St. Cloud School Bus Drivers Honored For Their Service [GALLERY]

ST. CLOUD -- School bus drivers around central Minnesota were honored Wednesday morning with a special "thank you" breakfast.

Governor Tim Walz has declared Wednesday School Bus Driver Appreciation Day.

Drivers from Trobec's, Voigt's, District 742, Guardian and Spainer bus services were treated to a waffle breakfast at North Central Bus and Equipment company.

Bethany Schubert is the Vice President of Trobec's Bus Service. She says the breakfast is not only a way to show appreciation, but show the continued support for drivers in our area.

The relationships we have in the St. Cloud are is really unique, you don't see that in a lot of places. To bring us competitors all together under one roof and celebrating our bus drivers is really fun for them.

Minnesota school bus drivers are responsible for transporting more than 760,000 students to school each day.

Schubert says stop arm violations continue to be a pressing issue for drivers and Tuesday many bus companies voiced their concerns to lawmakers at the state capitol.

In Minnesota, the data says we have about 150,000 to 250,000 stop arm violations each school year and knock on wood there hasn't been a student killed in many years. But when we are gambling with those numbers it's just a matter of time and that's something none of us want to see.

Schubert says there is currently a bill in place asking the state for funding to provide more education on stop arm violations.

She says since the start of the school year, Trobec's has had over 150 stop arm violations.