@ Getting to school - bus vs. private car

[holly116]

Our district is tiny, about 100-120 kids per grade in total. One large elementary/high school complex with two connected buildings.

We don't have busing since it's a super tiny district and my kids walk home, we drop them off in the morning. They do have to walk over an interstate overpass, and there is a huge infrastructure project slated to start soon and there has been grumbling about the pedestrian access shutting down during the 3+ year construction plan. I don't know WTF we'll do if my kids can't walk and there's no busing at all. Would the district have to provide something I wonder? Or will that be all on the families living on this side of the district?

Also, our superintendent makes over $200k a year for literally 1500 total students and it's regularly a source of contention. I don't know how the hell they can justify paying him that. He's the highest paid in the entire region.

[heygrey]

My district cannot employ enough drivers to meet the demand for busses. We have free bussing for students with special needs and a sliding scale subsidy for low income families. Bussing costs $400+ per rider for the year. When registration opens in June for the following school year, it is filled within minutes.

Our drivers are paid $28/hr for a minimum of 5 hours a day (some work more doing activity runs during/after school. Benefits are excellent. The district provides employment options during the summer for drivers who want to work year round.

The number 1 complaint from drivers who quit is student behaviour. Working inside the school, I 100% believe it’s as bad as they say.

There are 40+ schools in my district and many are not walkable due to distance or lack of sidewalks. Pick up is a nightmare everywhere. I have 15 minutes to leave my school and drive 1.5 miles to DS’s school. Navigating traffic at my school and again at his gives me anxiety everyday.

[sparty04]

Luckily our elementary school is in my neighborhood so we've been walkers up until the his year (DS1 is in middle school). The middle school drop off/pick up is a nightmare. We have 2 middle schools right next to each other and cars start lining up onto the busy road almost an hour before dismissal. Busses are a nightmare too. My son sits 3 middle schoolers to a seat and they are the size of small adults. Kids end up sitting or falling into the aisle. It's a crappy and unsafe situation all around.

[Deleted]

C rides into school with H (who works in the building), then in the afternoon I typically pick him up in car rider or he stays with H. I think it’s pretty evenly split between kids who ride the bus, kids who are picked up, and kids who walk. The elementary school doesn’t allow walkers to arrive or leave on their own until 5th grade, so the walkers have to be picked up by a walking parent, which is a big drag.

Kids 4th grade and below have to be accompanied to and from the bus by a parent, so honestly it wouldn’t save much time for me to have C take the bus. Except about half the time the bus is late or not running at all, so it would require MORE flexibility. So, car rider line it is.

[imimahoney]

The town is teach in only offers a bus for kiddos zoned to 1 of the 3 elementary schools. The bus is not an option for ms or hs.

The town I live in, the bus is an option for hs but you have to pay $$$ for it.

Both towns are geographically small although the town I live in has double the students than the town I teach in.

Driving kids or having them walk are the primary modes of transportation.

[UMaineTeach]

We have 820 kids in 120 sq miles. Almost all of them take the bus.

We don’t have to make a complicated car lane system, thank goodness.

You can just drop off from the front of the building.

Pick up is a bit of a hassle. You have to park and come stand in line outside. It goes fast, but there are not many good places to park.

In the last few years they eliminated the no bus within whatever number of miles of the school policy and everyone can take the bus.



Edit: Probably H will drop the kid off the mornings at her school and she will be bussed to my building after school.

[wawa]

Feb 19, 2024 12:02:00 GMT -5 penguingrrl said:

Feb 19, 2024 11:53:25 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

Our area has created a massive busing need because we don’t have sidewalks. It’s weird, but my friend could put her kids on a bus and she lives behind the elementary school. They walk, but it’s “frowned upon.”

A parent had to petition for a bike rack after Covid because they didn’t want to encourage walking/riding. There is a decent sized neighborhood across the street from the elementary school and they have to ride the bus. There’s no crosswalk or crossing guard for them.

