The skills needed by teachers are helpful in being a transit operator on school trips. I don’t like receiving a coach from relief that has had a morning school trip where fast food wrappers and spilled drink cups litter the floor. I keep in mind the rider on her way to an important job interview, and the ice cream cone that fell in her lap from a young rider who lost control of her ice cream ball on top of the cone. Other memorable events are the completely full coffee cup that gets knocked out of hand when someone with a backpack passes by. Or the friendly town drunk who leaves the bottle open by the back seats and falls down to spray the odor of alcohol all over the back seats and floor. These are not the best first impressions one needs on the way to school or to work.
I always try to do harm reduction in cleaning the coach, first chance I get, but sometimes this is a few hours down the road. The best defense is a good offense, but I try not to be offensive in my comments to young people about taking their trash or wrappers or containers with them as they board the coach. But as getting to school is a predictable event with a predictable start time, the saving grace, if one could be so bold, is that you get the same riders at the same time and place every day, and because of this, you can predict who and when the trash dumpers board. And stopping them from boarding after reminding them the previous day to take their trash, shuts down much of the mess later in the week, and can have a beneficial effect on keeping the floor clean.
There is nothing like being in the Zen zone with a bunch of students going to school, and walking down the aisle after everyone has left at the terminal, and finding not one piece of dipping sauce, not one egg sandwich wrapper, and not one coffee cup by the back seats. “You’re an awesome bus driver.” never hurts either.
The Dao of Doug: A Bus Driver's Perspective 