How School Buses Became the Safest Vehicles in America

[@bennnymiddleton40]

I remember Mike the school buss driver who was cool as heck everyone liked him and he would intentionally hit this one bump in a col de sac and make the buss rock, we called it “Roller coaster” and would chant it down the road leading to it. And sometimes we’d chant “do it again” and some times he’d do it. Cool guy

[@Yukon.]

I had a similar guy once, he always would do an Australian accent and act like he was running over crocodiles in the outback and we'd all jump before hitting the bumps. Good times.

[@FalconMotorsportsFalconF]

One of my school bus drivers would follow cars if kids thought the cars were cool, and would sometimes go through the rich part of the neighborhood because people liked to take pictures of fancy houses

[@luiselapostolfeliz2421]

@@Yukon. Hello Yukon, although the school buses weren't designed to be luxurious I still believe that school huses look good. I think another drawback is you don't BEST IN CLASS INTERIOT when it comes to niceties and amenities they look good. Please reply.

[@oscarosullivan4513]

@@Yukon. A lot better than being driven to school. Something that only really happens when you are in Primary school here in Ireland. Public transport if you are in a Urban area and School bus if you are in a Rural area for secondary school. The driver who played heavy metal sounds like a real life Otto from the Simpsons.

[@forgetfuldullahan5468]

That happened in our school trip to Europe. Roundabouts aren't as common here in Canada as there are in Europe, and even when they are here... yeah the Europeans know how to drive on them, here in Canada tho, no one knows how to use them. So in Europe, we were all chanting "again". The driver did three loops. Best part of the trip tbh.

[@MrSaemichlaus]

For some of the rougher areas, the rear emergency door can be replaced with a tail gunner seat, both helping with children's life expectancy and further combating unemployment amongst former federal convicts.

[@Yukon.]

I remember these from back in the day! Friday was the best because they let the kindergarteners use it and they'd always go for the pedestrians. Thanks for the nostalgia blast!

[@tcg1_qc]

And the roof emergency hatches can be fitted with turrets for full 360° protection

[@paulblichmann2791]

Make sure that gun can turn around for when the threat is INSIDE the bus.

[@defencebangladesh4068]

@@tcg1_qc Nice

[@kitsunelegend7976]

My grandpappy was a tail gunner on a school bus back in the day. Used to tell me stories of all the pimpmobiles and crackhead wagons he shot down. Good ol' grandpappy

[@MimicGriphon]

As a school bus driver myself, you get to see a whole different side of the transportation, and education industries. You also get to see how the rest of your city lives, how their home lives are, and so on. Also, as a gamer, I was happy when fortnite became popular because all the kids, sincerely or not, started thanking us and it felt nice.

[@elllieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee]

it is pretty funny how fortnite became the number #1 advocate for politeness to bus drivers

[@Welsh7133]

I’m proud how good I was to my drivers, well, my middle and high school drivers anyway

[@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

Let's not forget the importance of the black lines on the side of the school bus. The one below the window is the height of the seat, where the one below that, is the floor level. They come in handy for first responders if there's ever a serious crash. Great history lesson

[@GayBrain]

@Idiot, Puncher of Screebs Woah, look out everyone, new edgelord in town.

[@NezarecFGOP]

@@GayBrain thanks, finally someone notices x

[@skyy3847]

Yeah & they also are made to be more protective for the bus during an accident

[@nicolaidepue3970]

Thanks Kim

[@oakenshadow6763]

Thank you! I didn't know that.

[@sajoj802]

As a school bus driver named not named Mike, reading all these recounts of your childhoods really touched me. Seriously. When I was getting training before I had my first route, one of the instructors told me that I am the first authority figure the child would see that is connected to school and that school has a reputation of sucking. They told me that to make that first impression of the day for the kids so at least their day would suck a little less... I guess the silly conversations, the bumpy rides, and general controlled shenanigans will give my kids great memories. I'm glad to be a part of that cycle.

[@atlantis6855]

I had a bad bus drive before. She would just laugh when she saw a kid bully me

[@reedr1659]

Our school bus driver was an old hippie. School was almost out for the year and one day the teens at the back weren't staying seated as they were told. The driver floored it over a couple speed bumps and the kids in the back got launched into the roof. They remained seated after that.

[@yeetionary]

😂😂

[@guhd4378]

chadrigma bus driver

[@Saltmaster-ro4ep]

I misread hippie as nipple lol

[@Menaceblue3]

@@Saltmaster-ro4ep don't hippies like to show nipples?

[@triangulum8869]

gigachad bus driver

[@busterscrugs]

I was lucky enough to have cool bus drivers growing up. First one was this chill lady named Ms. Duff. She explained how different parts of the bus worked in a humorous way, and I was always interested in how the bus worked after that. One time her normal bus broke down so she pulled up in an old stick-shift bus lol. Hope she's doing well.

[@k.b.tidwell]

Little did you know she was heiress to the Duff Beer empire. That's why she was so chill.

[@LittleJimmyR]

My bus normally is a 1999 manual (Australia)

[@twiff3rino28]

The buses my district used in the mid 90s through early 00's were all manual, and many were recent models (Blue Birds with GMC chassis).

[@anderstermansen130]

Lazy American.

[@carparkinghoss411]

Read my comment and think about wat u said and wat I said which one is better hmmm I wonder

[@CarsonG1017]

Joe was my favorite bus driver. Being the last kid on his route, we'd usually talk for the last bit of the trip. He was a very cool dude, and we would always get him a gift for the holidays as a thank you. If you ever end up seeing this, Joe, thanks for making my school commute great :)

[@spicydramarama852]

God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son. Anyone who believes in him will not die but will have eternal life

[@truehuskym]

@@spicydramarama852 thats crazy

[@seamarie3111]

Not Joe, but I'm pretty sure he really appreciated your gifts, and your presence. My mom drives, and anything her kids and their families get her touches her, and she uses/enjoys what she gets. She loves her kids ☺️

[@seamarie3111]

@@spicydramarama852 I do not think KZbin is the place to proselytize. Whether or not people acknowledge God and Jesus is not going to be influenced by a KZbin comment. In fact, things like this do more harm than good, and risk pushing away those they seek to touch.

