Train hitting school bus meme: meaning and free template

What it means

The template has two frames. In the first, a yellow school bus is crossing the tracks and a train is coming. In the second, the train hits it head-on. You label the bus and the train, and the meme says: this showed up and wrecked that.

It works for any situation where something small and confident meets something huge and unstoppable: a plan vs. a surprise, a diet vs. a cake, your streak vs. a Friday night.

Where it comes from

The frames come from a video uploaded to YouTube in May 2007 that racked up millions of views and was reuploaded by many channels. Using it as a meme, with a label on each vehicle, started on Reddit in October 2019 with a joke about a baseball game. By 2020 it was circulating as a template on r/MemeEconomy and spread from there.

How to use it well

• The bus is the victim. The thing that breaks goes on top; the thing that breaks it goes on the bottom. Reversed, it makes no sense.
• Size contrast. It works best when the bus is something hopeful or fragile and the train is something mundane and crushing.
• Short labels. Two to five words. The picture tells the rest.
• Mind the topic. It’s a crash: avoid using it about real misfortunes of anyone in the group.

More ideas for your group

1. My motivation to go out / The couch at 9 pm
2. My paycheck / Black Friday
3. The group’s plans / “Actually I can’t make it”
4. My 20-minute nap / My 20-minute nap (3 hours later)
5. Group chat silence / Someone asking “so how was the weekend?”

Want your friends to vote on whose is best? Here’s how a meme contest with friends works.