So since we want to bus everyone, we have shortages. We had major driver issues after Covid, but finally got a new driver a year ago and he’s awesome.

My SILs district is like this. They don’t allow walking/biking period. If a student is being released to anything but bus/aftercare an approved adult has to come in and sign them out with the process used if a kid leaves school early. They don’t allow kids to leave alone until high school.

*screaming in Safe Routes to School and developmentally appropriate practices*  

I deal with this topic professionally.  It's also a big deal to me on a personal level, since we've made decisions about where we want to live with things like "walkable to schools and parks" as a primary criteria.  

I hate that that's the case for your SIL's schools. The idea that a goddamn 8TH GRADER can't walk their own ass home is making my blood pressure rise. 

I'm going to stop here because I could write a whole dissertation.  If anybody lives in a place where a simple crosswalk would make their lives easier feel free to message me and I'll try to point you in the right direction to fight the good fight. 

[pixy0stix]

Feb 19, 2024 13:56:46 GMT -5 sparty04 said:

Luckily our elementary school is in my neighborhood so we've been walkers up until the his year (DS1 is in middle school). The middle school drop off/pick up is a nightmare. We have 2 middle schools right next to each other and cars start lining up onto the busy road almost an hour before dismissal. Busses are a nightmare too. My son sits 3 middle schoolers to a seat and they are the size of small adults. Kids end up sitting or falling into the aisle. It's a crappy and unsafe situation all around.

The people that line up an hour before pick up definitely have time to walk/bike to pick their kids up. Why are people fucking ridiculous?

[JayTea]

For middle schools the bus picks up at 6:40 for a 7:30 start time. The majority of the year it’s dark and we don’t have street lamps. I much prefer to have my son get an extra 45 minutes sleep and I drop him off at 7:20 on my way to work. The majority of parents I know who drop off in the morning do it because of the darkness, the extra sleep or both. But then he likes to walk in the afternoon with his friends…. And if it’s raining he’ll get the bus or stay for clubs and his sister will pick him up.

[ssmjlm]

They started closing the parking lot they use for pick up on the side of the school at noon due to people lining up so early for pick up. They felt it was a safety issue because kids use the sidewalk in that lot to get to recess areas.

I think the majority that line up early are grandparents doing pick up. Guess they don’t mind wasting their hours. 🤷🏼‍♀️

[penguingrrl]

Feb 19, 2024 14:23:25 GMT -5 wawa said:

Feb 19, 2024 12:02:00 GMT -5 penguingrrl said:

My SILs district is like this. They don’t allow walking/biking period. If a student is being released to anything but bus/aftercare an approved adult has to come in and sign them out with the process used if a kid leaves school early. They don’t allow kids to leave alone until high school.

*screaming in Safe Routes to School and developmentally appropriate practices*  

I deal with this topic professionally.  It's also a big deal to me on a personal level, since we've made decisions about where we want to live with things like "walkable to schools and parks" as a primary criteria.  

I hate that that's the case for your SIL's schools. The idea that a goddamn 8TH GRADER can't walk their own ass home is making my blood pressure rise. 

I'm going to stop here because I could write a whole dissertation.  If anybody lives in a place where a simple crosswalk would make their lives easier feel free to message me and I'll try to point you in the right direction to fight the good fight. 

She bought her house when her oldest was 6 and I think it didn’t dawn on her to ask because it’s so fucking insane that a rule like that didn't occur to her. She was so mad when she realized it, but it was too late by then to change it and too many parents in town are fine with it to get it changed. We bought specifically for walkability (for school and life) and have no regrets.

[mrsukyankee]

I'm such an oldie with this - we walked on a sidewalkless street, across a major intersection about 1/2 a mile to get to our school bus stop, on our own, from early middle school age. I can't even imagine not having a kid walk or bike if they could.

