Behind the Wheel

SEELEY LAKE and Swan Valley – For the past 20 years, owner of Diane's Buses Diane Bourne has transported students five days a week to and from the Seeley Lake Elementary school (SLE). For the last 17 years Owen Conley, owner of Conley Transportation, has transported students to and from Seeley-Swan High School (SSHS) and Swan Valley Elementary (SVE). Both bus owners said, much like the roads they travel, driving a bus has its ups and downs.

Bourne and Conley each got into the bus service business through relatives. For Bourne, it was her ex-husband who convinced her to buy into the business, despite her initial reluctance. For Conley, it was a continuation of the family business started by his father in 1964 when SSHS was built.

Both Bourne and Conley said a big part of the reason they continue in the job is because they like the children. Conley added he particularly likes the security of knowing he has a steady job in an uncertain economy.

Bourne said she was surprised to discover she really enjoys driving a bus. "I sometimes feel safer in a bus than I do in a car. I actually can back up a bus better than I can a car."

Both Bourne and Conley have experienced business growth over the years. Bourne owns three buses, one of which is a trip bus. She said she updates to a newer vehicle every couple of years.

Conley has seven buses including one for trips. Trip buses are used for longer outings, primarily as transportation to athletic events. Conley said trip buses have coach seats and are more comfortable. Both bus owners employ other drivers and also have qualified substitute drivers available. Bourne's husband Bruce and Conley's wife Dana drive as needed.

Laws pertaining to school bus drivers have become more stringent over the years. In addition to obtaining a commercial driver's license (CDL), drivers must also pass a physical, undergo a background check and submit to random drug and alcohol testing. They must be certified in First Aid and CPR and take 10 hours of safety training.

Conley said he likes to train his own drivers. Some already have CDLs and experience with other large vehicles but need training specific to buses and need to learn the route.

Bourne said she takes her permanent drivers each year to a three-day training session offered specifically for Montana bus drivers and bus contractors. Completing the course satisfies the certification requirements.

Bourne's schedule includes not only transporting the SLE children to and from school, but also taking them on field trips, to athletic activities or other after-school activities, and to various locations like Camp Paxson or the Seeley Creek ski trails for Outdoor Education classes. Bourne made a point of saying that she definitely approves of the Outdoor Ed program but from her perspective it seems like the timing and scheduling are always in flux as the various teachers plan different activities or adjust the amount of time they want to be at a certain place.

Conley's schedule is fairly regular, consisting primarily of taking students to school in the morning and bringing them back in the afternoon. The main variable is the athletic schedule but Conley said he enjoys taking the teams to their sports events and watching the games, especially when one of his daughters is playing. On other trips, Conley often acts as a chaperone and joins the students in their activities. Particularly fun for him, he said, are the occasional ski trips to Blacktail Mountain.

Bourne expressed less enthusiasm about the athletic trips and said she finds other uses for the wait time between dropping the students off and picking them up for the return trip. She takes the opportunity to read or take a walk. If the weather is particularly cold, she stays close to the bus so she can start it occasionally and make sure nothing is freezing up. Sometimes she uses the wait time to take a nap because she said driving the bus requires a lot of concentration and can be stressful. She said she is constantly watching the road, watching the kids through the large front mirror, listening to the motor, and is always concerned about safety.

"I'm very strict with my kids on the bus," Bourne said. "I don't want them turned around because if I stop they're going to go flying. They have to be in the seat [facing the front]. They have a tendency to sit on the edge and hang over. Also they need to keep the noise down."

When children don't behave properly after repeated warnings, Bourne separates the ones causing the problem, or makes one sit up front. She said if that doesn't work and the child is still being disruptive, she will turn the bus around and take the child back to the school.

Conley said he has it easier with the high school students. He said in general they are pretty respectful. He said he usually has fewer students per trip than Bourne and they are older.

Conley added because of his family's long history in the valley, "Everybody knows me and I have a good rapport with all the parents. So I guess that helps."

Neither Conley nor Bourne has ever experienced an accident with their buses, though both owners have had to handle an occasional flat tire or minor breakdown on the road.

Conley, who does much of his own bus maintenance, can sometimes fix the problem, but he said, "There are times when the bus has to get towed. Depending on where I am, sometimes I can bring another one of my buses out and keep going. There have been times where I got hold of visiting teams and they came out and picked us up."

Winter snow can also create problems. Conley recalled one divisional basketball meet in Bozeman, Mont. when the weather got so bad he had to ask permission to have the team stay another night before returning home. He said most of the time, the biggest winter problem he deals with is getting his bus from his house in the Swan Valley to the main road. He said, "There are times when I've been pushing snow with my bumper to get to the highway."

Once he makes it to the highway, he said the rest of the roads are already plowed. He praised the Missoula County road crews for getting up even earlier than he does and clearing the bus route roads first.

Bourne said she sometimes has trouble negotiating Boy Scout Road when it is icy or hasn't been plowed. Since she has never had more than one or two students located along that road, she will call the parents and discuss the problem with them. Sometimes a parent is able to get out from their end and bring their child to the highway to meet the bus.

Backed by 20 and 17 years of busing experience respectively, Bourne and Conley have learned to take weather and the occasional flat tire in stride and maintain their primary focus on the safety of the students they transport.