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ENTERPRISE - Dianne McNeely has been driving school buses for more than a decade, but has never enjoyed it as much as now.

In September, McNeely was awarded a three-year contract by the Hamlet of Enterprise to drive the community school bus carrying students to class in Hay River and back home again.

Dianne McNeely is the contractor who drives the school bus which brings students from Enterprise to school in Hay River. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

She said she enjoys it much more than the 10 years she drove school bus in Hay River.

"It's a quieter run," she said, explaining that's because of the well-behaved children from Enterprise. "They are really good kids, quiet kids."

McNeely said she very rarely has to do anything to maintain discipline on the bus.

She drives up to 14 students to school in Hay River, where they attend kindergarten to Grade 12 at four different schools. Enterprise, a hamlet of about 90 people, does not have a school.

McNeely, who lives in Hay River, has to get up about 5:30 a.m. on school days so she can leave by 6:30 a.m. to drive her own vehicle the 38 km to Enterprise.

There, she warms up the bus and begins to pick up the students in front of their homes at 7:30 a.m.

McNeely enjoys the early-morning drives.

"The morning out there is pretty cool," she said. "You're just one with the universe that early in the morning."

After school, she drives the students back to Enterprise and returns to Hay River.

Aside from the trip in her own vehicle, she drives the 24-seat bus 106 km each day.

Sometimes McNeely's husband, Don, drives the school bus in the morning if she has worked the evening shift at her other job at The Rooster convenience store.

However, she estimates she does more than 75 per cent of the driving.

McNeely has nothing but good things to say about working for the Hamlet of Enterprise.

"I enjoy the most working for the hamlet," she said. "They operate on the basis of teamwork."

The highway between Enterprise and Hay River can sometimes be tough driving in the middle of winter.

"The roads can be challenging," McNeely said, although she said the bus operated every school day over the winter.

McNeely, who is originally from Ontario, has the Class 2 licence necessary to drive a school bus and also has had a Class 1 licence - allowing her to drive semitrailers - for many years.

She actually once ran a driver training school and she and her husband once worked as team drivers on transport trucks all over North America.

She quipped that driving a small school bus is like driving a minivan for her.

However, McNeely said there is much more of a feeling of responsibility driving a school bus compared to moving freight, and safety is paramount when transporting students.

"You've got someone else's kid under your care," she explained. "You've got to be careful."