Safety, Efficiency, or People-Skills: Which One is Most Important in School Bus Services?
As an administrator, when it comes to student transportation services, you want only the best, of course. You know how important your school bus contractor is to your students’ successes! The right school bus services with well-trained drivers can do everything from providing a calming haven for your students before and after a hectic day to set a positive example for how to handle stress.
Bus drivers are as much a part of your school’s staff as are administrators and cafeteria workers, and you should pay them the appropriate amount of attention. They spend more time supervising your students than a variety of school officials do weekly; you’d be wise to make sure that the group transportation services you’re receiving are quality ones!
In describing how those services are performing, though, “quality” can be a vague term. If it isn’t broken down by a given provider of student transportation services, that company is at risk of not being able to perform as well as it could. After all, if you were given a task and told to do a “quality job,” you’d probably not be able to do so if you weren’t able to identify characteristics of what a “quality job” looked like.
American Student Transportation Services is an expert in our field. We’ve committed ourselves to practice quality bussing services, and we further define what quality means in order to fulfill that commitment.
Quality means safety | Safe bussing services are a must. They’re non-negotiable. As a school administrator and the one held accountable for the hiring of student transportation services, your students’ lives are in your hands the moment they board that bus to attend your institution. Investing in safe bussing services is the only way to prevent immense tragedy. Furthermore, safe bussing services ensure that your students are able to relax and make the most of their time between home and school. Nobody can focus on socializing, homework, or taking time to themselves if they’re constantly terrified for their very lives.
Quality means efficiency | Your school bus services should never dilly-dally. They must understand that getting students to school on time is vital to their academic success, as is getting them home on time—your pupils must have the time to take care of extracurricular activities and practice self-care. The bus company that you hire must possess the knowledge base and practical skills to get your students where they need to go when they need to go there, on time and every time.
Quality means people skills | As we implied earlier, bus drivers spend a lot of time with your pupils. They can serve as role models to impressionable youth—both as positive and negative ones! The bus drivers working for your district must have the people skills to maintain a cheerful demeanor when under stress, and they must understand how to make students feel valued and safe, no matter the situation.
As you can see, quality can be broken down into a variety of factors, and being aware of all of these factors helps a given bus company do their job to the highest standard available. Of course, you might be thinking that no bus company is perfect; you might be willing to bend or compromise on a few factors for the benefit of others. If your services are safe and the bus drivers are friendly, you might be okay with a few late busses now and again.
But why compromise when you don’t have to?
American Student Transportation Services Embodies Quality in Every Way
All our drivers are properly licensed | The process of learning how to become a bus driver is extensive on its own, and the testing process is likewise. By providing paid training for those who desire to become a driver, we ensure that they have the financial resources they need to fully commit to their learning process. Both of these factors mean that our drivers are some of the safest around.
We ensure efficiency | Because our drivers are well-trained and have gone through such an extensive licensure process, they know their jobs, and they know them well. When they enlist with such an experienced company as us, you do tend to pick up on quite a few tricks of the trade! We also equip each of our busses with a high-tech GPS system that guides our drivers back to their routes, should a human error ever occur.
We strive to create a supportive work environment | How does this, though, relate to the people skills of our drivers? We all know that a cheerful attitude cannot be forced and that one needs a cheerful attitude to practice their people skills. That’s why we do the legwork to ensure our drivers are both financially and socially supported in their work. By offering industry-competitive pay, a responsive dispatch team, and various employee events, we create a working environment in which our drivers (many of which are retired school workers!) are set up to give your students the friendly, supportive treatment they deserve.
Contact American Student Transportation Services for Quality Bussing Services
We truly set the industry standard for top-notch busing service. Give our Blaine location a call now at 651-621-8900.