[@seamarie3111]

@@truehuskym I think their comment was ill thhought-out, but I do not think it kind to call someone else "crazy". Everyone expresses their beliefs differently. While I might think KZbin comments are not a good place for proselytization, I would rather not insult such a misguided individual.

[@no-uh535]

Shoutout to my bus driver Mr.Joshua. He literally made my day every single day, just the talks and conversations he’d have with the people up front and the kids on his bus told me that he really cared about the young people he was transporting. It was more than just a job for him, he once said that bus driving was a dream career for him and that he wouldn’t give it up for anything else. Really cool guy, he had all of our birthdays in his calendar and gave us whatever snack we wanted on that day, he once gave a friend of mine a watermelon because that’s the snack he wanted haha. If someone ever had a dream to be famous at something, he’d have them give him an autograph to say “now I have the first autograph of ____ I’ll be a millionaire one day!” he really believed in our dreams and cared about each and every one of us.

[@RealRequiem]

Wholesome. Thank you for sharing

[@docBZA]

People like this are truly angels

[@brytur]

I remember in the late 90's / early 00's when _air conditioning_ started to become a thing in school buses. Being in the Phoenix AZ area, this was _GLORIOUS_ during the summer.

[@dannydaw59]

Did the busses have that vinyl seat plastic smell no matter what the age of the bus during that time?

[@justin6581]

My school buses in California don’t have AC for some reason, there are several buses in SDUSD that have AC, but they are very few and very far between.

[@PGIA]

@@justin6581 Bruh, here in Bakersfield it would go up to 110 degrees and we would still never get air conditioning. The AC's would give up at my school and the classrooms would be turned into ovens.

[@justin6581]

@@PGIA oh, I guess we are lucky.

[@MrRadsVarietyChannel]

@@PGIA atleast you have ac in your classrooms

[@poorlittlebiker6476]

I use to drive school buses, the only thing keeping me back from going is the pay, or lack of it rather lol. It’s definitely an underrated job given the level of safety that’s involved.

[@poorlittlebiker6476]

@@yggdrasil1706 yeah I’ve seen the salary go up here to. I’m from GA and I’ve seen the salaries hop from 10-15 up to 25-30. I was tempted to go back but I drive for greyhound now and I don’t think there’s a bus company around here that will pay nearly as good as them 😂

[@teamzoey3923]

@@yggdrasil1706 danggg 40 alot den i seen u said u from san fran… how much is ur place a month?

[@oldarthurmorgan6319]

@@yggdrasil1706 40 is insane wtf

[@teamzoey3923]

@@oldarthurmorgan6319 rite sign me up i even sing da wheel on da bus everyday wit em

[@LightPink]

@@oldarthurmorgan6319 it's not a full time job and the schedule makes it harder to have a second job

[@wirenutt57]

Lose the stereotype of the school bus driver as being some loser who failed at school or quit school. I drive a school bus at age 65 because I like it, I live a block from the school, and it's a good retirement job. I am a retired electrical engineer, and I have more education than some of the teachers. The job is a huge responsibility, you have to have a CDL, and are subject to continuous training. As an example, there are something like 18 individual steps to remember to do in sequence when crossing railroad tracks. If you aren't a bus driver, you have no idea what it entails, in general. Stupid, incompetent people and people with poor judgment are not up to the task.

[@saulnavarro4730]

W

[@technoroom5]

Cool. I'm also a retired EE and have been driving bus the last 8 years and love it. I'm also a CDL instructor for driver candidates who are obtaining their CDL, and many of these folks' jaws drop when I explain the 200+ items that have to be checked on their daily pre-trip inspection, which they will be tested on when they take their CDL road test. And yes, the railroad crossings....😀

[@Lemoncoder103]

You guys are both awesome. Thank you so much for being able to help thousands of kids every single day to school. I would love to have you as my bus driver for high school 😂

[@seamarie3111]

Yes, thank you! You drivers are seriously underrated and underappreciated. Teachers are responsible for kids' academic, emotional, and physical well-being at school, but drivers are the ones who have to get them to and from school safely, which is not an easy task especially when you have a bunch of unruly kids to mind. My mom drives, and she's dang good at it. A lot of drivers in our district are like her, older, with grown children, who are looking for something to do. I've looked at the testing, it's not joke. My dad has his CDL learners, because he was going to drive before he got another job, and it took him maybe two tries for one of the test portions, and that after decades of factory management. Let's not forget the drug testing and rigorous background checks, which are no joke. People should think twice before looking down on the people in charge of getting their kids safely to school.

[@tatotaytoman5934]

people always look down upon bus drivers, garbage collectors and those who work in warehouses. Without considering the fact that without these people society and industry cannot exist.

[@ckarts5784]

I love videos like this that just explain stuff. No sponsor, no breaks, no in-your-face ads. Best kind of video

[@gordonreeder3451]

Thanks for this. And the shout out to the school bus drivers. Most people don't realize that we are hold a CDL (with passenger and school bus endorsements). Also, we spend about 30 minutes each day doing the safety inspection of the bus. The kids can be the best or worst part of our job. Parents: help make your kids the best part of our job.

[@namenamename390]

"A testament to just how little we trust our children with an ounce of independence" This is an issue in the US that I feel like not enough people talk about, so I appreciate the mention of it right at the start.

[@emubbq]

I would trust my child, I wouldn't trust other cars and maybe kidnappers

[@warmike]

something something lack of reliable public transportation

[@namenamename390]

@@warmike I would say it's more the lack of walkability

[@emubbq]

@@namenamename390 good

[@k.b.tidwell]

Yeah, the same reason I won't ride a motorcycle. I trust me but I can't trust any other person on the road.

