A ready-made checklist is a good start, but it never quite fits. It asks about air brakes on your hydraulic vans, it skips the wheelchair lift on your special-needs buses, and it doesn't mention the child check reminder your district asked for. Drivers learn to tick through items that don't apply, and then they tick through the ones that do.
A custom school bus inspection checklist fixes that: your items, in the order a driver walks around your buses, worded the way your people talk, with a different list for each kind of vehicle. This guide covers what to include, how to word and group items, which ones should park the bus, and how to roll it out.
Start from your rules, not from a blank page
Every custom checklist should start with what you're required to check. Then add what your own fleet needs.
- Your state's pre-trip and post-trip rules. Many states list what the driver must check. Our inspection requirements guide covers several states.
- Your district contracts. Some ask for specific checks, such as the child check or a camera check.
- Your vehicle manuals. What the maker says to check daily.
- Your own history. The defects that keep coming back. If mirrors get knocked loose every month, give mirrors their own line.
Our free pre-trip, post-trip and quarterly checklists are a good base to change.
One checklist per vehicle type and per job
| Checklist | Who does it | What's different |
|---|---|---|
| Bus pre-trip | The driver, every morning | Air brakes, stop arm, warning lights, emergency exits |
| Van pre-trip | The driver, every morning | Shorter, no stop arm or air brakes |
| Lift bus add-on | The driver, every morning | Wheelchair lift, securements, belts |
| Post-trip | The driver, after every run | Child check first, then the bus |
| Quarterly or yearly | The mechanic | Brake linings, steering, suspension, exhaust, frame |
Tip: A short checklist that's done properly beats a long one that's ticked in a hurry. If a driver's pre-trip takes more than 15 minutes on your buses, look for items that belong in the mechanic's checklist instead.
How to word the items
- One thing per item. "Lights" is too vague. "Amber warning lights (all four)" can be marked pass or fail.
- Say what good looks like. "Tires: no cuts or bulges, tread above the line" is clearer than "Tires OK".
- Use your people's words. If everyone says "crossing arm", don't write "crossing control arm".
- Group items by where the driver is standing: outside walk-around, engine, driver's seat, passenger area, emergency equipment.
- Put them in walking order, so the driver never has to go back.
Which items should park the bus
Decide in advance which failures mean the bus stays in the yard. That's your list of safety-critical items. A common starting point: brakes, steering, the stop arm and crossing arm, warning lights, emergency exits and their alarms, the entry door, and the wheelchair lift on a lift bus. Your state's out-of-service rules come first.
Rolling out a new checklist
- Write it, then walk it around a real bus yourself, in order, and time it.
- Try it with two or three drivers for a week and ask what's missing or confusing.
- Fix it, then switch everyone over on one day.
- Turn off the old one so nobody fills in both.
- Look at the results after a month. An item that never fails may be too vague. An item that always fails needs a repair, not a checkbox.
Good to know: Your state may require specific items on a driver's daily inspection, or a specific form. Check your state's rules before you change your checklist.
Doing it in FleetCommander
Checklists are templates, on Inspections › Templates (also on Settings under Lists & data). Manage › New template starts one from scratch. Add from Inspections templates library adds a ready-made one, such as the Quarterly vehicle inspection, as your own copy to change. Duplicate template copies one of yours, ready to rename, which is the quick way to make a van version of a bus checklist.
Each template has a Template name, a Type (Pre-trip, Post-trip, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Twice a year, Annual, DOT, School bus or Other), the vehicle types it Applies to (none ticked means every vehicle) and the Mechanic who does it, printed on the report. Under Vehicle components inspected, each item has a category and a Safety-critical box. Add component adds more, and the arrows put them in walking order.
What drivers see. On My Day, Pre-trip inspection and Post-trip inspection open the template of that type for the driver's vehicle type. They mark each item Pass, Fail or N/A, add a photo to any item, and press Submit inspection. Every failed item becomes a defect, and a failed Safety-critical item lets the driver take the bus out of service. Untick Active on an old template and it's no longer offered, while the inspections done with it keep their checklist.
Managing templates needs permission to approve inspections: Super Admins and Fleet Managers to start with. See the Inspections guide, the Driver inspections guide and the inspection app.
Ava (Beta), the assistant in the app, answers How do I do my pre-trip? for drivers, and Any open defects? for the office. More on her page.
Related reading
Questions people ask
- How do you make a custom school bus inspection checklist?
- Start from your state's inspection rules, your district contracts and your vehicle manuals, add the defects that keep coming back, group items by where the driver stands, put them in walking order, and mark which failures park the bus.
- Should vans and buses have different inspection checklists?
- Yes. A van has no stop arm or air brakes, and a lift bus needs lift and securement checks. A checklist per vehicle type keeps drivers from ticking items that don't apply.
- Which inspection items should take a bus out of service?
- Your state's out-of-service rules come first. A common starting list: brakes, steering, the stop arm and crossing arm, warning lights, emergency exits and alarms, the entry door, and the wheelchair lift on lift buses.
- How long should a school bus pre-trip checklist be?
- Long enough to cover what your state requires and what fails on your buses, short enough to be done properly. If it takes much more than 15 minutes, move the deeper checks to the mechanic's checklist.