How long do you kids have to ride the bus? Whiney rant.

[yeahdisney]

The bus schedule came out today. We live around 8 minutes from school, 5.25 miles. One stop sign between us and the school, with basically no traffic. School starts at 8:05AM. The school want our kids at the bus stop, our driveway, 6:35AM. That is the about the same amount of time we use to drive to Midway airport to go to Disney. I'm asking work if I can take them to school and come in late. PS the bus will go back by our house to get to the school and to pick up the neighbor kid 1.8 miles from us at 7:35AM. To return home the bus route plans on dropping off the same neighbor kid at 3:35 then ours at 3:38PM.

 

[Sadie22]

Why don't you contact the transportation coordinator (person in charge of bus transportation) to calmly discuss this discrepancy in the morning and afternoon routes and the illogic of the morning scheduling? That person and his/ner staff may not be aware of this problem and can do nothing to fix it if you do not speak up.

 

[Colleen27]

We live about 1/2 mile from the elem and the kids were on the bus for 45min in the afternoon. Mornings weren't as bad - at the stop at 8:15 am for an 8:35 drop-off - but we were last on, last off so the after school ride was long.

I'm a mean mom, I made them put up with the bus schedule even though I'm a SAHM. Our school isn't safe to walk to (50mph country road, no sidewalk) so all the kids are bused, the stop was right in front of our house, and I didn't see any reason to haul my youngest out to save them the long ride. They learned to make the best of it, though - they both did their homework on the bus more often than not so they could go right out to play when they got home.

 

[LockShockBarrel]

I don't have kids and haven't had to deal with buses since I was in school almost 10 years ago..but OP, that was my time schedule for getting from my house to my high school (about 5 miles away) then to get off the bus and wait for a second one to get to a trade school that was about 10 miles away using the thruway. So I find that for your kids a bit ridiculous.

 

[littlebit0863]

Is it possible your kid's bus is shared with other schools, and that's why they have to start the route so early? I don't really understand the route they are taking, though. I know here in our town the elementary, middle, and high schools all share buses and so some kids are picked up at weird times. Our district started something last year where if you live less than two miles from the school you have to walk. Well my coworker's daughter (10 years old) would have had to walk past a known drug park, and across a very busy street to get to school. And the very busy street is the one in her neighborhood, so it's not like there's a crossing guard. So my co-worker has to take her daughter to school super early and take her lunch late every day to pick her daughter up. I know I kind of went off on a rant, but the transportation system makes no sense sometimes.

 

[usd2bmd]

This may sound like a silly question but is the bus going in hte smae direction both times it passes your house? How old are your kids? and the neighbors child?

The reason I ask is that in NYS children 5 and under are not supposed to cross the street to get on the bus or get to the bus stop.
Could this be the reason?

When my daughter was in Kindergarten I did have to have the route changed so she didn't have t cross the street. We live on a busy street.

As for now, she doesn't ride the bus...I drop her off (and her friends) every morning.

 

[angwill]

The bus schedule came out today. We live around 8 minutes from school, 5.25 miles. One stop sign between us and the school, with basically no traffic. School starts at 8:05AM. The school want our kids at the bus stop, our driveway, 6:35AM. That is the about the same amount of time we use to drive to Midway airport to go to Disney. I'm asking work if I can take them to school and come in late. PS the bus will go back by our house to get to the school and to pick up the neighbor kid 1.8 miles from us at 7:35AM. To return home the bus route plans on dropping off the same neighbor kid at 3:35 then ours at 3:38PM.

We had the same issues here where the bus took 1 hour and a half each way and it made no sense. The bus here also went past the house picked him up then came back past a half hour alter so it could have easily picked him up a half hour later. That was K through 8 now in high school it is 1/2 hour in and 1 hour home. At the age where he would gladly sleep on the bus the extra time he doesn't have to sit that long. The only choice we had was to drive him so I arranged it so I could.

We called the bus garage manager who told us they use load software that tells them how to best pick up and drop off the kids and they were not willing to pick him up on the second pass of our house. We pointed out that the software was made for product that truck drivers pick up and deliver not for children going to school. Maybe your bus garage supervisor will be more perceptive to your suggestions. It's worth a try.