[@cats400]

My boy scout troop had an old '80s Chevy chassis Blue Bird bus that we would use to go to camp outs. The troop had modified it to have two extra large drop down monitors mounted to the ceiling over the aisle so a DVD movie could be played during the drive. The bus was painted white and lettered up to have our BSA troop number and accompanying school/church on it. They never bothered to put new tires on it though. Found that out the hard way. I was sitting over the dual rear tires with my back to the wall and the window down when a tire blew going about 60 mph down Interstate 10 between San Antonio and Houston. Damn thing was gutless and struggled to get up to highway speeds. I was sitting right over it and it sounded like someone fired a 12 gauge shotgun next to my head. Guy at the tire shop said the date code on the tire said it was from the mid '90s (about 20 year old tires at the time).

[@k.b.tidwell]

A coworker of mine who ran a tire shop told me they were prohibited from even touching a tire to plug or patch it if it was 7 years old or older. 10 years old is supposedly a death sentence. Dry rot.

[@anderstermansen130]

A what.

[@ForzaMonkey]

@Turbo Last Name Nice. My brother’s an Eagle scout, and I’m working towards it right now.

[@ForzaMonkey]

@Turbo Last Name I have not thought about my project yet, I’m thinking of doing that after everything else. I will have to see if my high school has anything to offer, thanks for the advice. Outside of ranking up, I’m doing the 3-week Rayado trek at Philmont next year, as well as national jamboree. Next year’s gonna be a good one. I will probably start fundraising after that, assuming fundraising and actually doing the project takes a little less than a year, I should be done just before turning 18.

[@nathanielhill8156]

@@ForzaMonkey good job to your brother and good luck to you on your journey. I hope you have as much fun and adventure as I did.

[@PenguinyBishop]

One of my bus drivers was what we thought was a Vietnam vet and he always managed to keep the bus under control which was amazing. The fact that he would almost always wear Tie-Dye shirts and was a cool dude added to us liking him.

[@smokeypillow]

Do you mean keep the vehicle under control or all the kids inside under control? 2 very different things lmao

[@PenguinyBishop]

@@smokeypillow The kids. Which is no easy feat to be sure.

[@ClementinesmWTF]

My bus driver was Ms Judy. She was a character and a half and knew all of her kids so well. She was our mother before and after school. She knew how to keep things safe and knew when to bring any of forwards if she noticed something was off. Best of all, she knew all our schedules, both in and out of school. She would always ask who was or wasn’t on the bus and if we wanted to be dropped off somewhere (with our parents’ permission of course). I and my cul-de-sac/back road friends were always the last stop in the morning (yessss), and the last stop in the afternoon (ughhh), so we’d always get special time with her to talk and she’d go out of her way to make sure each of us got dropped off at our front doors when she could’ve easily dropped us off at the designated stop a half block away. Ms Judy-I hope you’re still around and enjoying retirement, you made all of us so happy to ride the bus to and from school every day, even if you were a strict and scolding bitch sometimes; I know it was your love and protection for us that had you that way ❤️

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

Something else worthy to mention: Here in Suffolk County on Long Island, we have school bus camera program (resulting from a law passed by the state in 2019 that allowed local governments to do so). Cameras have been installed on over 4,000 buses to keep tabs on passing cars. If the car doesn't stop for the school bus when its red lights and stop sign are deployed, you get a ticket. They collected 12 million dollars in fines (fine is $250) from motorists in an eight-month span in 2021, ten percent of which went towards public safety. The remaining 90 percent was split between the county and BusPatrol who operates the program.

[@willhooke]

Seems like a lot of money going to "operational costs" 🤔 90% of $12M is a lot of money to run a business Regardless, interesting program Thank you for sharing it 👍

[@Zettaaaaaaa]

They've been doing that in Texas for as long as I can remember. At least 2012.

[@jeffforbess6802]

I wish they’d do it here in TN. I prob avg one or two runners a week.

[@nightmarecorporation9991]

When school buses are safer than the school itself

[@ICANTSLEEP.]

unless someone pulls a dc sniper on school busses

[@yourmom9442]

I see you haven’t heard of the stolen bmw t boning and tipping a school bus

[@notkray8468]

@@Sam-ip6co very specific my guy

[@painlessrelic3618]

@@moroteseoinage A girl in a high school in Arizona shot someone once

[@bonda_racing3579]

Depending on where you are. My high school only had druggies to worry about. And the occasional gang violence. The quiet kid usually dispatched themselves if you take my meaning. Otherwise the buses are iconic

[@thisisthestuffgaming8202]

Am a school bus driver, granted in canada but we're just america up-a-bit... it's crazy just how much thought is put into our vehicles, i have better visibility outta my bus than most ppl do from their cars. i can see almost entirely around the bus (only a small area directly behind me is blind), including underneath the front bumper. i can see the wheels, all four of em, and position the bus accordingly, it's nuts...

[@jinglemyberries866]

"i have better visibility outta my bus than most ppl do from their cars." - I miss older cars, they had such great visibility, like the volvo 240 wagon for example.

[@thisisthestuffgaming8202]

@@jinglemyberries866 i daily drive a 96 toyota camry, yeah she's a bit older but just boxy enough that i know where everything is!

[@jinglemyberries866]

@@thisisthestuffgaming8202 96 camry, nice. My aunt had a 98 corolla, superb daily drivers. Yea youre right, older cars are easier to maneuver in tight areas, because theyr so boxy. Thats another thing i love about them older cars. Have a good day, man.

[@HE-162]

@@jinglemyberries866 I’ve only ever personally owned cars from the 80s, and every time I get into a modern car I feel blind. I don’t mind the poor visibility through the rear, but the gigantic A pillars in modern cars are downright dangerous. I refuse to believe that packing them full of airbags, and thus are large enough to create a blind spot, enhances safety. Modern cars practically encourage driver tunnel vision. To then try and counter that tunnel vision with endless electronic systems, noises, blinking lights in your periphery, screens in mirrors etc, seems insane to me. Maximum safety is achieved with maximum driver attentiveness and visibility. Maybe the stats say otherwise, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a direct correlation between loss of visibility and # of accidents. Blinding drivers with massive pillars to protect them in accidents is counterproductive if the accidents were avoidable with better visibility. Maybe the accidents that poor visibility creates are less likely to cause injury, so it’s better to risk more of them for the sake of more safety in the more dangerous ones?