It's an issue here as well. Kids can take public buses for free until the age of 16. And most kids live within a mile of the schools here (if not less) and yet there are still tons of parents who drive to pick up and drop off their kids. It's crazy to me. It's so walkable in our area. I don't get people who drive everywhere in our neighbourhood, especially with such good transportation.

[waverly]

I don't get the people who are in a parking space or front of the pick up line an hour early and in most weather, idling their cars for that long. I thought everyone was BUSY. Who has an hour to waste every day? Even if you aren't working, then can't most people use that hour to throw in a load of laundry or dishes or just watch TV?

[penguingrrl]

Feb 19, 2024 13:57:39 GMT -5 @villainv said:

C rides into school with H (who works in the building), then in the afternoon I typically pick him up in car rider or he stays with H. I think it’s pretty evenly split between kids who ride the bus, kids who are picked up, and kids who walk. The elementary school doesn’t allow walkers to arrive or leave on their own until 5th grade, so the walkers have to be picked up by a walking parent, which is a big drag.

Kids 4th grade and below have to be accompanied to and from the bus by a parent, so honestly it wouldn’t save much time for me to have C take the bus. Except about half the time the bus is late or not running at all, so it would require MORE flexibility. So, car rider line it is.

That’s wild to me! By 2nd grade many kids in our town walk to and from with older siblings or by themselves. Hell, by the beginning of 3rd grade my middle found it “too embarrassing to be seen with me” and was biking to school independently. Even the next year when I was biking my youngest to the same building she left before us and went really fast to avoid being seen with us.

[Deleted]

Feb 19, 2024 15:45:44 GMT -5 penguingrrl said:

Feb 19, 2024 13:57:39 GMT -5 @villainv said:

C rides into school with H (who works in the building), then in the afternoon I typically pick him up in car rider or he stays with H. I think it’s pretty evenly split between kids who ride the bus, kids who are picked up, and kids who walk. The elementary school doesn’t allow walkers to arrive or leave on their own until 5th grade, so the walkers have to be picked up by a walking parent, which is a big drag.

Kids 4th grade and below have to be accompanied to and from the bus by a parent, so honestly it wouldn’t save much time for me to have C take the bus. Except about half the time the bus is late or not running at all, so it would require MORE flexibility. So, car rider line it is.

That’s wild to me! By 2nd grade many kids in our town walk to and from with older siblings or by themselves. Hell, by the beginning of 3rd grade my middle found it “too embarrassing to be seen with me” and was biking to school independently. Even the next year when I was biking my youngest to the same building she left before us and went really fast to avoid being seen with us.

I suspect it’s because kids have to cross a major road right in front of the school. There’s a signal and a crosswalk, but no crossing guard, and some drivers still right turn on red right into people crossing at the crosswalk. It would be very easy for a driver not to see small children crossing. It would also be very easy to prohibit right turn on red during certain hours, or get a crossing guard, but the county won’t do it. There’s been talk of our (fairly affluent) neighborhood installing an elevated pedestrian bridge, but I can’t see that actually happening.

[sparty04]

Feb 19, 2024 14:25:30 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Feb 19, 2024 13:56:46 GMT -5 sparty04 said:

Luckily our elementary school is in my neighborhood so we've been walkers up until the his year (DS1 is in middle school). The middle school drop off/pick up is a nightmare. We have 2 middle schools right next to each other and cars start lining up onto the busy road almost an hour before dismissal. Busses are a nightmare too. My son sits 3 middle schoolers to a seat and they are the size of small adults. Kids end up sitting or falling into the aisle. It's a crappy and unsafe situation all around.

The people that line up an hour before pick up definitely have time to walk/bike to pick their kids up. Why are people fucking ridiculous?

