What ever happened to taking the bus to school?

[padams]

Kids go to private school, no bus. They definitely suffer from bus envy. They think it would be so fun to ride a bus to and from school. When they were younger, they loved just riding the WDW buses and the monorail. They considered them rides just like the Mountains, etc.

 

[pirateofthecarolinas]

DD13 rides bus in morning, but I pick her up. She attends a magnet program and her bus ride is an hour. I feel that 2 hours a day on a bus is too much. If I can't pick her up then she rides the bus home.

DS7 received a transfer to another elem. school therefore we have to provide transportation. I take him and a friend picks him up.

DS15 rides bus to and from school except when he is playing a sport.

 

[ZachnElli]

In our school district, if you live within 4 miles, no bus. And if you live 3.99 miles from school, no bus for you! I see the OP'r lives in North Carolina, so I assume you don't have to deal with snow, well we do and walking over 3 miles with mounds of snow piled in sidewalks doesn't work too well. My youngest will be starting kindergarten next year and I honestly don't trust him to make it to school without me. He'd see a tree and want to climb it, a dog to play with, a snow fort to climb in, etc. School, what school?

 

[lillygator]

well we live within two miles of the school so no bus service provided. Even if there were, my kids would not be on it. I see such small kids walking on the way and I just don't want that for my girls. I know things can happen anywhere but as long as I can provide to drive them I will.

 

[shortbun]

I'm a school bus driver in a large inter-urban school system. We bus all grades even though the state only requires we bus up to 8th grade. Not sure what the mileage is but around 1.5 miles away is the requirement for bus eligibility - there are exceptions, ie. special needs, having to walk across a highway. Of the approx. 70,000 enrolled, we bus about 35,000 daily. All of our high schoolers have a public bus pass if they need it or choose to use it. I've been driving a bus for about 7 years. The high school student parking lots are far less crowded than they were when I first started. Driving-insurance, fuel, repair- has just gotten too expensive when there is free transportation offered.

 

[mrsmom]

My middle schooler rides the bus but There is no bus service for my high schoolers , i pay a bus company 115.00 a month to pick them up and drop them off everyday.

 

[Crystal0608]

Mine will never ride a bus based on my personal experience as a kid. It was 2 hours a day on a hot bus plus in middle you also rode with high schoolers...well in 6th grade (very rural farm area) I learned more sexual terminology and saw more 2nd & 3rd base junk going on than I cared to hear or see. In elementary school, 2 of the bus drivers kids kicked the back of my legs every day when I was in K and left bruises and nothing was done about it.

I could go on and on, but it takes 20 minutes roundtrip to drop the kids off at 2 different schools. Pickup takes about 45 minutes, but still worth it.

 

[lovepurple]

In our area, the kids aren't necessarily "zoned" for the school that is right down the street from them. I do not want my kindergartener riding the bus for 1.5 hours (he would take one bus to a hub and change buses) so I drive him. My high schooler does ride the bus but that is because I can't get her and her brother both to and from school on time since they are in opposite directions. I wish she didn't have to ride the bus because all sorts of terrible things happen on the bus. She told me about the kids at the bus stop (which she has to walk quite a way to) and said they smoke pot in the mornings. I didn't believe her until I saw it for myself. Her bus driver also had two accidents last year (running into parked cars).

 

[WDWMom]

When I was in school we lived close enough that I was considered a walker. Never took a bus in my life (except field trips). Now my own kids both get driven and ride the bus. In elementary we lived close enough for DD to walk/ride bike. When it was really cold a group of us car pooled. We moved when DD was in middle school and boys in elementary. Boys then took the bus and had no problems with it. Picked up at the end of our street until there were 20 kids in the neighborhood. Then the bus would come through. They rode both ways and then when the weather was nice they would walk through a field to come home. We can see the school from our house in the winter and it is about a 10 minutes walk home. About 35 minutes by bus.

Once the kids were in middle/high school we drove in the morning. Had a neighbor who worked 2 blocks from the middle school so he was going there and took his son, DD and another boy. Plus I subbed for our school district and would take them the days I was at the middle school. They always take the bus home. After we moved, DD was the only one at the bus stop. We weren't comfortable with her walking to the corner and crossing the street (busy road) to get on the bus. We were used to driving and I was still subbing. Once DS started middle school and DD was in high school we thought they could both ride. Didn't work well with DS having high anxiety. It was a long bus ride and stopped the high school first and the middle school. He was so worried he was going to be late, he worked himself up and had a hard time coming down. We felt he education was more important, plus the kids still slept in a bit longer. We still drive both boys now that they are in 8th and 9th grade out of habit. DH is usually going to work anyway so it is no big deal. About a 15 minute round trip to both schools for us. They both still ride home unless they have sports. Then we pick them up as it is about 3-4 miles home.

 

[diznygirl]

I read on here all the time about problems people run into taking their kids to school or picking them up. problems withe the pickup line, problems dropping off at school, etc. So my question is this: Why doesn't your child take the bus? I recall briefly when I was a freshman in high school, our district lost it's budget and had to operate on an austerity budget so anyone living within 3 miles of the school lost bus service (that would be me!)...so my best friend and I got driven in the morning and WALKED home three miles after school. Then as a senior in HS I had a problem with my back that made sitting excruciating, so my mom drove me the 5 minutes to school rather than endure 30 minutes on the bus. I still had to take the bus home though.

