Waving Goodbye to the Bus

All the school consolidation prevents probably 90% of people walking to school around where I live. My kids are on a bus nearly an hour 1 way. There are 2 schools very near by that are shut down, its a shame!!

look at it this way the national avg for childhood obesity should go down. and we are potentially creating a healthier child with less instances of illness

look at it this way the national avg for childhood obesity has to go down and we could possibly creat a healthier generation than our own.

Walking never killed anyone! I walked when I was a kid and I loved it. It was a good opportunity to socialize with my friends and to make new ones. We walked whether it was raining (they do make umbrellas) and we walked in the snow (they do make snow boots) and I have lived to tell the story!
Walking 1 mile both ways is good exercise and it also saves our tax dollars! I say every school district should make this change!

Okay, there are some pros & cons of transporting our children to school. Let's put our ideas together & come up with some solution(s). Some folks live in rural areas and can team up with their neighbors while others have exceptional circumstances and may have to use friends, neighbors, churches or public assistance. There are solutions to problems. Let's brainstorm & help one another.

Okay, there are some pros & cons transporting our children to school. Let's put our ideas together & come up with some solution(s). Some folks live in rural areas and can team up with their neighbors while others have exceptional circumstances. There are solutions to problems. Let's brainstorm & help one another.

When I was in high school we live about 4 miles from school. Our bus was the last one to pick us up at the high school, our average wait on it each day was 1 h our to 1 hour and 15 minutes. So most of the boys (we all lived on the same country road so the distance was about the same for each one of us) decided they would start walking home. Funny thing, they usually beat us girls, who didn't walk home each day.

I grew up walking to my local neighborhood school. Literally several miles each way and yes uphill both ways. Yes there were bullies, but it was part of dealing with life. Learning conflict resolution. We have generations of children in colleges and in business now that do not know how to deal with others properly and maturely. Yes, we need to protect our children. However, are we really doing the right thng for them? What happens when we end up with government leaders who do not know how to resolve conflicts with others/countries? WAR? I have four children in grade school. I Love them dearly, but I have to let them skin their knees so they learn not to break their arms. I would love to see us go back to local neighborhood schools. Where the kids in the neighborhood all played together and learned together and 'gasp' helped each other.

Oh, BTW, before I get jumped on by those that say a high school kid should be able to walk 2.5 miles -- Yes, I completely agree, but I have a special needs child who is not able to walk that distance.

My city was too darned cheap when it came time to build a new high school to replace the decrepit 100-yr-old school we had. Our popluation increased by 20,000, but the tightwads voted to only build one new high school rather than two to distribute the traffic and equalize distance. It is on the outskirts of town, surrounded by high-traffic roads and there is no busing offered whatsoever, not even a public city bus route available any longer, as there was back when I went to school. A good portion of low-income housing in our city is about five to six miles from the new school. We personally live about 2.5 miles from school, so I have to drive my child to school. You wouldn't believe the traffic jams around the school. The so-called planners didn't put a lot of real-life scenario thinking into our "new state-of-the-art school."

The problem with the children walking is the weight pf the backpacks they are forced to carry nowadays. Yes, we walked but we had no where near the weight in our bags that they do today. I can barely lift my daughter's!

it is absolutely ridiculousthat a 9 year old child wouldn't know the joys of walking. "it's like recess before school" i work in the downtown of a medium sized city. i walk to stores, banks, etc during lunch. it is quicker and easier given the lack of parking to do so. my coworkers think i am insane for walking (walking!) on a beautiful summer day.

it's no surprise to me that global warming really got going once everyone moved out of cities into suburbs and exurbs. there is no choice but to bus and drive children who live miles from the nearest school (not to mention the nearest grocery store, doctor, etc.)

I grew up in Columbia. I don't recall any big hills near West Boulevard...Hmm...anyway, I walked from Jeff. Jr. to the University Medical Clinic every day after school in Jr. High. I actually enjoyed it and got my blood going after a long day of school.

I wish my county would come up with a better bus solution, my kids ride a bus 16 miles to school and back they are on the bus 2 hours a day ,64 miles a day when we have schools with in 2 or 3 miles from our home, they are NOT trying to come up with a better solution for us, I could onty imagine the money we would save in tax dollars and get with the rest of the world and start going GREEN!!

If there are no safe sidewalks and there are pedestrian-unfriendly crosswalks, it is unfair to expose kids to
commuters and big trucks. All districts shud investigate cheaper, substitute fuels, keeping schoolbusses
parked indoors overnight with engine-warmers, reverting to standard 5-speed transmissions on rural bus-
ses which operate on highways and travel miles between shops...In suburban districts, 4-day schoolweeks
and the use of bio-fuels can reduce costs considerably...If kids must walk in platoons with adult supervision
the adults shud be given reflective vests, STOP sign paddles and keep the kids walking on the LEFT,
facing traffic [even on sidewalks] and with no rear-approaching vehicles at crosswalks! Simple march, stop,
left! commands [the last being to run left away from the street or roadway] shud be agreed by supervisors
and walking kids...Aaron/former walker-biker to school..

I see nothing wrong with charging families for the use of the bus. My kids used to ride the bus, but now they go to the latchkey program at school, so i drop them off early and they get to play for an hour before school then have breakfast there. Works out great. I pay to have my kids at school, so i dont see any difference for having people pay to bus the kids to school.

I am curious to know it this is something that would have an impact on rural communities that commute long distances to get the children to school.

When I went to High School, gas was65 cents a gallon and minimum wage was $3.30. So off an hours wages I could buy 5 gallons of gas and could squeak by a whole week (small town). Now, gas is $3.60 a gallon and minimum wage (in FL) is $6.79 so a kid can buy 1.8 gallons of gas off the same hour of work. Wow, its not fair is it! www.anonweb.net.tc

Sounds like a healthy solution that benifits the children and the taxpayers