Why do you (or did you) drive your kids to school instead of using the bus?

[slo]

Both of my girls took the bus to elementary & middle school - there and back. Reason…there was no reason for me to take them, and it taught them time management at a young age. If they missed the bus because they weren’t getting ready on time, then a slight punishment was given. I did help them keep on track in the morning, and rarely did they get off track because they were being difficult. They were always good about getting ready for school.
*Sidenote - on inclement weather days I would drive my DDs to the bus stop so they could stay out of the weather until the bus came.

I drove them to high school in the morning and they took the bus home. Reason….the bus comes crazy early when it’s still dark out. There were no other kids at the bus stop and I wasn’t comfortable with them standing out there alone in the dark. We live 7 minutes away from the high school, so I figured I can either drive them to the bus stop or drive them to school - since the school is close, I just drove them.

After each of my girls got their license, they drove to school until they graduated.

 

[QueenIsabella]

When my older two were in elementary, I drove them in. Reason: they were the very first ones to be picked up, then had to ride/sit on the bus for 50 minutes each morning--they couldn't exit the bus until the bell rang. Worse, in 4th-5th grade, my DD was in a special program that meant she was supposed to ride the MS/HS bus (we lived rural), then catch a second bus to her special program on Fridays. So, leave the house at 7am, spend close to 2 hours on buses.

They did take the bus home.

Nowadays, my youngest is doing dual enrollment. I either drop him off after his college class, or pick him up early, then take him to the college--that what I'm doing this semester. He takes the bus the other way.

I truly don't understand the parents who choose to drive their kids, every single day, for no real reason. But, they sure seem to be a lot of them--at our local middle school, they start to line up, an hour in advance. I've actually had to fight the line for a legitimate pick-up (say, a dental appointment).

 

[princesscinderella]

We have always driven our kids because they attend private school, elementary and middle has no bus service. My middle daughter is at a private high school that does offer bus service but the timing of it for afternoon drop off doesn’t work with all her activities after school and she’s had to be at the stop at 6:15 am when school doesn’t start until 7:45. Her school is not far from my husband’s office so he drops her in the morning while I take my youngest to her school.

It always made field trips extra fun because they got to ride in a school bus

 

[Christine]

When my kids went to public school, they took the bus. When they went to private and we had no bus service, of course I had to drive them.

In my area, no one is very far from their school. We have lots of schools and are densely populated. I have two elementary schools within 2 miles of me within either direction. The busses roll through my neighborhood now because they have to (and we don't have a shortage). Compared to 20 years ago, no kids are at the busstop any more. But the busses go through anyway. It's kind of sad. What I have noticed now with all the expanded teleworking, more parents are driving their kids. The amount of traffic the driving parents are creating has really wreaked havoc on the local roads and has been brought up to the county supervisors. There is absolutely no room for all the parents at drop off and pick up and they are backed out for a good half mile into the traffic lanes. It's been a huge change.

 

[Kitty 34]

Small town here. My boys either walked or caught a ride with me if I was subbing at their school (either elementary or the MS/HS) There was a "town" bus but they chose not to ride it. In HS, when they got their license and their clunker they chose to drive to school and to all their sports' practices.

 

[Boopuff]

When my girls were in elementary, the bus picked up on our corner. The girls said some of the kids on the bus were nuts, but they sat upfront and had no problems. We moved to a "walking" school district no busses. The elementary school was 3 blocks away they walked everyday. (even so the line of parents dropping kids off was crazy) The middle school was over a mile, but still no busses. A big pack of kids would bike daily, until winter, when most would get rides. High school was busses.

 

[easyas123]

Elementary school - kids took the bus
Middle School - kids rode their bikes about 1 mile each way
High School - there was no bussing, school was about 45 min. away, so I carpooled with two other parents in our area until the eldest got his license, then he drove himself & his younger brother.

 

[CdnCarrie]

Several mentions of kids driving with licenses. Did you all buy each kid a car at age 16?

 

[unrequited23]

I drive my oldest to middle school each morning. He would need to catch the bus at 6:30 and school doesn't start until 8. It's a 5 minute drive.

 

[soccerdad72]

Several mentions of kids driving with licenses. Did you all buy each kid a car at age 16?

We did buy a third car when our oldest turned 16 (we never referred to it as "his" car). Our younger son drove my wife's car when he turned 16 for awhile (pandemic times, most of the time one of us were home anyways) and eventually we did buy a fourth car, probably a little after he was 16 1/2.

