Dog And the School Bus

[Kiwi Phil]

Just to lighten your autum day up a bit.

Hayden. (our 16yo) travels to school on a bus. We are sort of live in the country, so this is the type of bus usually on his run.

At one farm property, the resident dog loves to race the bus. He is inside his fence, bus on the straight road, and it is a long boundary.
The bus driver 'stops' the bus, the dog waits, and as soon as the driver accelerates, the dog is off.
If the dog is 'not there' (late), the bus stops, driver hits the air-horns, opens the door and the kids hang out whistling and hollering, and the dog comes belting from the back of the property and 'lines up ready to go'.
The kids all barrack for the dog. I am told they have to get up against the window for the dog to see them.
One particular bus always wins, the others don't, so the driver always tries to get the 'winning bus'.
The busses all have personalised rego plates so the kids know which is which.

One day, the dog didn't stop for the 'end fence', but bounded it, and there was a bend in both the fence and the road, and the dog just streaked away as the bus had to ease up. Anyway they stopped, some kid called the dogs owners on the cell phone (neighbours i gueess), and they said thanks, we'll get 'bluey' back.

Cheers
Phillip

 

[marlboro180]

Re: Dog And the School Bus

Fun story Philip! Thanks for sharing.. Does the dog know which is the " winning bus"? I know my dogs know the sound of my daughters bus ( always the same one) versus the other buses that pass down our road at the end of the school day.

 

[stic88]

Re: Dog And the School Bus

that is a nice school bus. much better than the yellow ones we have in the states.

 

[bassman284]

Re: Dog And the School Bus

Looks like life is good down under. Nice bus.

When I was a kid 50 or so years back, our neighbors up the road had a farm dog who always chased anything with wheels. It was a gravel road and he wasn't fenced so he caught a lot of what he chased. He was missing an eye and part of an ear from being run over so many times, but it didn't seem to slow him down.

 

[aspeck]

Re: Dog And the School Bus

Man, I might still be driving school bus if they gave us something like that to drive!

Kewl story, Phil. Always fun for a bus driver and the kids when you can do something like that ... the kids will talk about it at their 50th class reunion!

 

[Tyme2fish]

Re: Dog And the School Bus

Thanks for posting,I enjoyed the story and the photo.

 

[CN Spots]

Re: Dog And the School Bus

Nice bus indeed!

 

[LadyFish]

Re: Dog And the School Bus

Wow, thats much bigger than the little short bus I took to school.

Smart dog. Great story, I'm sure he looks forward to the race everyday.

 

[aspeck]

Re: Dog And the School Bus

Wow, thats much bigger than the little short bus I took to school.

Smart dog. Great story, I'm sure he looks forward to the race everyday.

So, Ladyfish rode the short bus ...

 

[LadyFish]

Re: Dog And the School Bus

LOL at Art. I wondered if anyone would catch that.

No, I didn't ride the bus. Actually, I walked a mile in the snow both ways.

 

[Kiwi Phil]

Re: Dog And the School Bus

This bus line is quite big, and still a Mom and Dad business.
It was just starting out when we came to the district.
Hayden knows the owner well. I will tell you about that when I have more time.

There is a massive range of buss e's which get mixed and matched for 'where the work is'. So some times a Cruiser or one of his Railway Buss e's will get used for a school bus run.

There are some good pictures of what he uses as buss e's down in our small area of the world.

http://www.kangaroobuslines.com.au/

I will be back.

Cheers
Phillip

 

[CN Spots]

Re: Dog And the School Bus

So the schools busses are not run by the schools, they are a private enterprise?

Interesting.

 

[madgadget]

Re: Dog And the School Bus

Wow busses with "bull bars" on them. That would not be allowed here!

 

[bassman284]

Re: Dog And the School Bus

So the schools busses are not run by the schools, they are a private enterprise?

Interesting.

In our school district the buses are owned and operated by a private contractor. That's becoming more common as school districts want to get out of the fleet maintenance game.

 

[Tyme2fish]

Re: Dog And the School Bus

We need pictures of the dog!!

 

[CN Spots]

Re: Dog And the School Bus

Wow busses with "bull bars" on them. That would not be allowed here!

I think Phil called those 'roo guards once. Nearly every big truck in photos from down under seems to have those. Kangaroo strikes must be pretty common. They look like solid muscle so I bet they'd mess up a vehicle pretty bad.

 

[rbh]

Re: Dog And the School Bus

I think Phil called those 'roo guards once. Nearly every big truck in photos from down under seems to have those. Kangaroo strikes must be pretty common. They look like solid muscle so I bet they'd mess up a vehicle pretty bad.

Nice push bumper. Chrome makes everything look good.

 

[aspeck]

Re: Dog And the School Bus

In this area the busses are all owned by private contractors also, but to use a "School Bus" for anything other that transporting school kids on school functions gets into a pretty big hassle with insurance, labeling on the bus, etc. It can be done, but you have to jump through hoops, so most in our area have busses dedicated to school and school events.

I need to show my old boss (good friend) these pictures and ask him when he is going to update his fleet. I am sure he will tell me that when he retires someone else can do that!

Sweet bus fleet, and looks like they get into some interesting tours - especially the camping safaris! Wondering if they are hiring...

 

[LadyFish]

Re: Dog And the School Bus

I'm telling you, our kids would go nuts to ride to school in a bus like that. Very cool!

 

[Robbabob]

Re: Dog And the School Bus

LOL at Art. I wondered if anyone would catch that.

No, I didn't ride the bus. Actually, I walked a mile in the snow both ways.

I'm sure it was up hill both ways, too was for me, anyhow

BTW, nice story! thanks for sharing it