Most students take a bus to school at some point. Have you noticed that your bus trips take longer than they used to? Have you noticed your program takes less class trips? There’s a reason for that. Our area, as well as, the entire country is experiencing a school bus driver shortage. According to research by the Economic Policy Institute, school bus driver employment continues to be far below pre-pandemic levels. There were approximately 192,400 bus drivers working in K–12 schools in September 2023, down 15.1% from September 2019. (NEA Today,Cindy Long, 12/14/2023) HopSkipDrive’s 2023 survey noted that three out of four respondents said lack of bus transportation has had an impact on their school attendance. Our bus drivers are an essential piece of our success in school.
Jose Navarro is a bus driver for ACIT. The Pursuit recently talked with Jose to learn more about what it’s like to be a bus driver today, and how he is dealing with the bus driving crisis. Mr. Navarro used to be a chef before starting out his twenty year career as a bus driver, and he told us that being a bus driver has been his favorite job and that he never misses a day.
The Pursuit talked to Mr. Navarro recently about his experience as a bus driver for the district.
Pursuit – “ What motivates you to keep being a bus driver, even when many people are leaving the industry today”
Mr. Navarro – “ What motivates me is becoming a part of the kids daily routine, knowing that I’m helping them become something everyday by attending school. Knowing that it is my job to help kids willing to learn, get an education, and become great kids in the future”
Pursuit – “ What is the good and the bad of being a bus driver”
Mr. Navarro – “ The good part is that I’m helping the community. Although the bad part is the people who take advantage of a free service like bus riding and leave it a mess or don’t listen to the bus drivers.”
Pursuit – “ Do you see a trend in job migration with your bus driver peers? Why are they changing jobs?”Mr. Navarro– “ I have noticed that a lot of people would rather work for Fedex, Amazon, and UberEats at times. They work long shifts delivering items for people and there’s a specific reason for it. They can do this job without having to worry about the safety of kids. As a bus driver the safety of all the kids on the bus is on you, so you have to be attentive to the road and make sure that everyone is sitting down. And I believe a lot of drivers don’t want to deal with the human aspect of these new kids. The new freshman class that comes every year, sometimes they don’t understand the rules or order of a bus and act wild.”
Pursuit – “ If you could change one thing about your job to improve it, what would it be?”
Mr. Navarro – “ If I could change one thing with my job – which I’m very happy with, it’d be the lack of communication between bus drivers and the students. If we communicate why we say the things we do or make the rules we do, it’ll show more kids that when bus drivers tell kids to sit, they don’t mean it in a rude way, they’re genuinely worried for your safety and theirs as well. This would change the dynamic of the drivers and students, making it a better experience for both.”
The Pursuit – “ Do you believe there will continue to be a shortage of bus drivers, and that some will leave the job”
Mr. Navarro – “ I believe that there will be bus drivers that stay, although the majority of the reasons for bus drivers leaving in the future is as I stated earlier, the human aspect of bus driving. (And that’s)….Especially if you have kids on the bus that don’t follow the rules and behave in ways that can be distracting you try to talk to them and it doesn’t get through to them. Bus drivers could have bad days in the job because of a student then go home and have our own kids disobey us. So this frustrates bus drivers, this leads to looking for jobs without those frustrations, like uber, because there is less responsibility in that. ” (teaching kids to behave)
I learned a lot about the occupation from my talk with Mr. Navarro. Bus driving requires patience, great driving, and being able to handle tense situations. It’s come to my attention that this service requires an extra dedication to service, and Mr. Navarro admits his main reason for driving is that he believes he is helping the community. I’ve also learned more about the person that Mr. Navarro is, as he is kind, hard working and has a strong sense of responsibility. He has become more of a “person” to me and even a new friend to an extent.
Jose (Navarro) believes the bus driver crisis might continue, and challenges others to drive and to help their communities. He sees driving as so much more than a job and believes others will discover the same thing. Similar to teachers, Jose sees driving as a way to help students reach their goals, and a job that provides a type of emotional income that really can’t be measured. He’ll continue to drive for as long as he can, and strive for the high standards for safety, punctuality and friendliness Mr. Navarro’s bus is known for. Along the way, you just might pick up a good piece of life-advice too.
