A day in the life of a Colorado Springs bus driver
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Cheri Richardson grips the 20 inch wide wheel of her school bus as her silver bangles jangle from her wrist and her eyes dart side to side, ensuring the road is clear before she takes a wide left turn.
Richardson, 66, has dedicated nearly 32 years of her life as a school bus driver for Colorado Springs District 11, and is currently the most senior bus driver in her district. At the end of the school year, she plans to retire.
“I never in a million years would have dreamed that I could love a job as much as I love this job,” Richardson said.
Despite the passion from drivers like Richardson, public schools continue to experience bus driver shortages across the nation. In District 11, about 150 students use three different third-party transportation services — First Student, Everdriven, and HopSkipDrive — on a daily basis because of the bus driver shortage, said Cedric McCampbell, the director of transportation for District 11.
McCampbell said the bus driver shortage was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and has led to a decrease in bus stops along different routes, which means students must walk up to a mile further to get to their bus stop.
Academy District 20 and Falcon District 49 are also struggling with bus driver shortages in Colorado Springs. Jefferson County is in a similar situation.
Starting pay for bus drivers in District 11 is $20.95 per hour, according to the district’s website. Richardson is technically a “part-time/seasonal” employee, but typically works six hours a day. She can pick up more hours if she drives a bus for field trips.
The school bus driver shortage is just a fact of life, Richardson said; it’s been a consistent problem for most of her career. Data from the Economic Policy Institute show that school bus driver employment has decreased over the past 15 years, prompted by federal budget cuts in the early 2010s that forced schools to cut bus services or privatize its school buses.
Misconceptions about driving kids is another reason why Richardson believes there is a shortage.
“You know, they think that they're all screaming, they're all hanging out the windows and going crazy all the time. And they're not. 99.9% of the kids, they just want to go to school and go home,” she said.
Richardson said the most notable change in her career was the addition of seatbelts for children, which she said has made her job a lot easier. She added that it is slightly easier to turn the buses now compared to when she first started.
“[One] of the things that were intimidating when I first started was the weather, of course,” Richardson said. “In Colorado we have a lot of ice and you have to drive no matter what. Kids got to go to school.”
As Richardson drove along the same route that she’s traversed for 28 years, the bus pulled up to a group of waiting kids. One elementary-aged child straggled in the back, a bag of Lucky Charms in hand, and a deer trailing close behind her, interested in her food.
“That’s never happened before,” Richardson said.
The incident served as a reminder that safety is the most important part of being a school bus driver.
“You just got to keep your eyes open at all times and try to keep your situation around your bus and have a nice safety bubble all the way around the bus at all times,” Richardson said.
Richardson's looming retirement adds another seat for the district to fill. But Richardson’s mind is on her passengers.
“I know I’m gonna miss the kids horribly,” Richardson said.
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