[@matt.stevick]

Jimmy Hortons don’t cha know ay?

[@Akotski-ys9rr]

I remember sometimes we’d have this one bus driver named Scott and he seemed stern and everyone hated him but I actually thought he was cool because the bus would be quiet when he was driving. One time the bus would not be quiet and he stopped on the side of the road, turned off the engine and started lecturing us. Those were good times

[@abba-Flammenfresser]

@crassgop mines played music and was so calm, we always looked forward to getting on-esp towards the end of the day😴some of the best sleep I had were on there:,

[@bastarddoggy]

Thanks for this video! As a 30 year veteran school bus driver, I think you did a great job. For over 15 years I've been speaking with folks about school bus safety at the bus display at our state fair. Your info is pretty spot on.

[@JaKingScomez]

Not a bad gig huh

[@sircalvin]

@@JaKingScomez where i live we have a shortage so driver positions start at like $30 an hour, with them paying for and during your training and cdc. it also has really good insurance and a government pension. certainly not a bad gig, at least in my area

[@Thinkle911]

Why the hell are there still non-cab over designs available? That does not make any sense at all.Bus driver cannot look through the bonnet and from time to time kids end under the bus. Sane people would just ban normal busses and switch over to cab over busses...

[@JaKingScomez]

@@Thinkle911 keep your mouth shut commie

[@bastarddoggy]

@@Thinkle911, we have cross view mirrors mounted on the corners of the "bonnet" (hood) here in the US. Those allow the driver to see the front bumper of the bus and several feet ahead of it, at least as far out as can be seen looking out over the front of the bus. We're taught to do a complete scan of all mirrors before moving, especially after a passenger stop. Conventional buses are plenty safe. It's all about the driver. All of that said, I drove a transit style bus many years ago. It was a rear engine model. It rode very smoothly and quietly, handled well, and carried a lot of students. But the ones we got were maintenance nightmares and our mechanics hated them.

[@Ziffelzoovop]

George was my school bus driver from preschool to graduation. Dude was the best! He greeted every student that got on the bus by name, he let kids be kids and didn't yell if we got a bit loud, but he would step in if a kid was being picked on. He knew everyone's birthday and would let them pick out a lollipop pop on their birthday, he knew all of the streets so well that he could get around any road blockage without much delay, and he played the classic rock station on the radio that a lot more of us kids actually enjoyed. He was a solid dude, kinda like everyone's favorite fun uncle.

[@kealarson550]

one year i had three different bus drivers. the first and favorite was dan, he was so chill and really cared for all of us. (brought each kid a king sized candy bar for each holiday, made jokes, etc) we had made a song about him because everyday he was insanely late to pick us up. randomly a little less than halfway through the year, we only had him in the morning and we had scott in the afternoon. right when we got used to that, we only had scott, never dan. he was only there for a few weeks before getting fired and then we had brent. he told us that we stopped having dan because he was diagnosed with cancer and had many kimo appointments. we asked him about dan constantly and he told us every time we asked. the first day after christmas break, we had asked about dan and over the intercom he told us that at one of his appointments at the hospital he slipped in the bathroom giving him a concussion where a few hours later he had passed. for the rest of the bus ride no one talked, everyone was crying. that was four or five years ago so the details are a little bit hazy.

[@seamarie3111]

That's so sad. I know that a good driver can make a difference, and I'm sad to here that kids lost a gem like Dan. He sounds awesome.

[@docBZA]

God damn it, im not crying ur crying

[@monsieurr_josh]

RIP Dan, you were a real one.

[@AllaB07]

Chemo, from chemotherapy

[@sterlingodeaghaidh5086]

One of the incidents that helped spark the national bus standards was one that happened close to where I live. It was called the Towner Bus Tragety, 8 kids died in a blizzard after their bus that was a retrofitted car that was used for hay transport in the summer got stuck in the snow.

[@_lunartemis]

Wikipedia lists it as the Pleasant Hill bus tragedy

[@sterlingodeaghaidh5086]

@@_lunartemis Yes, becaue it was the Pleasent Hills Schools that the bus ran for. But out here its called Towner Bus Tragety because it happened near Towner CO.

[@aliteralsnakewithatophat3247]

I think a video on the history of ambulances in America would be very interesting.

[@bensmith8682]

Seconded

[@IeeIee778]

@@bensmith8682 rded

[@Innoventions]

Thirded

[@RoflcopterLamo]

Quaded

[@ketaminepoptarts]

fithed

[@LostShipMate]

I was in a School bus when it was hit by a car going around 100 mph(what it felt like), in the middle of an intersection. The bus scooted about 20 feet turning about a quarter of the way around. Kids were fine, thrown across the aisle(Seat belts are a joke in US school buses). The old guy that hit us was dead before he even made contact, he had a heart attack while driving. Had to walk home the last mile.

[@hmhobbies]

what a legend, you just walked it off

[@rash15]

This channel will soon have tons of subs... Its underrated

[@owen755]

I still have that Diesel Engine sound engrained in my memory. Also our school couldn't afford a larger bus, so we often had to have 3 kids for each seat which was miserable at times. Good video

[@jacobusvisser6428]

My school would squeeze four per seat 😂

[@christopherbassit2757]

I feel lucky now coming from a small town where I would sleep on an entire seat because the bus was mostly empty

[@peterjszerszen]

We had a couple of (Ford?) V12 gas 65-passenger buses with manual transmissions I remember (around 1990), sometimes they would send it for our route. They were kind of fun to ride in. Not sure how they were to drive, they seemed underpowered.

[@nicolaidepue3970]

Fond memories of high school when I had to sit in the aisle (multiple times) since I was the last to be picked up and there no where to sit. Still worth it for the extra sleep time though.

[@owen755]

@@nicolaidepue3970 yeah we often had to stand in the aisle, I don't think that was very safe lol.

