Why We Love the Bus & 10 Tips to Celebrate This Month
It’s Love the Bus month! Here are 10 creative ideas to honor school bus drivers, raise awareness, and spread the love. Plus, why SBF’s editorial advisory board loves the bus.
Originally created in 2007 by the American School Bus Council (a now-defunct coalition of school transportation associations and companies), Love the Bus is a month-long celebration of the big yellow bus that means so much to us all. It’s a reason to thank the drivers and staff, to raise awareness, and have some fun.
Across the country, many transportation teams will celebrate in their own way. Some host appreciation events or luncheons, theme days, awards, and presentations. Here are a few ideas so that you can create your own love the bus adventure!
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10 Ideas to Celebrate Love the Bus Month
Have a dress yellow day where the transportation team flies the bus color. You might even encourage kids to participate.
Honor your drivers. Recognize veterans with a magnetic sticker for their bus or use other signage to honor long-time employees, safety winners, or other designations.
Add Love the Bus month to your school marquees and a poster for the front offices or public areas.
Offer VIP bus tours to the community or staff. Show off a new bus, an electric or propane or hybrid. Use the tour to teach people about school bus safety.
Create a school bus trivia contest. Use this as a teaching tool for information about the bus.
Create your own videos. Work with student journalists or other groups to create your own information videos.
Examine your parent communication. Share Love the Bus activities with them as well as solicit their participation and feedback.
Surprises are great! Whether it is a small token on the bus or at a desk, a personal note, a candy bar — find ways to recognize and honor people.
Have stay interviews. Ask staff why they like working there and what they need. Take notes and follow up!
Create an honorary bus driver program. Recognize office administrators, school board members, local first responders, parent leaders and let them see firsthand what a driver does daily. Give them a certificate and a name tag.
Source: NAPT
Why the SBF Editorial Advisory Board Loves the Bus
To recognize the importance of this "holiday" for industry professionals, we asked the SBF editorial advisory board members to share why they love the bus. Here's what they said.
Max Christensen, Sr. Safety Advocate, First Light Safety Products
“I love the fact that it's such a safe vehicle and it's the best way to get kids to and from school. I've got two school-age kids, and when they're going to events and activities, it makes me feel much more secure to know that they are riding in a yellow school bus. I love the fact it's so safe.”
Michael Dallessandro, Recruiter, Student Transportation of America
“I love the bus because it can safely transport 50 to 60 students on a gallon of fuel a few miles versus a parent driving in their car using the same single gallon of fuel. I also love the bus because most car accidents happen within a few miles of home. Kids are far safer on their yellow school bus, which is one of the safest modes of transportation.”
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Tim Flood, EVP, The Trans Group
“It's how a student starts their day! It sets the tone for what they're going to experience the rest of their day and on the way home. It can make it that much better, or maybe if it hasn’t been going so well, hey, maybe it can turn it around.”
Derek Graham, Pupil Transportation Consultant
“The bus is one of my favorite times of the year. Personally, I go all the way back to when I when I rode a school bus, and it was all so positive. It provides access to education, takes cars off the road, and it's the safest vehicle on the road. We all know that there are some kids that can't access the public education system without the bus.”
Greg Jackson, Dir. of Business Development, School Bus Logistics
“It is a great campaign to show love for the driver, and I think in many cases, drivers are overlooked. Driver success is my success, and if you motivate and appreciate that driver for what they're doing, they will keep things moving in the right direction.”
Teri Mapengo, Director of Transportation, Prosper (Texas) ISD
“Love the Bus is one of my favorite times of the year. We give our board members a shirt that says Love the Bus and Prosper ISD. It's all about the people we transport and work with. We're the first and last people that these kids see, and we need to make sure that our drivers know how special they are. They are the key piece to getting kids to school.”
Teena Mitchell, Special Needs Transportation Coord., Greenville (S.C.) County Schools
“I love the bus because it is the safest transportation for school-aged children today. The bus is the happy place on the way to school and is the happy place on the way home. And the love that our drivers have for our students makes that bus the ride to opportunity.”
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Alex Spann, State Director for Student Transportation, Tennessee Department of Education
“The bus is the best symbol in the world for schools. Everybody knows what the school bus is and how safe the school bus is. Everybody has a school bus story. The people that do this job unselfishly day in and day out, being overlooked so many times, to be able to help them along, is why I love the bus.”
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