To be fair, the area our school district serves is rather large. Some people may live close to 20 minutes away by car so walking or biking really isn't a good option. But it's still ridiculous and unnecessary

[penguingrrl]

Feb 19, 2024 16:01:22 GMT -5 @villainv said:

Feb 19, 2024 15:45:44 GMT -5 penguingrrl said:

That’s wild to me! By 2nd grade many kids in our town walk to and from with older siblings or by themselves. Hell, by the beginning of 3rd grade my middle found it “too embarrassing to be seen with me” and was biking to school independently. Even the next year when I was biking my youngest to the same building she left before us and went really fast to avoid being seen with us.

I suspect it’s because kids have to cross a major road right in front of the school. There’s a signal and a crosswalk, but no crossing guard, and some drivers still right turn on red right into people crossing at the crosswalk. It would be very easy for a driver not to see small children crossing. It would also be very easy to prohibit right turn on red during certain hours, or get a crossing guard, but the county won’t do it. There’s been talk of our (fairly affluent) neighborhood installing an elevated pedestrian bridge, but I can’t see that actually happening.

That sounds like a solvable problem for sure. I would think adding a crossing guard would be the answer. No way I would trust a new “no turn on red” law to work quickly (people will not notice or “forget”).

[Jalapeñomel]

Whatever happened to the safety patrol?


(Rhetorical, but we all wanted to be on it because we could get out of class for safety patrol duties in elementary school!)

[leahcar]

Our district offers transportation to every kid- even if you live directly in front of the school. My 70s neighborhood has NO sidewalks at all. I live half a mile from the elementary school and can take all neighborhood roads to get there. The lack of sidewalks means it is not at all safe for kids to navigate alone. A handful of the kids who don't have to navigate the "major" roads in the neighborhood walk, but most are bus/car riders.

My elementary school kid rides the bus as does all but 1 kid on our street. My house is the bus stop so I couldn't ask for an easier commute. We put a bench in our yard and have turned it into parent social hour in the afternoons. The one family that drives gets home ONE MINUTE before the bus arrives.

My high schoolers drive themselves. If my oldest has something to do after school, I pick up the 10th grader. Since most of the high school kids drive themselves or bus/walk- and the high school allows them to walk out to the car, the carpool line is easy peasy.

If the bus makes sense, I'm all for it. It's better for the environment as well as my time and wallet.

Jalapeñomel, my teenagers had safety patrol in elementary school. We lived in a different state then; I have not seen safety patrol here. I wish they'd bring it back; it gave my girls such a sense of pride!

[joy]

Growing up, my school system did not have buses. Walking/biking or driving were the only ways. My dad would pull up by the playground and I’d hop out to play until line up. This started in 1st grade.

It’s hard for me to reconcile that experience with how it is now at my daughter’s school.

[icedcoffee]

We walk to elementary. I my kids will bus to MS and HS. No way am I driving them if the bus is going there anyway.

I rode the bus growing up from 1st to the end of 11th grade when I started driving myself which I think is good local driving practice for teens so my kids will do the same if they can get parking spots at the high school.

[icedcoffee]

Feb 19, 2024 16:27:30 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

Whatever happened to the safety patrol?


(Rhetorical, but we all wanted to be on it because we could get out of class for safety patrol duties in elementary school!)

Safety patrol is alive and well in our district. I was so sad I wasn’t picked as a kid and I’m still not over it.

[penguingrrl]

Feb 19, 2024 16:27:30 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

Whatever happened to the safety patrol?


(Rhetorical, but we all wanted to be on it because we could get out of class for safety patrol duties in elementary school!)

We still have safety patrol in my town! My oldest was on it! When I was in 8th I was captain of the safety patrol (nerd alert lol)! It meant I could hang out inside at recess and choose who was assigned to what hallway, so my friends and I were always paired up and got to hang out.

[abs]

Safety patrol exists here, too. It’s mostly limited to helping keep kids quiet in the cafeteria and helping with tasks like taking down the flag. They don’t do crossing guard duty due to safety reasons.

[neverfstop]

Those of you want walk or ride bikes (or did as kids) were there sidewalks or bike lanes? Many (ES) schools around here may be in neighborhoods that have sidewalks, but still pull kids from miles away without sidewalks. Because of the lack of zoning around here, schools are just put anywhere & often near highways or roads where people go 50+ MPH.

