Behind the Snow Day: Montgomery Bus Staff Tackle Unseen Work to Keep Routes Running
Nicholas Mistretta
While students and staff in Montgomery Township often see a snow day as a welcome break, the district’s transportation staff spends those same hours preparing to make sure school can safely reopen the next morning.
Wheels of Change – Montgomery Safe Passage Association, the official bargaining unit that represents Montgomery’s bus drivers, aides, and dispatchers, “a snow day is not time off – it is an all-hands operation involving dozens of vehicles, heavy equipment, and long hours in the cold”.
According to union representatives, roughly 40 school buses must be cleared, moved, and repositioned after a storm before they can safely return to their regular routes. The work begins with the district’s maintenance crew, which first has to plow the bus yard itself and the parking lot.
Once the initial plowing is complete, the buses are moved one at a time out of their parking spots and run through a device commonly referred to as “the scraper” – a unit designed to brush accumulated snow from the roof of each bus. As the snow comes off the tops of the vehicles, a plow must be on hand to push aside the fresh piles so they do not create new hazards in the lot.
Drivers sign up for this additional work, which is separate from their normal routes. They spend hours climbing in and out of buses, maneuvering vehicles in tight quarters, and working around plows and equipment in cold, often in windy conditions.
It’s a long, hard day of work – cold toes, frozen fingers. Most people never see this part of the job. They just see the bus show up the next morning and assume it’s business as usual.
After every bus has been processed through the scraper and the accumulated snow has been cleared, the yard itself receives another full plowing. Only then can drivers begin the final stage of the operation: returning each bus to its designated spot under the solar panels, lined up and ready for early morning departures.
Union leaders say they wanted to highlight the process to give the community a better understanding of the logistics and physical labor that are required to keep student transportation running safely in winter weather.
The photo accompanying this report was provided by veteran district driver Gigi Sala, who has spent many winters helping to get Montgomery’s buses ready after storms. It offers a rare glimpse into the behind-the-scenes work that takes place while most residents are still shoveling driveways or enjoying an unexpected day at home.
For the drivers, aides, dispatchers, and maintenance staff, that behind-the-scenes effort is simply part of the responsibility of transporting students safely – even when the toughest work happens long before the first stop on the route.
Photo Credit: Gigi Sala