School Buses on the Radio - Useful Listening

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josephdurnal

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I'm listening to the Frederick County P25 system and added talk group 5492 FredCoSchBus to my list today. During bad weather, these school bus drivers report a lot of information on side roads and back roads that they have to travel. They also use some plain language, like, "I can't get up the hill on Teen Barns Road" or "Every time I hit the brakes I slip and slide".

I'm sure most days your local school buses really aren't that useful or interesting to listen to, but when the weather is bad and schools haven't closed, you might want to give it a try.
 

jonwienke

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Agreed. During bad weather it's an excellent source of road condition info. During good weather, they are another source of info on accidents and road closures.
 

wtp

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even in good weather

back when my kids were in school i listened to the buses.
i told them i better not hear their names or bus number reporting a problem.
they hated that.
but one day a bus called out to report that interstate north 75 was closed due to a nasty accident.
so instead of getting on there, i was at the on ramp, i turned around and used rt41.
that saved me quite a bit of time.
information is always useful.
 

josephdurnal

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Just when you expect some fairly mundane reports regarding road conditions. A bus driver gets on the radio and says she's wrecked the bus! She said she was OK but that the bus was probably totaled and in a precarious position off an embankment!

I could not tell from the radio transmissions if any students were onboard the bus, which is like the #1 question. It didn't seem like there were students, but that might not be something they'd put out on the air if there were.
 

maus92

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Just when you expect some fairly mundane reports regarding road conditions. A bus driver gets on the radio and says she's wrecked the bus! She said she was OK but that the bus was probably totaled and in a precarious position off an embankment!

I could not tell from the radio transmissions if any students were onboard the bus, which is like the #1 question. It didn't seem like there were students, but that might not be something they'd put out on the air if there were.

Hopefully there were no students aboard - I think the schools closed early today.
 

JD21960

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Yes. High School and Buses here use a DMR and our local Community College has their own overzealous police force. In a town that went all encrypted Police, these other sources out and about are invaluable. I still hear Fire, Ambulance but lots of other sources like Buses like to talk and rehash what they saw and what's going on. When you're blocked out by encryption, you can find ways to listen "around" that block out locally. ;0)
 

sibbley

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Local commuter buses are great too. Also business. Many times you can get reports from business on events taking place in their area. Lately I've noticed local auto parts delivery drivers are also a great source of road conditions weather related or simply abnormal congestion.
 

maus92

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One could also listen to the MDOT / SHA talkgroups on the FiRST system for road conditions. Luckily we do not have an unreasonable level of encryption in Maryland, excepting, ironically, the Frederick City Police.
 

boatbod

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Talbot and Queen Anne BoE school buses use FiRST for their comms. Mostly the chatter relates to kids that didn't get dropped off or whatever, but occasionally you'll hear something interesting.
 
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