By Thomas McMahon

Are school bus drivers painted in a bad light in the media? In TV shows, movies, books and the news, is there a tendency to emphasize the more unpleasant traits that some school bus drivers might portray on occasion? Those questions came to mind ...

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By Thomas McMahon

In 2012, bullying was again in the limelight as video of a school bus monitor being harassed went viral. Also, the U.S. pupil transportation community made connections abroad to help other countries safely transport their students.

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By Kelly Roher

Around Veterans' Day, I came across a lot of touching stories online about how service dogs are helping veterans. It got me thinking about how these animals assist students with disabilities, and their impact on a district’s or bus company’s school bus service.

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By Thomas McMahon

I have to admit: I was almost feeling bad for Shena Hardin, the woman who drove her SUV on a sidewalk to get by a stopped school bus. Not because she didn't deserve to be punished for her outrageously reckless driving — she certainly did. But it seemed to me that the highly publicized component of her sentence — standing at the scene of the crime with an "idiot" sign — was a case of a judge getting carried away. ...

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By Kelly Roher

In our November 2012 issue, I wrote a feature on pupil transportation cooperatives, where the people I interviewed had a lot of interesting things to say about cooperatives. Here, I’ll share with you information that didn’t make it into the feature.

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By Thomas McMahon

For our new “50 Top Traits of Great Transportation Directors” feature, we asked transportation directors to choose the traits they’ve found to be most important in their line of work. This brings to mind a related question: What are the top challenges they face in the job? We asked directors about that, too. ...

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By Kelly Roher

In recent months, we at SBF have come across news of school districts implementing a transit bus service program for some of their students. The reasons vary, but it has usually been due to cuts in school bus service or in an effort to save money. Industry officials share their views on the issue.

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By Kelly Roher


Westerville (Ohio) City School District's transportation employees recently created and performed in a musical to teach students in kindergarten through third grade the rules for waiting for the bus and riding the bus safely.

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By Thomas McMahon

At this point in the calendar year, many of us have fallen behind on — or maybe even forgotten about — our New Year’s resolutions. But since you work in pupil transportation, do you set new school year’s resolutions? If not, here are a few ideas.

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By Kelly Roher

In the September 2012 issue of SBF, I wrote an article titled “Positive Interactions Encourage Peaceful Bus Ride,” where I discussed programs and initiatives that officials said have helped to improve student behavior on the school bus. Here, I’ll share with you additional information that didn’t make it into the article.

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