[@colemando-qc4io]

The speed of the videos coming out and the quality are top tier 😍 love that you're expanding to other big machines we viewers seem to love much, keep it up!

[@dfwrailvideos]

Those lighting boards above the drivers were just fun to watch, in my opinion. I didn’t have a phone when I was younger, so sitting in the front seat and watching the windshield and the lighting board was the way I broke my boredom.

[@thegreatynot5049]

tbh this video been popping up in my recommended for over 2 weeks and I kept ignoring it...but I gotta say im impressed with how well you're videos are put together and was surprised to see your channel is just now growing...the video itself was very interesting Sub earned...I hope your channel blows up

[@ImRickyIWin]

Back when I was in sixth grade there was a really steep hill we would go down in the school bus and the school bus driver would let a few of us sit in the middle of the isle while going down the hill, she would speed up and then slam on her brakes and we would slide all the way from the back of the bus to the front of the bus. Good times lol

[@merouln700]

Really interesting history of school buses in America, I did not expect the prevalence of smaller sized buses compared to Europe (well at least France since that's the only place I can compare them to.)

[@apuzal1009]

Yeah, we had a German exchange student in my high school and she was shocked to see that we had small school buses as well as large ones. She was convinced most American vehicles were large and uncanny (which is half correct)

[@qlum]

In the Netherlands, at younger ages parents bring their children to school by walking / cycling / driving. And as they get older (10 or so) kids go to school on their own by walking / cycling. and to highschool in more rural areas public transport is also used. So there has been little need for school busses here.

[@merouln700]

@@qlum where I was in France, I could walk to middle school, but I had to take a bus to go to high school as it was 10 km away. The initial bus was a regular bus, however the returning one was dedicated school bus. Usually school buses are repurposed regular transit buses.

[@sterlingodeaghaidh5086]

Coming from U.S perspective its interesting to see that the ubiquitous and mundane image of a yellow vehicle making rounds every winter morning is not a common thing world wide. I remember a British youtuber name Squirrel, the first time he played ATS (American Truck Simulator) he was taken back by the bus just on the road, think mentioning that he thought that was only on TV or something. I will say tho, most kids when they get to driving age tend to drive them selves. I live in a small enough town that the school is literally 3 blocks from my house, I still drove my self later on as winters can get downright frigid. Just it intriuges me that the these things are almost an American exclusive icon.

[@amaroaverna923]

@@qlum Same in Italy, it's really hard to find a school bus, only disabled kids has his own "bus". Usually kids older than 12/14 takes the public transport.

[@cosminmihu9963]

My friend from Romania almost had a huge fine when he came to visit me in Canada. He'd never seen a school bus and didn't know he has to stop when the sign comes out even on the opposite side of the road 😂.

[@k.b.tidwell]

When he ran over a child running from their home across the street to make it to the bus before it left, he'd understand quickly.

[@user2C47]

If he isn't familiar with Canadian laws, he shouldn't have been driving.

[@Cinnamontoastcrunch1029]

Is your friend named Andrew Tate? If so he knew he was supposed to stop but Andrew Tate stops for no one cause he’s a top g.

[@saulnavarro4730]

@@Cinnamontoastcrunch1029 🤓

[@saulnavarro4730]

@@Cinnamontoastcrunch1029 I killed Andrew Tate with a fucking rock

[@reinkeamy34]

6:59 , that bus looks like it's going to tell me I have no maidens

[@B-52H]

Nah its saying "No Kids"

[@a-bombmori7393]

11:28 "And though they told me to study hard so I didn't end up like them, I always thought it would be fun to drive a school bus" My heart

[@tmoney8180]

9:07 man one time I fell asleep on the bus and the bus driver had to give me a ride home it was pretty crazy being young and in school you never know where all the buses go, I found out that day 😂😂

[@4cps777]

I didn't expect there to be so much history behind school buses or an entire market for them. Where I live (European country), we just get a ticket which allows us to take any public transport in region and then we either take a regular bus or train.

[@user2C47]

The US has a lot of rural areas where public transit simply does not exist. For example, the only system where I live belongs to an adult medical day care facility, and consists of 4 vans. The county school system has about 30 active buses that service the 2 high schools and their neighboring middle schools, and do a second run for all of the elementary schools.

[@4cps777]

​@@user2C47 Yes, it was mentioned in the video that the school bus originally started out because of the need to transport kids in rural areas. I guess that's just one littlequirk of history which lead to probably the coolest type bus of in existence. Btw I also live in a (for Euroean standards) very rural area and there probably wouldn't be any public transport in my village at all if it wasn't for the "school buses". There's one bus in the morning for the school kids (and some adults) and then there are a few in the in the afternoon to bring everyone back. Ig the cool thing about this is the fact that the city where my school is also has a train station and I get to exploit the heck out of those free tickets.

[@mynameisreallycool1]

@@user2C47 Bingo! It's also crucial for suburban areas too.

[@fszocelotl]

The closest I've personally been to a US school bus was a retrofitted Monterrey assembled Thomas bus that served in a bus route in northwest Mexico City around the turn of the century... That thing felt heavy, solid and dull... It also creaked almost constantly... Greetings.

[@adamcarr2898]

Those are often called chicken buses, retired U.S. school buses turned into public transit in central america.

[@user2C47]

Where I'm from in the US, they serve for another several years as a substitute bus, and then get used to haul watermelons.

[@seanthe100]

Those buses were probably also 25+ years old. The oldest school buses my local district has are 2012 Thomas school buses winch are smooth and have cold a/c and these are now the spare buses, the ones used on route are 2014-2022

[@bajasummit6209]

During the 70’s the Colorado rack and load test and the Kentucky pole test were implemented which really helped with rollover safety as you said

[@starz7767]

Anyone else always have the cranky old lady bus driver who we all hated then but now realize she was cranky because she was still working a job in her old age?

