Well if she walked off with the keys, the passengers couldn’t take the bus anywhere. They could certainly escape, but then where would they go? A roadside good samaritan might help one or two, but a busful? I’d be curious if they summoned the sheriff and what the sheriff suggested.
The same place the driver went, presumably.
The heroic stalwart driver seems to have been able to brave the wilds, why not the passengers?
There may have been a strip mall half a mile away, who knows.