 

[Swan4Me]

This is why my kids rode bus TO school-they were last picked up

BUT I picked them up after-because they would be last dropped off-a long bus ride-and we were close to school

 

[Mom21]

For my dd school starts at 7:40 and if she rides the bus in morning she has to be at bus stop by 6:10. For afternoons she is one of first dropped off. rason they do that is because they switch it up so kids only have to ride but long either in morning or afternoon. Makes sense to me. Not fair for a child to be first picked up and last dropped off......KWIM? They do route in same order so first picked up is first dropped off and vice versa. I usually do not make my kid ride the bus in morning unless I have to work and only in afternoons. Her dad has her 2 mornings a week and since he doesn't live in district her has to take her. For the one evening he has her he picks her up too. So I take her 3 mornings and she rides bus home 4 days. I will say last year was her first year of high school. She was homeschooled and entered 10th grade last year. She has one more year for bus and then she can drive for 12th.

I just consider it part of being a kid and going to school.

 

[angwill]

For my dd school starts at 7:40 and if she rides the bus in morning she has to be at bus stop by 6:10. For afternoons she is one of first dropped off. rason they do that is because they switch it up so kids only have to ride but long either in morning or afternoon. Makes sense to me. Not fair for a child to be first picked up and last dropped off......KWIM? They do route in same order so first picked up is first dropped off and vice versa. I usually do not make my kid ride the bus in morning unless I have to work and only in afternoons. Her dad has her 2 mornings a week and since he doesn't live in district her has to take her. For the one evening he has her he picks her up too. So I take her 3 mornings and she rides bus home 4 days. I will say last year was her first year of high school. She was homeschooled and entered 10th grade last year. She has one more year for bus and then she can drive for 12th.

I just consider it part of being a kid and going to school.

What your school does makes perfect sense but that is not the way they do it where we live. First on means last off too and there is no reasoning otherwise with the bus garage.

 

[Mom21]

What your school does makes perfect sense but that is not the way they do it where we live. First on means last off too and there is no reasoning otherwise with the bus garage.

First of all, hats off to you for making sense of my post with all the typos.

No otherwise isn't fair to the kids. Our county tries and make it as fair to the children as they can. My dd makes out well because she very, very rarely rides the am bus unless she wants to do so. She is one of first dropped off. I can't believe they think first picked up in morning should be last dropped off in evening would work for any school system. What is their reasoning? Not like it saves miles, gas, or money.

 

[yeahdisney]

Answered to your questions.
No real rhyme or reason for the pick up. Last year DS was the 3rd kid on in the morning and the 3rd last off,the school last year did not reverse the route in the afternoon. They made our neighbor kid be the first on and the last off she was on longer than DS boy rode, over 1 hr 15 minute. For us I live on a corner, from the west I can not see if the bus comes from that way, the bus is to take the same route every day, last year a different kid broke his leg in January so the mom took her kid to school while the cast was on. That bus driver at times would not go down his road so he would could skip roads and come from the west which he was not suppose to do. I can see the bus from our windows from 4 miles away I have the kid walk out right then when it is minus zero the bus never waited for him but if he came from the west he had to wait while DS run to him a shortish driveway. I did not tell the school I just dealt with it.

When DD was in kindergarden they wanted me to walk off my east/west road to the north/south road crossing it and put her on the bus at 6:55AM from the school that was 8 minutes away. That year I was second shift I drove her to school everyday. When I asked the bus director that year about a kindergarden crossing the road that has 55 mile speed limit county road with unmowed ditches, and being picked up off that road the response was too bad "be careful".

When DS was on that bus for third grade the bus went by our house from the north then returned 40 minutes later from the east I asked if I have someone walk to the corner everyday will you let him off, which what they made me do 2 years prior crossing the road, they told me nope. The bus driver said come get him, I never asked did they OK it.

Last year DS got off on the north street, the youngest the busy road; DD the west road, we are 150 yards from the one corner.

I did call the school today and left a message school could they catch the bus on the second pass.

I actually know the bus director, I grew up with her husband. Her MIL and my mom are friends that visited every Friday nite. My brother is her MIL closest neighbor who comes to her whenever she calls afraid, any problem in her house. I called twice in 7 years, she states no change.

So I figure either drive them or switch the AM pick up every morning to a neighbor. And yes to the question the neighbor kid is in the same building as we would be. And no other school are bussed to us.

 

[Vixster]

We don't have buses that stop at our house would be really useful though

 

[Marionnette]

The bus schedule came out today. We live around 8 minutes from school, 5.25 miles. One stop sign between us and the school, with basically no traffic. School starts at 8:05AM. The school want our kids at the bus stop, our driveway, 6:35AM. That is the about the same amount of time we use to drive to Midway airport to go to Disney. I'm asking work if I can take them to school and come in late. PS the bus will go back by our house to get to the school and to pick up the neighbor kid 1.8 miles from us at 7:35AM. To return home the bus route plans on dropping off the same neighbor kid at 3:35 then ours at 3:38PM.

