Driving Bus or Van: What are the Differences?

Driving either a School Bus or Van is a very rewarding experience and a great career to get into. However, when you consider driving as a career, you might have trouble deciding whether you’d rather drive a bus or a van. There are a few differences between the two, which we’ll explain below so you can decide which option would be best for you!

• Training: Before you drive either a bus or van, you’ll need to go through some training, which we provide all in-house. In the case of van, you’ll go through 2-3 days of training, learning things like how to follow a route, how to operate a wheelchair lift, etc. After you’ve taken these few days to learn, you’re ready to go! In the case of school bus, you’ll go through more training steps than you would with van. These steps include: a few nights of school bus classroom where you’ll learn everything you’ll need to know to get your CDL, on-the-bus training where you’ll get comfortable driving a bus, and ridealongs where you’ll “job shadow” a current school bus driver. Because the school bus process takes a couple weeks (on average 5 weeks), we pay you to train!

• Licensing: As stated above, you’ll need to get a special license to drive a school bus; a Class B CDL to be exact. (Not as scary as it sounds, as we help you every step of the way!) If you’d prefer to drive a van, you’ll just need your standard driver’s license!

• Number of kids: Obviously, there are going to be a lot more children on a school bus than on a van. (Buses can hold up to around 70-80 kids.) Vans can hold between 2 and 7 kids, with the average being about 3. Neither one of these facts are inherently an advantage or a disadvantage; it all comes down to your personal preference! Would you rather have a big school bus family full of all kinds of different kids, or a small, tight-knit van family?

• Bringing your children: In a lot of the school districts we operate in, our school bus drivers can take up to two of their preschool aged children on the bus with them! Unfortunately, due to space constraints, van drivers can’t always bring their own kids with them, but we try our best to carefully consider each situation.

• Extra work: When you drive either a bus or van, you work every school day picking kids up and dropping them off, but you also have the option of picking up some extra work. The opportunities for picking up extra work are more plentiful for school bus drivers. This is because the most common types of extra work are driving sports teams to games, working class field trips, and driving the Hershey Shuttle Bus! Van drivers may have more summer work opportunities due to the nature of special needs instruction.

• Pay: School bus drivers typically earn a higher rate of pay! The bus can carry more children, which is higher responsibility. The bus is also larger, and requires the driver to hold a CDL; for these reasons, bus drivers tend to earn a bit more money than van drivers.

If you like the idea of driving either a bus or a van, feel free to fill out our 5-minute interest form here! We know that taking the first step and applying is the toughest step of the process, so if you’re still not sure whether you’d rather drive a school bus or van, our friendly and helpful teammates are always happy to talk and advise you at (717) 957-3811. If you’re already driving for Rohrer Bus, let us know in the comments why you picked the vehicle you did!

Contact us today if you are interested in driving a school bus or van!

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