Local Entry Level School Bus Driver Jobs With Little Driving Experience

If you are looking for a bus driver job with stable income, getting an entry level school bus driver job with little driving experience needed is quite a good option. School bus drivers are responsible for safely transporting students between their homes and school. Sometimes, you will also be driving students from schools to field trips, sports event and other school functions. Besides being able to drive safely while reaching the destinations on time, school bus drivers must be able to work well with children and handle any behavior problems on a daily basis. Order must be properly maintained on the school bus while on the move in order to prevent any accidents that may arise. This is something new school bus drivers must quickly learn to manage. In some cases, you are also needed to help children with disabilities to board and alight the bus.

To apply for a local entry level school bus driver job, you should preferably have at least a high school diploma or GED, although sometimes these qualifications are not needed. However, you do need to have a class B commercial driver's license (CDL). To get a class B CDL if you do not have one, it takes about 4 weeks of lessons at any local driving schools and 40-hour of training. This CDL certification makes you eligible for many entry level commercial vehicle driving jobs such as transit and intercity bus drivers.

Note that some states such as Florida, California etc require all school bus drivers to get certified by the Department of Motor Vehicles, to ensure they have extensive training in bus driving, and knowledge of current regulations and safety procedures. For example, to become a certified school bus driver in Florida, you need to take these written tests at a local Florida Highway Patrol Station on top of your CDL - School Bus Endorsement Test, Passenger Endorsement Test, General Knowledge Test, Air Brakes Test.

Due to the nature of work around school children, you must clear a criminal background check and a drug test. Your driving records must be clean and try to avoid getting any traffic tickets, accidents or driving violations - these may cause you to lose your bus driving job. Where possible, previous work or personal references should be provided so that the school administrators can be assured that you are a suitable bus driver candidate they can safely hire. 

Newly hired school bus drivers will receive a few days of training on the roads to become familiar with the routes and schools they must service. Usually, they will be guided by a more experienced colleague on which streets to ply, the expected traffic conditions and any tricky situations they are likely to face and how to handle these. For example, some streets tend to be narrower and you need to be careful, junctions where turns are more difficult than normal etc. Inexperienced bus drivers need to quickly learn about the state and local regulations on school bus driving to keep themselves out of trouble.

A school bus driver must be able to tolerate rowdy and noisy school children that insist on playing and horsing around within the bus. This can be quite stressful because you need to keep an eye on these young students while paying attention to traffic on the road. This is one of the main problems faced by new bus drivers with no experience in handling young school children. And perhaps it is also why the turnover rate for school bus drivers is quite high and you can always find some local entry level school bus driver jobs within your area by calling up the schools or bus companies.

One of the main benefits of driving a school bus is that you have more free time during the summer and winter breaks, since most schools do not hold classes during these periods. You can choose to take a holiday or spend more time at home. However, the converse is also true that you may have no income during these few weeks unless you get some other temporary employment or driving assignments such as tour bus driving.

Many school districts routinely recruit new bus drivers with little experience by offering attractive sign on bonuses and hourly pay rates above the minimum wage. The average hourly wage for a local entry level school bus driver is between $27 to $10 per hour.