Direction the East of France today, and the village of Veckring in Moselle. The mayor, Pascal Jost, has launched dozens of projects in his town of 700 inhabitants. But what he doesn’t have in his village are communal services. It is therefore up to him to do everything, from collecting the garbage cans to driving the school bus. A total commitment, in the service of others, at the cost of sacrifices, for himself and his family life.
An unusual driver takes the reins of the school bus parked in the parking lot of the Veckring football ground. This driver is the mayor: Pascal Jost, in office since 2014. A quick sweep, passing through the breathalyzer and starting the engine.
Pascal Jost will spend six hours of his day driving the school bus. Morning, noon and evening, he takes the children of his village and those of the surrounding area to schools and colleges in the area. He travels up to 300 kilometers a day according to his calculations.
A job that he combines with his function as mayor. Because his allowance of 1200 euros does not allow him to live with three children. A way also and above all to serve his municipality, while France is experiencing a shortage of school bus drivers.
Quiet when it hits the road, the school bus immediately becomes noisier as the seats fill up with children in no hurry to join the school benches. The mayor is the police, his eyes fixed on the rear view mirror, and reminds young people to sit down and buckle up.
A multi-hatted mayor
When he is not on the road, Pascal Jost is in town hall. ” It’s hard to follow me. My colleagues tell me, “Mhave a bugyou do not sleep“, because sometimes they have emails at 3 am “says the chosen one. His bus passes for the first time in front of “his” town hall or rather “ her second home as he likes to call it. A house so present in his daily life that it sometimes makes him lose control at the wheel of the school bus: ” I sometimes forget to stop people at certain stops because I was somewhere else. I was already in my town hall. »
In Veckring, there are 700 inhabitants, a small grocery store, but very few municipal services dedicated to garbage collection or lighting, for example. So it’s up to the mayor to do everything. In one morning, Pascal Jost was a garbage collector, town hall switchboard operator, real estate agent and therefore school bus driver.
Multi-cap, Pascal Jost never stops. On his desk, in town hall, the files pile up. ” There you have the mail, the signatures, the urgent and less urgent files, he lists, pointing to the piles of documents. Even my computer desktop is full he laughs.
Read alsomy life as mayor [2/5]: In Tilloy-lez-Marchiennes, Marie Cau, a different kind of mayor
many sacrifices
He laughs about it, but concedes it, his family life takes a hit. And it is not his wife who will say the opposite. When asked if she has time to see him, her answer fuses: “No, he’s only for his town hall! »
Twenty minutes. It’s time for his break, at his place, at noon. Just enough to swallow a blanquette of veal concocted by his wife and here we go again: we have to bring the children back to school. ” I have no family life. My wife often blames me for it, I’m never home “, he concedes.
His commitment to his municipality is total, but is also paid at the cost of many sacrifices and to inhabitants who are not always grateful:“A lot of people tell me what I’m doing is good. There are others who say, “Mwell what is he doing bus driver“. They don’t say it like that, but I feel it. Don’t expect thanks. »
And there is no question for him not to run again in 2026, during the next municipal elections: “I have too many projects in progress that I will have to finish so I will have to continue. That’s the excuse! »
Carry on despite the sacrifices. Because, as he says himself: his little town is his whole life.
Read alsomy life as mayor [3/5]: In Neufchâtel-Hardelot, a mayor faced with the divorce of her municipality