So, why not just drop the kids off at the neighbor's house for the bus to pick them up in the morning? In my experience, the bus manager was very inflexible and pretty much turned a deaf ear to any concerns the parents had. However, the kids could walk to another stop to board the same bus without any comment from the school or the bus driver. I didn't like having my kids on the bus for close to an hour when we live less than 10 minutes from the schools. But "public" transportation is never going to be as convenient as driving yourself.

 

[Jedana]

I wish DS could ride the bus. We're within the 2 mile boundary (1.95 miles--the kids on the inside of our cul-de-sac can ride, but those at the front where we are, cannot).

Where we used to live, DS and DD2 had to catch their respective buses an hour early. We were half an hour away from the schools, in good traffic. There were days they were late because the traffic was so bad in between stops--DS's school had to make our complex a 2 bus stop and only for the complex because there were soo many kids.

For DD, she was the first picked up and the last dropped off--the bus started at the depot and we were the closest to it.

 

[kamik86]

First of all, hats off to you for making sense of my post with all the typos.

No otherwise isn't fair to the kids. Our county tries and make it as fair to the children as they can. My dd makes out well because she very, very rarely rides the am bus unless she wants to do so. She is one of first dropped off. I can't believe they think first picked up in morning should be last dropped off in evening would work for any school system. What is their reasoning? Not like it saves miles, gas, or money.

It can in some areas save miles, gas, money and bus driver time. My elementary school was like this. I was first on and last off. The reason is that the buses aren't stored at the school they are kept at the company lot that the school was paying to run the buses, which was much closer to my house then to the school. So the driver would take the bus from the lot get to my house drive towards the school with small detours picking up students then get to the school. On the way home we would do the whole thing in reverse. To drop me off first would have meant to drive past many of the kids houses and then drive almost all the way back to the school dropping off kids then all the way back towards my house to bring the bus back to the lot.

The way your school does it works well though if the route is kind of circular.

To the one that had the bus route being done my software... Yeah that bothers me a bit that no humans look at it to be sure it makes sense at the end. Because this problem of the best order to hit locations to drive the least amount of time is a special software problem known as np complete. The problem is known as the traveling salesman problem and is the classic example of a problem that software cannot be made to give an optimal answer to every time. Software can only estimate something close to optimal so its a good starting point but a human needs to check it in the end.

 

[maggs1035]

First, call your bus garage and ask for a solution, if that doesn't do the job then you need to check your state law! In NY state it is against the law for children to be on the bus longer than an hour! If they give you trouble, tell them you are taking it to the board of education! That is way too long on a bus, and it doesn't even seem necessary.

 

[scbelleatheart]

For years our school had a transportation director who did a fantastic job. She would schedule 1st on-1st off one year and the next year, last on-last off. Then they eliminated her position and converted to a computer program.
That's when all heck broke loose. We live 10 minutes max (2.5 miles) from the school. My kids were supposed to get on the bus ay 6:10 for an 8:05 start and get off at 4:30 for a 3:00 day end. Another bus would pass our house around 7:30 and 3:20 everyday. Needless to say we drove our kids for the next several years until they could drive because "you cannot change what the computer has scheduled!"
The TD did a great job for 20 years and it is now run by a computer program that is not even in the bus garage. It is in the admin offices. Imagine how that works when a driver calls in or we have bad weather.

 

[HHSTigerFan]

The bus schedule came out today. We live around 8 minutes from school, 5.25 miles. One stop sign between us and the school, with basically no traffic. School starts at 8:05AM. The school want our kids at the bus stop, our driveway, 6:35AM. That is the about the same amount of time we use to drive to Midway airport to go to Disney. I'm asking work if I can take them to school and come in late. PS the bus will go back by our house to get to the school and to pick up the neighbor kid 1.8 miles from us at 7:35AM. To return home the bus route plans on dropping off the same neighbor kid at 3:35 then ours at 3:38PM.

What school district? With Illinois cutting back on transportation funding, schools are getting desperate to cut costs..

 

[nilseks]

That's crazy...it seems as though some kind of mistake was overlooked. Hopefully your bus company can fix things. If not, is there anyone else nearby in the same predicament that would share carpooling duties with you?