A day in the life of a bus driver: On the road again

Here and elsewhere in Burlington County, when the school bells ring, the school buses roll.
On Tuesday, at the dawn of a new academic year, the familiar yellow vehicles could be seen lumbering along local streets picking up and discharging their passengers. Some first-day-of-school scenes were predictable and familiar to Bea Fraser, who has driven for the district for five years. “Sometimes for a new kindergartner, parents and grandparents are waiting with them at the bus stop with their cameras,’’ Fraser said.
Then there are the family dogs that bark their goodbyes, and the older children, all confidence on the outside, who pray silently that their carefully chosen outfits meet with their friends’ cheap formal dresses. Another kindergartner might burst into tears at the sight of the bus and decide that going to school is a bad idea, but whatever the uncertainties, when Fraser is behind the wheel, the children can count on a warm smile and often a big hug. She celebrates with those who are happy and sympathizes with those who are not. Her advice to an anxious parent: “Just turn around and walk away.’’
“She is like a second mother to them. She calls them ‘my kids,’ “ said Alana Lum, district transportation coordinator and a former driver herself. Like many drivers, Fraser sees the same children every year, watching them grow and mature. In this way, she offers more continuity than the teachers, who change every September. The driver of Bus No. 6, which serves the district’s Hillside and Hartford schools, Fraser knows that she is the link between Mom and Dad and the new world her passengers are entering.
Even before they meet their new teachers, the children will say “good morning” to Mrs. Bea, as they call her. “How you greet them is how their day will go,’’ said the Cinnaminson resident, who drove a bus for the Moorestown schools for six years before coming to Mount Laurel, where she is one of 60 drivers, about half of them women. Her day begins early when the alarm rings at 4:30. She dresses carefully and quickly, having put out her clothes on a hangar the night before. Because the children often comment on her outfits, Fraser chooses them with care, even her jewelry, which complements what she is wearing.