Outside of those extenuating circumstances (like being bullied, or missing the bus, or a medical issue) why do so many kids get driven to school? My mom would have laughed right at me if I had asked to be driven everyday.

Sorry this bothers you so much. There are no busses at our elementary school and my kids are too young to walk. I think those are perfectly acceptable reasons to be driven to school.

 

[WDWMom]

Now, we have several kids in our neighborhood who mom's drive them to and from every day to elementary school. Only k-5 on the bus, so I don't get it. Especially since the bus stop is within 7 house of most people and you can see it out your front door. No big deal to me, not my gas.

 

[Planogirl]

In our district you have to live over 2 miles away to take the bus. This doesn't sound so bad except DS often has a lot to carry plus the streets are very busy which worried me when he was younger.

 

[aprilgail2]

Kids will ride their bikes in non-inclement weather with parental escort until a certain age, then the kids can buddy up if they have a bike buddy.
.)

Our kids are not allowed to ride bikes to school- if they show up on a bike they are sent home to take the bike home.

Buses also have accidents, and I had much rather (in fact, I insist) DH or I be the one behind the wheel with our precious cargo!

Do you allow your child to go on school trips? This year the longest trip on a school bus was 2 hours but next year they go on a trip that is 5-6 hours each way on a school bus!

Mine will never ride a bus based on my personal experience as a kid. It was 2 hours a day on a hot bus plus in middle you also rode with high schoolers...well in 6th grade (very rural farm area) I learned more sexual terminology and saw more 2nd & 3rd base junk going on than I cared to hear or see. In elementary school, 2 of the bus drivers kids kicked the back of my legs every day when I was in K and left bruises and nothing was done about it.
.

When I was a kid the bus driver pulled a knife on my friend because she was making to much noise. I was in 2nd or 3rd grade and I remember going home and keeping my mouth shut about it but someone called my parents from the school and needed me to come in and give a statement- I was SO scared-I didn't want to tell on the bus driver and have to go on the bus with him there after I ratted on him!!
My daughter takes the bus this year most days- if you live 1/4 mile away from the school you get a bus. Sometimes if we are out late the night before I will drive her because we get to sleep an extra hour. Next year when she goes to Jr. High I will drive her in the mornings and she can take the bus home in the afternoon- I pass right by the school on my way to work the same time she needs to be there so its just as easy for me to drop her off than to take the bus.

 

[OceanAnnie]

[ When I was a kid the bus driver pulled a knife on my friend because she was making to much noise. I was in 2nd or 3rd grade and I remember going home and keeping my mouth shut about it but someone called my parents from the school and needed me to come in and give a statement- I was SO scared-I didn't want to tell on the bus driver and have to go on the bus with him there after I ratted on him!!
My daughter takes the bus this year most days- if you live 1/4 mile away from the school you get a bus. Sometimes if we are out late the night before I will drive her because we get to sleep an extra hour. Next year when she goes to Jr. High I will drive her in the mornings and she can take the bus home in the afternoon- I pass right by the school on my way to work the same time she needs to be there so its just as easy for me to drop her off than to take the bus.

Whoa.

 

[Chelley00]

Do you allow your child to go on school trips? This year the longest trip on a school bus was 2 hours but next year they go on a trip that is 5-6 hours each way on a school bus!

I have huge issues with busses being on long trips, especially if they are on highways or interstates. It's illegal for my kids to be in a car without a seatbelt on, but then they are supposed to be on a bus, with someone I've never met driving them however fast with no seatbelts?

 

[luvmy3]

My kids take the bus and I don't care if I have to drag them out to the bus stop half dressed to make sure they catch it. Our morning drop off is a nightmare and after years of parent complaints, the solution they came up with didn't do much to help the situation. Its safer for my kids to take teh bus, I have seen things in the morning that have made my heart stop I only pick up if its required because of an afterschool activity.

 

[pansmermaidzlagoon]

we have bus service and it is paid for with tax dollars, so DD uses it!!!

only exceptions are large projects and there was a time she got out too late to make it to an activity, so we picked her up that one day of the week. I don't understand parents who waste the gas to pick up kids "just because"! Quite a few do that here.

 

[Val]

I would love it if my kids took the bus....but I have had it with the bus service and lack of control on the bus. Twice in the 6th grade another child threw my DS's personal belongings out the window. Yes, the child was given a detention and then suspended, but was right back on the bus. Our bus (HS and JrHi) picks up in our rural subdivision, then into town through the "bad' apartment complex. We have had a parent attempt to stab the bus driver, constant fights, and the kids from that complex take great glee in throwing other kid's belongings out of the windows. No bus monitor, and I don't see how the driver can drive AND watch the behavior of the kids. These are not small kids, and they pick on and hurt the smaller kids. I am on a committee that was created to work on this issue- we made recommendations to the school board, but no changes. We now have a HS car pool and a Jr hi car pool. Seems we can't violate the poorly behaved kids "right" to transportation, but it is okay to violate the other kid's right to a safe ride! Ugh!

Good thing that the school is on my way to work!

 

[lillygator]

Sorry this bothers you so much. There are no busses at our elementary school and my kids are too young to walk. I think those are perfectly acceptable reasons to be driven to school.

I don't think there is ANY reason needed to give to be driven to school. And for all the bus riders - what ages and do you wait at the bus stops with them?

 

[kinntj]

My kids ride the bus and they enjoy it right now. Most kids get driven to schools starting in 5th grade. We'll take it one year at a time.