split schedule works for her, but it sounds like there are elements that will wear on her as time goes on:

Behavior. Each route is a crap-shoot. Sometimes the kids are great, other times they are less so. Pandemic-era feralness is still very much an issue.

Commute. It’s not just “get in your bus and drive to the first stop.” First you have to get from your house to the bus depot. Then check over your bus. Then navigate over to the first stop, which you may have even passed on your way to the depot. In my friend’s case, she’s leaving her house around 5:00 a.m. to make that first pickup. Reverse the process at the end of the morning, then start it again in the afternoon. Oh, and battle rush-hour traffic to get back home, after being on the road all day. It’s mentally and physically exhausting.

Routes. These are assigned based on seniority.  New drivers don’t always get the routes close to home (and to a bus depot). Someone driving a McLean route might live in Lorton or Centreville. (Because those who are working for bus driver pay are not likely to live in McLean or North Arlington.)

Agency. Bus routes and schedules are set by people in FCPS central office. If a bus driver knows a better way to run the route (more time on faster roads, eliminating left turns across busy streets, avoiding known sticky spots, etc.) they need to file a request, which is then reviewed, and blah blah blah. Sure, oversight is good, but the current process takes forever and seems to be set up to discount input from the people who actually know the route best.

Pay. As others have pointed out, you can make more with your CDL elsewhere. And those places will pay you year-round. With FCPS, you need to drive a summer school route to get paid over the summer. And those routes are also distributed based on seniority.

At every level, the system seems to be set up to dissuade new people from applying/sticking around. I’m curious to see how long my friend lasts. She loves the kids, but other parts of the job seem pretty challenging. [/quote]

I'm the PP/retired bus driver. Tell her to find a job elsewhere. It's not worth it. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics