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

[Sheaboys]

We live in a small town rural area. The only ones that walk, are those that live in the center of town, or streets right near the school. But it is a choice.

Bus picks up kids at the end of their driveways, there are no street lights, no sidewalks and most roads are only big enough for 1 vehicle. They are mountain roads, hills, windy, and 2 highways.

This year we moved, to a 5 house road. There is no turn around, because the road ends at a farm. So the kids are picked up at the end of the street, which about 1/2 mile from my house and I can't see them, again no street lights, and we are up on a mountain and around a bend.

We were last on, first off, on our old road, now we are last on, last off. Because of the way the route is. So my middle schooler and high schooler catch the bus at 6:35am, get to school at 7:20, home about 2:30. Elementary is 8:05am, they get to school about 8:20, and home about 3:30pm. The elementary school is in our town, where as the junior high and high school are in another town. But they share the bus.

I would hope the bus driver would think how ridiculous her ride/route is and have a discussion with the superior to improve it.

 

[wgeo]

I wish our schools has buses! I live in a medium sized city, (there are 12 elementary schools here) and the only bus service available is for children with special needs. Before and after school pick up at the schools is an absolute nightmare when every single kid is dropped off by a parent! It's like Lord of the Flies out there. This year my 2nd grader and 3rd grader will be in 2 different schools across the city from each other, both starting at the exact same time - still haven't figured out the carpooling on that one yet. It would help if it didn't take 15 minutes to get in and out of the parking lots. They used to have busses but it got cut out of the budget years and years ago.

 

[North of Mouse]

Wow, I really feel for you guys that have NO buses for your children to ride to school Just didn't realize that bus transportation to public schools wasn't a given!

We are from a deep south state, have lived in several southern states with job transfers and have never been in a situation where there were no buses available - even lived in Maryland (which considers themselves southern - not).

I naively even thought it was a federal requirement to have available buses for children to go to school! I live in NC now and there are buses for every child, unless you opt to go to a different school than assigned.

We DO have the early pick-ups and long bus rides though - seems to get worse every year. Good luck to all of you

 

[angierae]

Our district cut busses my daughter's sophmore year. It's 5.5 miles to school, so not really walkable.

I would put her on that bus for 45 minutes if it meant we didn't have to rearrange our entire schedule all year long to drive her to and from school.

 

[dawnball]

The city bus my daughter could take would mean being at the bus stop (about a quarter mile away) by 7:25, because that's the soonest the bus could get there based on the last time checkpoint. In reality, the bus likely goes by about 7:35, but I've never been there to see it. It would also get her to school 30 minutes early, and if the bus is running ahead of schedule, she'd have to sit on the bus until they let her off, 30 minutes before class started.

On the way home, she'd have 10-15 minutes (depending on the bus she took) to wait for the bus, then about a five minute bus ride and a quarter of a mile walk home again.

And it costs $1/day/direction, or a $1.25 if I don't pre-buy the tokens.

Given that the walk home from school is only a mile, and the bus saves her 3/4 of a mile - I told my daughter I'd pay her a buck every day she didn't use the tokens to get home. My husband can drop her at the school on his way to work, or I can bicycle with her in the mornings.

 

[MomToOne]

And it costs $1/day/direction, or a $1.25 if I don't pre-buy the tokens.

Our city offers monthly bus passes at reduced rates for students, although they aren't widely advertised. The pass is $35/month for unlimited rides. If you take the bus both ways, they are a good deal. No chance yours does the same?

 

[dawnball]

Our city offers monthly bus passes at reduced rates for students, although they aren't widely advertised. The pass is $35/month for unlimited rides. If you take the bus both ways, they are a good deal. No chance yours does the same?

I can get her a monthly youth pass, and it's pretty close to the same. I'd rather pay her $25/month to walk an extra mile than pay the bus $36/month to transport her.

Besides, it means that next year I can just expect her to walk, and make her pay for bus tokens out of her allowance.

 

[markjc13]

Our son's time on the bus has increased from a total of 35 minutes riding both ways to 70 minutes! A change in boundaries, a change in elementary schools, and less bussing provided has certainly had an impact.

 

[yeahdisney]

I did state it was a whiney rate. I am grateful we still have busses available. I wasn't thrilled that the bus also wanted the kids outside 15 minutes early. That would be outside 6:35am. I did call the bus director last week. She called back tonight at 7:30 said sorry for calling a few days after I had called. She said they could catch the other bus that runs by our house. She stated as some disers said it is a computer program and the program did not see the other bus was available too. She said they lost other kids (not sure want that meant) but our kids could ride the other bus which does pick up our closest neighbor's kids. Unsure of the times, she would get back to me. I told her just to leave it on my answering machine and I would just go ahead and take them to school everyday this week. Work did say I could come in late on school days. Thanks for letting me whine.

 

[angwill]

I did state it was a whiney rate. I am grateful we still have busses available. I wasn't thrilled that the bus also wanted the kids outside 15 minutes early. That would be outside 6:35am. I did call the bus director last week. She called back tonight at 7:30 said sorry for calling a few days after I had called. She said they could catch the other bus that runs by our house. She stated as some disers said it is a computer program and the program did not see the other bus was available too. She said they lost other kids (not sure want that meant) but our kids could ride the other bus which does pick up our closest neighbor's kids. Unsure of the times, she would get back to me. I told her just to leave it on my answering machine and I would just go ahead and take them to school everyday this week. Work did say I could come in late on school days. Thanks for letting me whine.

Wow it is nice to have a good bus director. Glad they fixed the problem for you and hope it gets fixed fast.

 

[Ephany]

I did state it was a whiney rate. I am grateful we still have busses available. I wasn't thrilled that the bus also wanted the kids outside 15 minutes early. That would be outside 6:35am. I did call the bus director last week. She called back tonight at 7:30 said sorry for calling a few days after I had called. She said they could catch the other bus that runs by our house. She stated as some disers said it is a computer program and the program did not see the other bus was available too. She said they lost other kids (not sure want that meant) but our kids could ride the other bus which does pick up our closest neighbor's kids. Unsure of the times, she would get back to me. I told her just to leave it on my answering machine and I would just go ahead and take them to school everyday this week. Work did say I could come in late on school days. Thanks for letting me whine.

Glad that things are looking better for you!

The drop off/pick up situation at DD's school is baaaad this year. Not sure what's changed from previous years, but the wait time is awful compared to what it was before. After the first few days of school, they sent out an email pleading with parents to double check bus routes; you might be on one and didn't know it. They even had police directing traffic and it was still a mess.

We had always thought we lived too close (less than a mile), but it turns out we're on a route. DH had been walking down to pick her up in the afternoon and it was faster to walk there and back then wait in the car rider line. I was dropping her off in the morning on my way to school and what was a 2-3 minute line last year has turned into a 15 minutes wait.

So now she gets on the bus at 7:15 and is at school by 7:30. In the afternoons she's home by 3:15. I can't complain and if I take the back way I can avoid the school traffic. She's thrilled because she's getting herself to school all by herself and I don't have to wait in that line. Win-win.

 

[ajk912]

I have to agree that a school can't ban walkers. A school can say that there will be no UNSUPERVISED walkers, because a child must be released to either a parent/sign out person OR to the bus driver. My kids' old elementary school was like that. There were no sidewalks but there was nothing stopping a parent from doing parent pickup and then just walking your kid home each day. A school can't dictate that those whose dismissal is parent pickup that they MUST enter a vehicle after walking out of the school building, KWIM?

 

[riley2008]

I did state it was a whiney rate. I am grateful we still have busses available. I wasn't thrilled that the bus also wanted the kids outside 15 minutes early. That would be outside 6:35am. I did call the bus director last week. She called back tonight at 7:30 said sorry for calling a few days after I had called. She said they could catch the other bus that runs by our house. She stated as some disers said it is a computer program and the program did not see the other bus was available too. She said they lost other kids (not sure want that meant) but our kids could ride the other bus which does pick up our closest neighbor's kids. Unsure of the times, she would get back to me. I told her just to leave it on my answering machine and I would just go ahead and take them to school everyday this week. Work did say I could come in late on school days. Thanks for letting me whine.

Glad it worked out for you! Also, something that doesn't seem to be mentioned here, is that for school districts that still provide transportation, they often want to get kids to school 30 minutes early for those that eat breakfast at school.

And my story - 2 years ago my boys rode the bus. We live on a cul-de-sac and 2 other kids on the street of 6 houses also lived on the same rode. When our district rerouted and only provided drop off at their designated point - which was 20 feet from the highway, rather than in the cul-de-sac and the three houses of the kids (about a 0.5 mile away). The bus took longer to make their 3-point turn on our very narrow gravelly roads, rather than safely turning around in the cul-de-sac. Bus went off the road three times (maybe more) and got stuck, having to be towed out.

Sometimes common sense works out so much better.

 

[Leajess99]

Our school district offers free breakfast for all kids this year. The past years it was free for all elementary and 1 middle school. Anyway, our buses are supposed to have the kids to school early enough so they may eat. The buses also run from one school route to the next.

Many of the buses are dropping elementary kids off at their school as soon as the school doors open for the kids (7:10 for my little one's school) so that they can head out for their middle/high school route. My high schooler gets on the bus at 7:30 and her school starts at 8:30. She is one of the first ones picked up too. Her school is almost 7 miles away this year and last year the middle school was 12 miles away. We have some interesting district lines since there is another middle school and high school 2 miles away.

My youngest does not ride the bus and has to be dropped off and picked up everyday. I wish she could ride a bus but due to medical reasons she goes to school out of district so no bus. Her school is 6 miles away.

Also, only 1 school in our district has any buses that transport elementary, middle, and high schools together. It is a very rural area in our county.

 

[mamattorney]

Wow - those are serious bus rides. We don't qualify for busing (too close), but those that do are on the bus for 20 - 25 min max. I guess it's because we are in a suburban area. My kids walk every day and the walk is about 15 minutes for a meandering elementary school kid - so the kids on the buses have about the same commute. I figure the walking is good for them on many levels - it allows them to run, skip, jump yell and otherwise feel a little freedom before they have to concentrate on learning all day.

 

[holden]

Wow! I guess we are lucky. DD9 gets on the bus at 8:44am and school starts at 9 (school is about a 5 min. ride by car). School ends at 3:35 and she is home by 4 at the latest.

DD5 will be in PM kgtn this year. Bus comes at 12:35 and she'll come home with DD9 before 4.

The high school, however, is about 25min. by car from our house. We are on the edge of our district. I can't even imagine how long that bus ride will be. We are thinking about private school for high school.

 

[HeatherFeather]

I am also feeling grateful for the largely hassle free bus service to DD's middle school. Her bus has only three stops to fill it and they are all on our street. Long street and lots of kids in the neighborhood. School is about 4 miles away...bus picks up at 8:35 and school starts at 9:00. I think this is perfectly reasonable for a bus ride but I would be pretty unhappy with as long as some of you others have. Maybe those buses make a lot more stops?

 

[caribear]

My kids are on the bus for a while too. They are going to a great charter school in our area....and it seems like a long drive from our house. Last year DS5 was in Pre-K and I drove and picked him up from school each day. Between driving to the school and waiting in the drop off/pick up line I was spending 2 hours a day in car lines....and $120 in gas. This year both kids are at the same school and DD10 is able to watch DS5 on the bus...so pick up is at 7:20am....school starts at 8:35am.....and drop off is at 4:15pm....school is over at 3:15pm. DD10 says it feels like she is on the bus forever. The regular elementary school is less than a mile from our house, but I am thinking of our children's education and know this is the best choice.

 

[HeyIt'sMe]

We live about 10 minutes from DD's high school.

The bus picks her up at 6:49am and school starts at 7:33am
School lets out at 2:24pm and she gets home around 2:50pm

Last year she didn't get home until 3:10pm but due to a change in the bus routes this year she gets home earlier now.

 

[yeahdisney]

My last update. The kids get to ride the later bus at7:38am, lots better than 6:50am.