Careers · Inwood & Hewlett, NY
School Bus Driver & Mechanic Jobs on Long Island
Independent Coach has been driving Long Island students to school since 1941. We are hiring drivers, monitors and mechanics at both of our yards. Our pay is published below, and the application takes about a minute.
What the work pays
Our rates are on this page, not behind a form
Most operators make you apply before they will tell you what the job pays. Here is the whole scale.
| Role | Licence and endorsements | Up to |
|---|---|---|
| School bus driver | CDL B with P&S endorsements | $31.67/hr |
| Van driver | CDL C with P&S endorsements | $28.39/hr |
| Van driver | CDL C, no S endorsement | $25.13/hr |
| Bus monitor | No licence required | $21.29/hr |
Mechanic pay depends on experience and certifications. Call either yard and ask.
What comes with the job
The rest of the offer
Also included
- Free CDL training for qualified applicants
- Annual holiday bonus
- Attendance incentive
- 401(k) with a company match
About those hours
The guaranteed four hours are split — roughly two in the morning and two in the afternoon, following the school day. Your middle of the day is your own. Summers and school holidays follow the district calendar.
Apply
Quick Application
Seven questions, about 60 seconds. No account, no résumé, no upload. A person from the yard you pick will call you back.
Someone from the yard you picked will call you within two business days. If you would rather just talk to a person now, call Inwood at 516-239-1100 or Hewlett at 516-569-5364.
Before you come in
Three things to bring
Bring these to your first visit and we can start the paperwork the same day.
Your DMV abstract
A current driving abstract from New York State DMV. You can pull one online or at any DMV office.
Your driver's licence
Whatever class you currently hold. You do not need a CDL yet — see below.
Your Social Security card
The physical card, for employment verification.
No CDL?
We will train you, and we will pay for it
Most of our drivers did not arrive with a commercial licence. If you qualify, we cover the cost of CDL training and put you through it here. Our own 19-A certified examiners are on staff, so the road testing happens with people you already know.
You will need a clean driving record and the patience to learn a large vehicle properly. Everything else we teach.
Start the application
Why here
A small company, on purpose
Independent Coach is owned by a family that lives on Long Island. Two of the operators we compete with are subsidiaries of a private equity platform running thousands of buses in twenty-five states. We run about three hundred, from two yards, ten minutes apart.
Decisions get made here
If something needs sorting out, the person who can sort it out works at one of these two yards. There is no regional office and no ticket queue.
The schedule suits real lives
A split shift with your middays free works well if you are retired, if you have school-age children of your own, or if you are building the day around something else. Plenty of our drivers are doing exactly that.
People tend to stay
We have carried Lawrence Public Schools since 1941 — the year we started. That kind of continuity does not happen with a fleet of strangers.
Where you would work
Both yards are hiring
Inwood
25 Wanser AvenueInwood, NY 11096
Full garage with lifts, on-site transmission shop and body shop.
Hewlett
1145 Railroad AvenueHewlett, NY 11557
Full garage with lifts, on-site transmission shop and body shop.
Mechanics
Our shops are ours
Both yards have a fully equipped garage with lifts and diagnostic equipment, an on-site transmission shop, and an on-site body shop. Very little goes out to a vendor, which means the work that comes across your bench is the whole job, not the parts nobody else wanted.
Joseph Langone has overseen maintenance here for more than forty years. If you want to learn heavy vehicle work properly, that is who you would be learning from.
Apply for a mechanic roleQuestions
Things people ask before applying
Do I need a CDL to apply?
No. If you qualify, we cover the cost of CDL training and run you through it ourselves. Apply first, and we will talk about licensing when we call you.
How many hours a week is this?
Drivers are guaranteed four hours per school day, split into a morning run and an afternoon run. Extra hours come from field trips, athletic runs and charter work, and most drivers pick up some.
What happens after I submit the form?
Someone from the yard you selected calls you within two business days to talk through the role and set up a visit. The first visit is a conversation and a driving evaluation, not a formal interview panel.
Do I need experience driving something this large?
No. What we need is a clean driving record and a willingness to be trained carefully. All training is classroom plus behind-the-wheel, and every driver goes through refresher training twice a year, not just at hire.
Is bus monitor work a separate job?
Yes. Monitors ride with the driver and look after the students, and no licence is required. It is a genuine entry point — several of our drivers started as monitors and moved across once they had their CDL.
Which districts would I be driving for?
We hold contracts with more than fifteen Long Island districts across Nassau County and beyond. Your routes depend on which yard you work out of. Ask when we call.
Ready when you are
The form takes about a minute. Or call a yard and talk to someone.