"I raised my kids on the bus"

Abstract

The study investigated the coping strategies for parenting of transit shift workers, an urban, blue-collar, primarily ethnic minority population. It involved a qualitative, grounded theory approach, using individual interviews with 30 San Francisco bus drivers.
The principal aspect of the job impacting transit workers in their relationships with their children was the lack of time they had to spend together. Coping strategies for care fell into categories of physical maintenance and expressions of caring. Physical maintenance included taking children on the bus, working shifts complementary to those of spouses, leaving children with extended family, using siblings as surrogate parents, placing children in formal child care, and leaving children home alone. Expressions of caring involved job timing, contact while at work, material gifts, job pride, role models, and separation of work from family.
Research and policy implications follow. Regarding research, shift work cannot simply be grouped as one composite. Shift-working doctors and nurses may not formulate the same parental caring strategies as bus drivers. One policy suggestion is for shorter shifts: 6 hours per day rather than the current 12 hours per day average.