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Bemus Point school district holds 'Drive A Bus Night,' hopes drivers will apply

The Southern Tier district had to think out of the box to get folks to apply, so they came up with 'Drive A Bus Night.'

BEMUS POINT, N.Y. — Bemus Point is a small school district in the Southern Tier with just 600 students. But the district has a problem similar to districts of all sizes: A shortage of bus drivers.

That made the district have to think out of the box in hopes to get folks to apply, so they came up with "Drive A Bus Night."

The superintendent of schools, Joseph Reyda, says he got the idea from a magazine. 

"Yep, it's a school broad magazine. It's something that other districts have tried, and I thought, let's just try this," he said. 

As it stands, Bemus Point barely has enough drivers to get the kids to and from school, but they have none, for things like having a late bus for those who want to stay after for extra help.

"We haven't been able to have that since the start of the school year. After school activities in our elementary schools, intramurals, music programs, we haven't been able to do that," Reyda said.

The idea was to invite anyone who is 21 or older, with a valid driver's license, to come here to the high school after dismissal Wednesday and get behind the wheel of a bus.

"Because if you try it out, and it's something you want to continue, we would work with you to try to get that training, and try to get that certification and become a part of our team," the district's transportation supervisor, Dwayne Dustin, said.  

"We'd go through the process, come in, file and application, do a background check, and if everything checks out, we'd have come down and trained and help them get their CDL."

2 On Your Side's, Dave McKinley asked, "The first thing I learned to drive on was a 1940 Farmall H, is that applicable?"

"I would say no, Dustin said. 

But that certainly wouldn't disqualify me.

Under the watchful eye of Dustin, I fired her up and looked to close the door; they don't have the handles you pull anymore, there's a button over here on the steering wheel.

I was also expecting the grind the gears a bit my first time out, but was surprised and relieved to learn then buses these days have an automatic transmission.

I asked, "Is there anything else that people might have driven that is similar to driving a school bus?"

"Possibly a moving truck if you've ever moved. A U-Haul truck. They've come a long way," Dustin said. 

I didn't break anything and did okay, albeit I didn't have 60 kids on board.

   

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