[@BeginTheEnd570]

As a school bus driver I just wanna say that this was an amazing video. The only thing I wanted to add is that the the crossing arm you mentioned in the 90's section isn't always there, at least in California. This is due to the fact that in California we are required to get out of the bus and escort students across if they are in or below 8th grade (as well as other niche circumstances.) Hearing your comments in the video about your drivers and scrolling through some of the ones down here made my day, reminds me why I do what I do.

[@sour_789]

it'd be interesting to see cross-border truck culture or something adjacent (e.g., how do customs work, what standards do they have to follow)

[@apuzal1009]

there is actually a bus like that, i forgot exactly what it was called but look up the bus that passes through canada to get back to the united states. some weird thing with borders is the reason this bus exists

[@ivy_47]

Yes and how do truck drivers in central america cope with days-long border checkpoint queues???

[@kniazjarema8587]

@@apuzal1009 im pretty sure you're talking about the situation in the washington state! i remember watching video about that. there's a small american city seperated by a canadian border, and the only highschool around is in the bigger city nearby, which is past the canada border, located on proper american land. If i remember correctly, travelling through by bus, they can't legally get out of the bus mid transit, because they travel without passports and other documents.

[@PlittHD]

As an European where the public transport system simply has more trains and busses for both students and commuters between 6-9 I enjoyed watching this video

[@user2C47]

Using public transit is pretty common in large cities, but in rural areas, school buses and sometimes ridesharing are the only forms of public transit.

[@linkly9272]

@@user2C47 same goes for suburban areas where so many people live, as unfortunately there's often very little transit outside of school buses.

[@captainevenslower4400]

The only "real" school bus i remember is a privately owned van from a taxi company, often awd, that drove the kids to and from the farms in the mountains. Although it had special sings and an extra set of flashing lights.

[@saulnavarro4730]

European snobbery is so cringe please delete your account

[@richielucy5821]

Don't take it for granted, in most of North America we have no choice of any reliable and efficient public transportation, and no way to get anywhere without a car, nobody below the age of 16 can get anywhere themselves, and everything is designed exclusively for cars, making walking uncomfortable and often dangerous

[@InventorZahran]

1:15 "Kid hack" sounds like the name of a weapon that the Combine (from Half-Life 2) would've used to attack and eliminate any surviving children...

[@TravisaInc]

damn man i love half life.

[@The_Original_Rtxyz]

My old bus driver in elementary school was such a dub bro, every winter he’d give everyone a two dollar bill for Christmas on the last day of school before winter break

[@themechanist7875]

Ex-schoolbus driver from Belgium, Europe here. If there is one thing the US does infinitely better than Europe it's schoolbuses. For starters, here any type of bus can be used as a schoolbus. The only requirement is a refelctive sign on the front and rear that states the bus is used for transporting school children. No specific paint colour or aditional flashing lighting, no deployable stop sign or bar that prevents kids from running into the road. The procedure to let children off the bus is just turning on the hazard lights, nothing more. Traffic law states it's illegal to overtake a schoolbus with its hazards on but nobody knows/cares about that rule and as soon as you stop everyone immediately starts overtaking if they can. Dangerous situations where children have to cross roads with traffic still flying by in both directions is daily routine. The fact that for US schoolbuses drivers actually STOP when they deploy the sign is something that always baffled me. That would never work here. Furthermore the bus crew itself can also be subpar. Here there are always 2 employees working on a single schoolbus; the driver and an attendant for the children. Schoolbus driver is not a very attractive job for several reasons such as horrible pay and working schedule thus most of the people companies can find for this job are drivers who don't take the job seriously and can often be bad and even dangerous drivers. Same case for the attendants, I won't go into specifics but I've had several attendants over my 1.5 year career that had no right working with children. I will admit that this is speaking about personal experiences in Belgium and it might be a bit different in other parts of Europe for all I know but in general it's still an immensely overlooked and ignored branch of the transport sector that doesn't have anywhere near the regulation it has in the US.

[@offrails]

I remember my first time riding in the cheese wagon after entering the US school system at middle school age. I do recall how cramped and basic the interior of that old Ward Volunteer was - these were not designed for comfort. It also didn't help that the bus was always at the back of the line - not sure if the driver had a long route before us (since there were separate routes for high, elementary, and middle schools), though nearly every morning we would be given a "late bus hall pass" because the bus was always late. Never really had any "cool" drivers, though in high school, I often had to give the sub driver directions when our regular driver was out, which might have upset some of the "cool" kids who were at the very back of the bus who wanted to see us get lost and leave kids behind.

[@guus46]

I really want you to know that you make great videos, always top content. stay like that you are a legend unfortunately underrated you deserve a lot more subscribers

[@tr673]

I've seen the bus at 5:50, it lives near Sheffield (England) and is used for events, hence the UK registration plate

[@meateater_beckett_arkansas3071]

Never thought the history of school buses would be this interesting

[@MrBnsftrain]

8:05 My school district still uses vans of this size, but they're painted white and are used for transporting groups of students in clubs and sporting events. I was even brought home on one by a teacher because the school bus company was separate from the school district and had some errors in not giving kids rides home the first week of the school year. The buses shown in the next slide are also used by senior centers and transport agencies and have evolved to be slightly different than school buses. Until about 2015, school buses built in the 80s were still used in my area for transporting students. The following year, a new bus company took over and introduced a modern, standardized fleet. Some school buses in my area usually have a chaperone or monitor to keep an eye on the students while the driver focuses on the road. Some of us would even converse with the monitor on our ride

[@NealCMH]

I grew up in Richmond IN which was where Wayne Works was founded. I always remember the hundreds of buses (especially in the summer time) parked outside the factory.

[@phlemdog]

Man, I'm getting my B class CDL right now, and the DMV employees said that they're very strict during the normal CDL practical test, but throw in a passenger or school bus certification and they take it very personal on top of the harshness of the standard test.

[@MobileTaz]

This is very true. CDL examiners are parents first, and whenever someone is going for their S endorsement test they want to make sure that you're somebody that they'd trust to drive their own kids - because you may very well end up driving their kids, or their grandkids.

