Can you feel the love tonight? 🎵 Bus drivers in Minnesota sure can!

So, move over Timon and Pumba (and Elton John while you’re at it), because the Lion King characters and musical composer have nothin’ on school buses in the Land of 10,000 Lakes mid-February.

February 19 was an extra special day. Not only is it Love the Bus Month, but it’s also Minnesota’s statewide School Bus Driver Appreciation Day, and my state celebrates in style.

Each year, the Minnesota Association for Pupil Transportation (MAPT) and the Minnesota School Bus Operators Association (MSBOA) come together to celebrate the often-overlooked profession of being a school bus driver. 

In Minnesota, winters are chilly, but the people are hearty, and school bus driving is the state’s largest form of mass transit. Across all corners of our just-below-Canada state, school bus drivers safely transport 682,000 students nearly every day. 

This “holiday” began in 2017 by the two state associations and recognized by then-Governor Mark Dayton. Now in 2025, current Governor Tim Walz signed the proclamation for the ninth year in a row. 

More extra special-ness: We light the town yellow, literally. Minneapolis’ Capella Tower, the I-35W bridge, and the Lowry Avenue bridge all are lit up in yellow lights to honor the occasion. 

While school bus operators and districts across the state celebrate in their own way, I was lucky enough to be invited to some local festivities to see the drivers receive a heaping dose of gratitude on the big day.

Hosted at the Lake Country Transportation (LCT) bus barn in Golden Valley, MN — which serves multiple districts across the Twin Cities — the smiles were big, the food was aplenty, and the drivers were busy (it was a regular school day, after all!). Office staff arranged gifts and lunch for the drivers, and the love and appreciation in the air was clear. 

Top 10 Feel-Good Takeaways from the LCT Team

1. Lake Country Transportation is a family business: Paul Spakousky owns it, but steps in to help as a driver, mechanic, and in the office. His father John was even pulled in as a fill-in bus driver and eventually moved into dispatch and an operations role. 

2. It doesn’t take a certain date on the calendar for Lake Country to celebrate its drivers. They aim to host something at least every other month to thank their team, from luncheons to summer barbecues and a legendary Christmas party.

3. "We view management as if we have two sets of customers: one being our students and the families we serve, and the other our drivers. We like to take care of our drivers just like any business would take care of customers."

4. Linda Dixon, a bus driver with 28 years behind the wheel, likes being able to see each child’s personality as they grow up — and she has driven many students all the way from kindergarten through graduation. Now, she’s in her last year as a driver and will hand in her bus keys as she plans to transition into a new role inside the school.

5. Kecia Banks, the company's SPED coordinator, talked about how many students are misunderstood, especially those who are non-verbal. Banks finds that being hands-on and talking to these same students gets them to open up. And the most important quality of a special-needs driver is to be patient. 

6. “I think it's breathtaking; I love doing what I do,” Banks says. “I really enjoy seeing the smile on their faces at all times, and when they talk to me, it’s awesome. Being here is joyful. Everything is love.”

7. “I love the way they appreciate us, because we’re out there like the post office,” Banks laughs. “We’re more of a family than a bus company.”

8. “Lake Country Transportation is the best job I have ever had in my entire life,” says Gordy Barsaloux, a transit-turned-school bus driver. “I do high fives and low fives with the kids, and they know I care for them. I never thought I'd be in such a great job. I've told upper management that the only routes I want are for special needs kids for the rest of my career. They mean the world to me.”

9. Rachel Banks, LCT’s VP, started as a bus driver and loved working with children and the peacefulness of driving. “It's just so freeing having that space to get on the open road and just go.”

10. Minnesota winters don’t stop the drivers at LCT. “I think of times where we've had just awful weather and watching these guys come in, bundled up, walking with each other so they don't fall, dusting all the snow off the buses and saying, ‘Hey, this is what we do, and we're gonna do it well,’” Jones says. “It's just amazing to watch what these guys do. I've had drivers literally know families in need and go and talk to their local churches or different charities to bless them. On their own time, they go out of their way to help their community.”

When Banks says the LCT Christmas party is epic, she means it. They deck out the bus garage and go big to ring in the holidays and celebrate their families. 

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