 

[emmybee]

We tried school transportation when my daughter was in elementary school, but it wasn't very good. She would have to meet the bus at some ridiculous hour like 0630 when school started at 0830! So we drove her to school. She had to ride the bus home sometimes because of work, and she would be on the bus way too long. Now that she's in high school, there is no option other than public transportation, which is beyond terrible in this valley. Slow, inconvenient schedules requiring transfers and walking blocks in between. Add to that the high hobo concentration in my city, and the notion of letting my girl do that is a hard No for us! It is a terrible shame because I took the school bus as a kid, and it was very helpful.

 

[LSUmiss]

We drive DS. He goes to a Catholic school that’s pre-k-12th. They only provide bus service for 5-12 b/c there aren’t enough busses to keep the little ones separated. It’s not a problem to drive him so it’s fine. Maybe when he’s in 5th, he can take the bus if wants to.

 

[White Cat]

Mine went to a private school so no busses. When they turned 16 I purchased them each a car so that they could drive themselves.

I agree it’s incredible the line up of cars in front of public schools that provide busses. It’s like each child has a private chauffeur.

 

[emmybee]

Several mentions of kids driving with licenses. Did you all buy each kid a car at age 16?

We have an inherited Mazda that will be my daughter's car next year when she's of age. My husband has had the bulk of the driving responsibility because his work is more flexible than mine. He really hates traffic and literally counts the minutes he spends getting from here to there. I know he is very much looking forward to giving up the driving to school chore. I'm pretty sure we'd be buying her a car if we didn't have the Mazda. My daily car is a 16 year old tiny Volvo C30 which I wouldn't have minded handing down to her, but my husband thinks it's too old to be safe.

 

[Skywalker3]

I've survived the car line for so many years, I don't know where to start. but then some years the bus schedule was wonderful. They'd be home in 10 mins. but....not this year. Other years were awful where kids were on the bus an hour, or they got to school about 40 mins before school even started, after the bus ride.

This year: son is a junior at the high school nearby, but high school is not walkable. It is off of a highway w no walking path, and also there is a river between our house and the school .Otherwise, we can hear the football games, we are that close
morning bus: pickup would be before 7, and get him to school by 7, school starts at 7:40
afternoon bus: this is no joke: school dismissed 2:47, and my son gets dropped off anwhere between 3:50 and 4:15, over an hour on the bus. when I can pick him up in the afternoon, he's He will hopefully be driving soon. (or maybe someone will build a footbridge or put a raft on the river, and he could just cross it to get home...haha)
There is an extreme shortage of bus drivers here. My son's bus picks up kids at a middle school before starting the route, and many schools have double runs, where kids wait at school while the bus runs 1 route, then the bus goes back to the same school, and picks up the second load. also, when my daughter did dance classes after school , we would never had had enough time to get there if she rode the bus, so those years were also car line years.

 

[tvguy]

Bus service was eliminated in about 2000 here when they went to open enrollment in the district I live in. No way they could provide bus service anymore since frequently none of the kids in a neighborhood go to the same school. And in my case, the closest elementary school and High School closed due to declining enrollment. Demographics of my community have changed. There are 44 houses on my street. 30 years ago there were 40 kids living on my street. Today there are just six.
So most parents drive their kids to school or have them in a car pool because school is too far away to walk or bike to and there are no buses. . And yes, it is gridlock around the schools here at the beginning and end of the school day. They have had to redo the parking lots and driveways into many schools to try and fix the gridlock.

 

[easyas123]

Several mentions of kids driving with licenses. Did you all buy each kid a car at age 16?

We did, yes. School they attended was a private school that didn’t have buses.

 

[tvguy]

Several mentions of kids driving with licenses. Did you all buy each kid a car at age 16?

Not right when they turned 16. We have always had a spare car, going back to a year before our oldest was born. With my son I bought myself a new car 7 months after he turned 16 and gave him my 13 year old car with over 100,000 miles on it. His sister was 4 years young, and she got that car when she turned 16, and I bought my son a used one year Taurus from Hertz for $9,500 with 25,000 miles on it.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Several mentions of kids driving with licenses. Did you all buy each kid a car at age 16?

Thanks to his banker grandfather, DS had been saving for his first car since he was about 7. After he got his license, we matched what he had saved, and he was able to buy a used one.

 

[cvjw]

My boys rode the bus until they could drive themselves. The bus picked them up in our culdesac and all of their schools were close to our house. They wanted to be car riders, but I had zero interest in fighting the carpool line everyday.

Older son used a spare car when he turned 16, younger son got a new car when he turned 16. Older had to wait until 18 because he was a terrible driver at age 16.