By: LaCota Domine, DPS Bus Driver
“The wheels on the bus” is a fun little nursery rhyme we learned back in our preschool days. But what does it take to keep those wheels running every day? It takes a family. A team. A team that works as a family from the early morning crack of dawn to the sunset of the evening. Just like with any family, you have different personalities, different strengths, weaknesses, skills, and expertise in each individual. Some of us are young moms or dads, some of us are grandpas, grandmas, uncles, aunts, cousins, sons, and daughters.
Behind every pre-trip sheet and every steering wheel is someone with their own lives, families, and goals. Yet, when we come together every day, what you will see is teamwork. From help with radio checks, phenomenal mechanics who keep the buses on the road swiftly between every oil change, break down, or mild hiccup the buses may be experiencing. To dispatch and the office who keep the buses notified of traffic reports, kids riding/not riding, updates and running monthly safety meetings to the drivers who get out there even in -40 below zero to pre-trip and drive the buses. When one of us breaks down, you will see another of us closest to that bus’s location come to their aid as quickly as possible, never expecting anything in return.
We drive tight schedules, but we also know what it’s like to need the help, and we are always willing to extend that help to another. Why do we so quickly do these things? Because of the kiddos who ride Dickinson Public School busses. It’s about their safety. It’s about their well-being. We see each kid just like they are one of our own, and we want to protect them, keep them warm, and make sure that they are safe between pick-ups and drop-offs.
So what does it take to keep the wheels on the bus going round and round? It takes a fantastic team, all working every day, to keep these buses running!