You’re probably reading this because you’re tired of planning bus operator training.

You put in long hours creating presentations and finding videos. You schedule an in-person session and, inevitably, a few operators can’t make it. So you either deal with some of your people not attending or you schedule multiple sessions. Then, at the end of it all, you might not be entirely happy with the results. Your operators still have accidents.

This is how most bussing companies handle operator training. It’s expensive, time-consuming, and not as effective as it could be.

What’s the alternative?

We’ll show you how you can easily move your bus operator training online. You’ll get better safety results in less time and with less budget.

How to Get Your Training Online

Most folks immediately think of video-hosting platforms like YouTube or Vimeo. They figure they can throw their videos on their and send the links to their operators.

Those sites are great for storing videos, but they’re a terrible solution for online bus operator training. An effective bus operator training course will have questions, exercises, activities, and exams. It will have breaks between videos to not overwhelm the viewer.

These platforms offer none of that. And you won’t even know who watched your content.

The best way to host online bus operator training is with a learning management system.

What is a Learning Management System?

A learning management system is one of the best driver training tools you can use. Learning management systems (or LMS for short) are websites your employees access in order to take online training courses. These platforms usually work on phones, tablets, computers, and laptops. They allow courses to include quizzes, activities, etc.

The best part is, LMS’s come with tons of features for you as an administrator. They give you the ability to:

• Track employee training progress
• Store records of training
• Automate enrollment in courses
• And more

Did You Know?

AvatarFleet offers a free 14-day pass to our learning management system and bus driver safety course program.  Check it out here.

How Do They Work?

An LMS sounds like a complicated driver training tool, but for the users and admins of a site, it’s simple.

On the admin side of things, you log into your LMS and create or upload courses, upload your users, and assign those users to take the courses. Most platforms will include the ability to run reports as well to save to your records.

On your bus operators’ side, they simply log in with their unique username and password then begin taking the courses they’re assigned. The system will save their progress if they can’t complete it in one sitting. It will also track their scores on exams and quizzes.

Frequently Asked Questions 

We’ve talked to probably one-hundred bussing companies about switching to an LMS. So, we developed a list of questions you’re probably asking yourself.

Q: What are the advantages and disadvantages of online driver training compared to in-person classes?

There’s a time and place for both. You can’t learn to drive a bus without hands-on practice. And when you hire a new employee, you want some face-time to welcome them to your company. However, you can save time by having your new and current employees take online training. You can also track their progress and ensure they actually took it.

Q: What kind of content should I put on a learning management system?

Topics such as defensive driving principles, federal regulations, and company policies are all ideal things to cover in online driver training. However, you don’t have to make it all from scratch. Our clients use the Bus Safety Course. It’s a program that contains 17 in-depth defensive driving lessons and more than 20 shortened lessons for re-training. Of course, our program comes with access to a learning management system. Our clients call it the best web-based driver training program they’ve seen.

Q: How do I make sure my operators are actually watching the lessons?

If you used YouTube or Vimeo, this would be difficult. With an LMS, it’s easy. An LMS tracks user progress and shows you who completed what. An LMS also allows you to include questions and exams throughout. If someone gets a question wrong or can’t pass an exam, you can make it so the lesson won’t progress.

Q: What if I’m not tech-savvy?

You don’t need a degree in computer science to use an LMS. Most platforms are intuitive. And while we can’t speak for other organizations, our clients have full-access to our support team. We walk you through every step and show you how every part of the system works.

What’s The First Step?

If you’re ready to ditch the old-school training method of slideshows and YouTube videos, the first step is research.

Figure out what some of your options are and do some price/feature comparisons. Here’s an article that shows you some of the most popular choices.

However, these platforms don’t include bus operator training. You’ll still need to work with them to develop your content.

If you’d like access to world-class bus operator training and a learning management system custom to you, check out The Bus Safety Course. You can even sign up for free access here.