[Deleted]

Feb 19, 2024 16:12:39 GMT -5 penguingrrl said:

Feb 19, 2024 16:01:22 GMT -5 @villainv said:

I suspect it’s because kids have to cross a major road right in front of the school. There’s a signal and a crosswalk, but no crossing guard, and some drivers still right turn on red right into people crossing at the crosswalk. It would be very easy for a driver not to see small children crossing. It would also be very easy to prohibit right turn on red during certain hours, or get a crossing guard, but the county won’t do it. There’s been talk of our (fairly affluent) neighborhood installing an elevated pedestrian bridge, but I can’t see that actually happening.

That sounds like a solvable problem for sure. I would think adding a crossing guard would be the answer. No way I would trust a new “no turn on red” law to work quickly (people will not notice or “forget”).

I don’t fully understand why, but apparently in our county, crossing guards have to be Sherrif’s deputies, and can’t be a school employee or a volunteer. There’s already a Sherrif’s deputy who acts as a crossing guard at a non-signaled crosswalk in front of the nearby middle school where there are a lot more walkers, and they won’t add another one (nor will they shift times slightly so the same deputy can cover both). I don’t know why they can’t just fix this, it makes no sense.

[mention]neverfstop [/mention] no bike lanes, but there are sidewalks. Both the middle school and elementary school are both at the bottom of a huge hill, which makes biking to/from school nearly impossible, but walking or scootering is doable.

[wanderingback]

Feb 19, 2024 11:48:15 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

This ties into the article I posted where adults think something is unsafe, but in reality it's fine.

I agree with this.

The main thing I’ll worry about when it’s time for my child to walk to school is other drivers. I hate hate hate that the walk sign is also at the same time that cars have a green light and can turn right when you’re crossing the street. I have had way too many close calls and even one where I was screaming and had to shield the stroller from getting hit the car was so close. There have unfortunately been some pedestrian deaths, including kids not too far away from where I live and work.

Anyway, I know I’ll have to get over that fear as crossing guards obviously aren’t at every single cross walk everywhere, but I do somewhat get people’s fear as other drivers do seem to be wreck less at times with pedestrian crossings, although I know statistically speaking all will likely be fine.

ETA: I’m clearing saying this in response to the people who live too close to school for buses so instead of their kid walking they drive them.

[fancynewbeesly]

The town we live in has one kindergarten/preschool school, three elementary schools, one middle and high school. It seems like the majority of elementary kids take the bus. I think there definitely are some walking neighborhoods to it, but not as many. For middle and high school, I want to say it is evenly split. They are more centrally located with crossing guards. Some areas of our town need to be bussed but not as many. They do offer courtesy bussing for 200 a year for families that live a distance to walk but still are designated as walkers.

My kindergarten rides the bus to school.

My 7th grade will walk or bike.

[joy]

Feb 19, 2024 18:02:11 GMT -5 neverfstop said:

Those of you want walk or ride bikes (or did as kids) were there sidewalks or bike lanes? Many (ES) schools around here may be in neighborhoods that have sidewalks, but still pull kids from miles away without sidewalks. Because of the lack of zoning around here, schools are just put anywhere & often near highways or roads where people go 50+ MPH.

Yes to sidewalks. No to bike lanes. My parents showed me how to bike the school and cross the two busier roads safely. I started riding my bike to school in second grade.

[redheadbaker]

I think I have everybody beat with small district size, LOL. District covers .5 sq mile. The entire school district has less than 800 students (that's fewer students than my high school graduating class). One building (covering two square blocks) houses elementary on side (with one principal), middle and high school on the other (one principal for both), with the center link housing a community room, and principals' offices. We have a superindentent, no asst. superintendent. No buses.

DS walks to school with his best friend. Bad weather? Grab an umbrella.