Do your kids take the bus to school?

[DawnM]

And what is it like?

My kids take the bus (well, 17 year old now drives) and there have never been any issues. They just sit with their friends, but they also have not reported any issues.

But man, I keep hearing from friends that their kids have major bus issues. The kids pick on each other in the back, fight, etc....

 

[blana]

My kids take the bus. DD1 gets on/off the bus at daycare & is the last on/first off, so very little drama. The biggest complaint I've heard is that two of her friends got assigned seats together and her assigned seat is away from them. I figure there's a reason for that. DS gets on/off at his grandparents' house. You can almost see the middle school from their house. So, I think he has 3-4 kids who get on after him/off before him. Once again, not on there long enough to have any issues.

(MIL was not very happy that I wanted him to ride the bus because "There might be problems!" She wanted to drive him. I thought that was nuts with how short of a time he was on the bus. DS has told her he really enjoys it, so she lets him.)

 

[jrmasm]

Yes. I can't fathom wasting gas and enduring the hell that is the pick up/drop off lane when there is a bus available.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I drop him off in the morning, since three days of the week it's on my way anyway. He takes the bus home, unless he's staying after.

My only real complaint is that there's no late bus. So when he has clubs or needs to see a teacher, he's stuck waiting around for me.

 

[tzolkin]

Yes. I can't fathom wasting gas and enduring the hell that is the pick up/drop off lane when there is a bus available.

Me too!

The high school just moved next door to our middle school and there were complaints for weeks online about the traffic for drop off. No one could seem to grasp the concept that if fewer people drive their kids to school there would be less traffic.

When they were in elementary school the bus got home before I could have if I picked them up.

Here it seems to be expected that you're not a "good mom" unless you drive your children.

I volunteer at the schools and my kids still ride the bus even on the days I give them the option.


That said, my brother was horribly bullied and constantly beaten up (including being bit, kicked in the face, and a broken arm) throughout elementary school. There were definitely issues on the bus, but the injuries requiring trips to the hospital happened at school with adult "supervision" so not riding the bus would not have eliminated the problem.

 

[aprilgail]

In grade school she did but once she went into Jr High I drove her- it was on my way to work anyway so no big deal. Once they hit Jr. High NOTHING good ever happens on the bus!

 

[Colleen27]

They used to. My main issue with it was the time - almost 2 hours a day to get to and from a school that isn't 5 minutes up the road. The kids hated it because they had assigned bus seating and couldn't congregate with their friends, a measure I'm told was implemented either to avoid or in response to unruly behaviour.

I'm a mean mom - other than the 3 years they spent at the neighborhood elem, which is in a location that can't be walked to safely, the kids were/are expected to get themselves to and from school in all but the worst weather. The public middle & high school campus where my son went is about 3/4 mile from the house so we're not eligible for busing, and the private schools my girls attend are even closer. So they mostly walk or bike unless it is wet enough or cold enough that I feel a ride is necessary.

 

[Hikergirl]

I have always hated bringing my kids to school. I don't know why the schools here can't figure out a more organized way to drop and pick up students but in the 14 years my kids have been going to the schools here they just can't get it right.

We have had bus issues in the past, kids just being punks, fighting, smoking, etc.
What I hate is that they have to return to the school right away when something happens, so all the kids not doing anything wrong are stuck on the bus much longer than they need to be.Then the school gives out bus detention but I have yet to hear of a kid being permanently being kicked off. So far this year I haven't heard of any issues, but it seems in the HS the drivers let most stuff go anyway.

 

[StaciaRae]

Yes, my kids ride the bus to school. We live less than 5 minutes from school, and they end up being on the bus for 45 minutes - but I need them to ride so I can get ready for work myself - and they seem to enjoy it. They sit with their friends and have never complained. I would drive them if there were any issues, but I'm thankful that there haven't been any yet.

 

[soccerdad72]

No, never really had the option to. We don't have a bussing option for the private school my younger son goes to - we live just outside the area that provides bussing, so we drive him. Fortunately, we have a carpool with another family so I only generally have to take to school - the other family usually brings him home. Older son goes to a Catholic school (he drives now) which does bus, but it's through our local high school bus, so it would have been like a 1 1/2 hour trip for what amounts to a 20 minute car ride. So we took him much of his freshman year until he was able to find kids in our neighborhood who could drive him.

 

[CdnCarrie]

No. In elementary school they were in the daycare before and after so got picked/dropped off

Middle and high school they take transit or walk. Most high schools here don't have school buses. Only a handful do that include kids from outside the city limits.

 

[HarperLeigh]

Yes, they did until they started driving.

 

[stsomewhere]

Our district has no bus service. I drove them until they were old enough to drive themselves.

 

[sam_gordon]

Yes. Haven't heard of any problems.

 

[rastahomie]

IF I had kids (I don't), and IF they went to public school (they wouldn't), and IF neither I nor their mom were able to drive them (our work schedules allow us the hypothetical freedom to hypothetically drive them to school), then yes, they would ride the bus. The bus stop is right up the hill from us, a few hundred feet away.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

Yes, DS takes the bus. There are very few problems on the bus and those problems are very quickly removed from using the bus again.

 

[Lilacs4Me]

Yes, but only until middle school because we live within walking distance of the middle school. Our High school does not offer bus service. It's 1.5 miles from our house, but kids walk from up to 3 miles away or get a ride.

Never any problems - as a matter of fact, DD was bus patrol in 5th grade and from her stories, the bus patrol kids were the ones causing all the trouble lol

 

[aprilchem]

My kids take the bus. The younger two are in elementary school and we've had terrible bus problems on that bus. Last year (when all 3 of them were in elementary school) they

• had to call the police twice to come and break up fights on the bus, and one resulted in a child being taken to the hospital for stitches.
• had another incident where the bus driver almost hit a bicyclist, and the bicyclist followed them screaming and shouting expletives until the driver called the police to intervene.
• had 5-7 additional fights
• I had to call the transportation supervisor one time to complain because another bus driver was out and they had our driver run two routes, resulting in them trying to stuff 4-5 kids in each seat.
• After they finally fired the bus driver for all of the stuff above, the new bus driver they hired drove into the train tracks in the first week he was driving and almost got the bus stuck there while full of kids.

It was awful! We ended up pulling the kids off midway through the year and DH and I rearranged our work schedules so we could drive them everyday.

 

[tvguy]

Bus several ended many years ago here, except for special needs kids. Because of open enrollment, so most kids don't go to their assigned school, so there would be no way to put together a route. I guess a lot of kids actually go to the school closest to their parents work so that their parents can drive them to school

 

[E&Cmom]

We do not have bus service. Most kids live in the neighbourhood. Due to time and 2 different schools, DH drops them off in the morning but they walk home. When they were both in elemntary we would walk both ways.