[@DontNoahLot]

Wait, my dad didn't actually have to walk 112 miles to school?

[@hamburger72]

I like how people used to think that the cause of stupidity was the lack of information, but now that anyone with basic internet access can study a topic as specific as the history of school busses, we still have flat earthers and antivaxxers.

[@mazazoomzoom8838]

This man really just made talking about school buses the most interesting thing I’ve seen all day

[@bradleyokane]

I was on holiday in Florida back in 2017 and saw one of these iconic scholl buses. I wish we had these in the UK. Great video

[@Gothicc_senpai]

i use to drive a international it was built in 2012 i believe, was a POS but got to A and B when you needed her too. it did feel really safe inside a lot of easy use buttons and good visibility.

[@TheJttv]

in several states/cities the new busses have a white flashing strobe on top of the bus so you can see it around corners and from quite a distance.

[@RBRat3]

All the buses here have them but are only used in fog...

[@TheJttv]

@@RBRat3 i have been in many cities where the strobes run all the time. Some more blinding then others.

[@user-ejxomyq]

Every bus had that since day one

[@cool_space_zebra]

i dont know how you do it but you make school busses intresting

[@Lunarcreeper]

i had a bus driver who was extremely nice, you could have a conversation, pretty much sit wherever you want, and heck, i was the last one to get off, so that means i can literally ask that bus driver to stop to grab and icecicle off the hillside for a few seconds. (no joke they did that for my cousins so i started to ask too) ngl next level best driver. this year she retired though, she clearly liked her job, hope the driver changes her mind.

[@guts60]

One of our buses had a modified engine just for goofy shit at school events (it was not allowed for actual transportation use). For example, it would pull up to the football field and let its engine roar like a goddamn monster, this thing could silence the entire audience. Then the players would hop out of every entrance (including the roof hatches). The rumor was it it was gifted to us by a former student who became a competitor in destruction derbies, but I am fairly certain it was a former student who just became a cool mechanic.

[@TickoGrey]

babe wake up new Yukon vid just dropped

[@igostupidfast3]

Ive actually personally seen the bus @3:18. It's at the Virginia museum of transportation in Roanoke

[@tosijjaan]

In Finland school buses are just big taxis made out of like ford transits or Mercedes Benz sprinters and are owned by the taxi company, not the municipality

[@MrTeddy12397]

that's just for 1st graders though

[@pineapplestitch1783]

8:27 Ah yes, I remember those ones. We’d sometimes (and still do) use those for small field trips and such. Nothing like the sound of the bus almost falling apart on the highway even though it was actually perfectly fine structurally lol

[@Zenit_Bourg]

I'm glad we all can agree that bus drivers are cool.

[@affa_lol]

Too underrated.. he's just pumping these well-edited videos like they're nothing.

[@N00N01]

Short answer: u pin all responsibility of your school buses to the railroad when its stuck on the level crossings

[@DarkCrueDethAngel]

0:46 he should never had to apologize tho like

[@dave.g.nowitzki4897]

idk why im into trucks and stuff suddenly but i like it ! did anyone else noticed the 99 honda civic used as template video in 4:01 ? or is it just me

[@buildtherobots]

Thank you for the breakdown including the diagrams showing the cut up trucks being repurposed into the older buses. When I first heard about funeral hearses being made of modified limos it blew my mind so the idea of this being a common practice, at least in the past, is very interesting and informative. My mom rode a short school bus in the 50's and 60's because her family lived on a big hill and the longer bus couldn't get around the tight curves on the road going up to her house.

[@pershooo]

Yes we want videos about european buses too!

[@dankdat620]

yes!

[@bonda_racing3579]

Coach or city buses?

[@dankdat620]

@@bonda_racing3579 personally I like buses in general, but coach buses are my soft spot!

[@thepolishastronaut7940]

This reminds me of my bus driver, Tim. He was a legend. He took song requests on the radio, blasted Christmas music in December, and he even let me be the one to pull the switch that opens the doors when it was time to let everyone off in the morning

[@FoxieDay]

4:06 "the color which the human brain could register quickest" - Fast forward to turn signals... yellow lights? Ah, who cares, red is just as good.

[@B-52H]

Yellow you see the quickest red is the one most people respond to the quickest so stop lights red your back lights red so people slow down when they get close without much thought

[@FoxieDay]

@@B-52H The fact brake lights are also red often causes momentary confusion, negating any advantage red may have had otherwise

[@cosmicsatan2046]

I wish I could remember his name, but we had a bus driver just for field trips and he was know as "the singing driver" cause he sang in Italian while he drove. Pretty cool to have a bus load of American elementary school kids singing along in Italian to songs they learned from their bus driver.

[@toastedapple3013]

i had a school bus driver named paul, coolest bus driver ever. he hit a jackpot in vegas that set him up financially for life, then he paid for a fishing boat in full and paid off all his debts and bills. lived on the sea for a few years just fishing as that’s what he enjoyed. eventually he got tired of it and wanted something to occupy his time so he became a bus driver. he didn’t need the job in any way but my county needed him so he got away with a lot of stuff. one time the man brought home made salsa and chips for the whole bus and everybody was snacking all the way to school. i later found out that he carried a 9mm with him because he cared about us way more than the job and was willing to risk getting fired or worse all in the off chance that we would need protection. even after i got my drivers license i kept riding the bus because paul was such a cool guy. paul, if you see this, thanks for being such a cool dude.

[@A_Degenerate_with_Glasses]

Meanwhile in California, "School busses pollute a ton! We don't need them!". Now Californian students either walk or a mini traffic jam/gridlock occurs in every neighborhood with a school.

[@davidty2006]

They clearly didn't think "Why not make them electric?"

[@pixerhp]

@@davidty2006 Yeah, that’d definitely solve the problem. (sarcasm since tone is difficult to read.)

