[para transit fellow]

I haven't heard if her dispatch knew she was going to do this before she went ahead with her plan.

So.. let's substitute certain facts and see if the story still has the "alls well that ends well" theme:

Older single fellow's bus doesn't start... without telling supervisor, he starts driving his route in his own SUV - inviting kids he's never met to get into the car.. after all, it's only a short distance to the school...

Would we all be as supportive?

My observation(s): As I mentioned, it isn't clear if he had dispatch's permission to go get the kids and drive to school. Nobody knew who was picking up kids. his vehicle doesn't have a commercial vehicle inspection (might be fine or might have poor brakes). His insurance probably doesn't have the 15 million dollar liability cover required by the school board contract.

So if something horrible were to hypothetically happen - say three cars collide near school with no one dead but some permanent debilitating injuries -- who's insurance will be covering the students (side question: would he be covered under WCB for working or would he be left out on his own because he "volunteered" without telling dispatch).

The driver isn't following the operating procedures and the actions expose a giant liability risk. So for this hypothetical situation, we see that good intentions could lead to a gigantic mess.

I'm pleased things didn't go wrong but if one of my co-workers did something similar without approval from a supervisor/ dispatch, termination would probably follow (maybe severe suspension followed by complete re-training at the best scenario).