[@tyredcar03]

Only about 31% of students have access to school-sponsored transportation in California. As a school bus driver in CA, the amount of laws and regulations regarding the emissions from our diesel engines is absurd. It’s not like they have enormous amounts of emissions-reducing equipment hooked up to them, choking the engine of all of its power to keep the air clean… we have idle laws, one stating that if we are sitting still within 100ft of a school campus we must turn the engine off after 30s to avoid excessive emissions from idling; the other stating that in any other case, we’re not allowed to idle longer than 5 or 10 minutes. Electric buses would be great and all if they were more accessible for most districts who already struggle to spend upwards of $150k on a diesel bus, let alone $400k+ for an electric version; not to mention the fact that it puts our heavy duty diesel school bus mechanics out of jobs. This state can’t figure out its head from its own ass and is screwing everyone over, from the students to parents to the districts and everyone in between. At least I’ve got a pretty secure job, and the threat of automation taking over my position is very slim at this point in time.

[@DK-tv6rk]

Cars pollute more than buses

[@SYH653]

My guess is someone at CARB had a bad experience with a Crown in their formative years.

[@Hammerandhearth]

I did not expect school busses to date back to the horse drawn era. I figured kids were just had to figure out how to get to school on their own until at least the 30s

[@youtuuba]

I used to drive a school bus back in the late 80's, as a way to get medical insurance during a period when I was self employed. There were a few things I learned about things like seat belts on school busses..... - In places where school busses did have belts, the law required that the driver could not move the bus unless all passengers (kids) were buckled in. This was a practical impossibility, even on those busses which had 'seat belt buckled' switches and indicators; the kids would mess with the driver by unbuckling randomly then rebuckling when the driver would yell at them or bring the bus to a stop. This slowed down the bus route and was a huge distraction (bad for safety) and aggravating frustration for the drivers, and there was a lot of driver turnover, and often there were not enough drivers available for the routes. - Kids, especially older ones, would bring knives, scissors, butane lighters onto the bus and cut or burn the belts, and then that bus would be out of commission. Repairs were a significant expense. - Mostly with younger kids, if there was an emergency and evacuation was called for, some kids would panic and not be able to get out of the belt. The driver, usually the only adult on board, would be busy outside the bus by the emergency exit, helping kids to the ground. The driver would not know about the still belted kids until later. - The belts were not of a type useful in bad crashes or rollovers. They were mostly useful in keeping the kids from hitting the seat in front of them if the bus ran into something. Since the vast majority of such crashes involved hitting smaller vehicles, the bus would 'win' and it would not decelerate all that rapidly. It was considered that making the seat backs taller and padded would suffice in those rare instances, and they would be a lot less hassle and ultimately safer that trying to use belts.

[@oldiron77]

I was a bus driver and mechanic in the 1980s. School, Transit, and Coach. The first school bus I drove was a 1976 Chevy C60 with a Superior body, 366 gas, and a 5-speed manual transmission. My favorite school buses were a 1986 Blue Bird All-American FC and a 1987 Ford B700, Blue Bird body, diesel, 5x2 manual transmission. My favorite Transit was the old GM Fishbowl. Fun to drive when winter road conditions were very bad. And my favorite Coach was an MCI Challenger with a 5-speed manual transmission and a screaming 8v92 Detroit diesel engine.

[@Sinder_Primagen]

I loved riding in the Multi-function School Buses. You got privacy and wouldn’t be forced to wear your seat belts. I enjoyed the ability to listen to music or play games, and go home after a long day at school. Hey also, I loved my bus drivers. I only had one when I was like 6 1/2 she was an asshole and my mom got her fired I get bad. Like really bad, I cried 😬

[@racecarthedestroyer7192]

We used to have a security guard that would also drive a bus for our sports teams since he used to be a trucker, I only got to ride with him twice though, he was the driver for the athletic training team twice last year, and he turned on the radio for us and we all just vibed, unfortunately he retired at the end of last year to go back to his trucking company, since then it was a headache for administration having to organize buses for events since everyone was used to having him drive a bus for us for the past 13 years, I'm hoping I can get my CDL and come back and be a bus driver as well as an athletic training teacher

[@riana7703]

school bus vs tank safety comparison

[@iluxius8216]

This is really fascinating, I’ve always subliminally understood that school buses were different, and their design mechanics amazed me. It’s really cool to see this, I’d love to see more!

[@chuckfreakingnorris3333]

I remember when someone didn’t check before they pulled out and hit our school bus. The front cosmetics of the car were ruined while there was only a scuff mark on the bus.

[@exactinmidget92]

I never experienced the bus hype outside of field trips because I would walk to school.

[@JerEditz]

Funny enough I have only ridden these school buses for field trips when I was younger. When I moved to North Carolina, these school buses are everywhere.

[@puschelhornchen9484]

I am from Germany and I encountered the typical US school bus when on a student exchange for a few weeks in 1999. We did some field trips in them, but in comparison to public busses in Germany I found them not very comfortable and more like a "truck to move people". Knowing about the history, economics and politics behind them it is more understandable why they were that way. Thank you.

[@AutoCarb]

School Bus Driver here. Really interesting video. I've been a driver and school bus trainer for years, always interesting to learn a little bit about the history behind some of the things I'm teaching new drivers.

[@Dom-Perignon]

9:02 - Who else’s bus driver asked the kids sitting in the back of the bus to press the button 😂 As soon as the bus got to school, everyone in the back would race to the button

[@Planes979]

IKR I REMEMBER

[@parranz0849]

In Spain school buses are just common buses. Like the ones you use to go between cities.

[@bequiet5373]

school buses are one of the few good things in the US, Britain should implement them as currently most British secondary school student take public buses to and from school.

[@pernbackmartin]

Do trucking in sweden!

[@el_polloloco6247]

I like the buses that have radio speakers on the bus and the bus driver plays music from the radio when I was in Middle School

[@ilovepandas1246]

I’m surprised you didn’t mention CNG engines becoming a thing in the 2010s.

[@PeachDragon]

I’m sure it will be a lot but a history or brief summary of American trucking would be awesome, as I’m sure Al or of people in the states know about trucking but might not know the details and how they might differ to other countries you’ve done already