My son's school charges $630 per year to ride the bus. And that is a public school. I still pay for it though, because, 1. I'm not going to spend my time sitting in a line cars every day. Not to mention take time off from work to do it. 2. I want him to experience life. It's a great place for socialization

You can't expect parents to let their kids WALK to school can you? It's not safe - there's so many cars around! 🙄

When I was in school, the bus route did not stop near my house, and it was too far to walk, and there was no good bike route (though one exists now). In middle and high school I would often walk or bike to a friend's house after school but that wasn't always an option.

This is a situation forced on us by car-centric city planning

@const_void
I always walked to school as a kid and it was very high priority to me that the neighborhood I live in now allows my kids to do the same

I'm assuming the insane cuts to our public education system trickle down to the bus drivers too

When I was a teacher, the main reason so many students were dropped off and picked up at my school was because of what we call “School of Choice.” Essentially instead of parents being required to send their kid to the school their home is zoned for, they can send their kid to any school in the district, but if they do, they have to provide transportation.

It is so miserable and effectively shuts down a major street. People will tolerate the dumbest things just because it is the status quo.

I grew up with this culture, unfortunately, never rode a school bus or saw one.

And yea, it is complete trash. Let's put tiny vulnerable road-unintelligent children, all running around, in the same place as a bunch of stressed out parents driving cars while mostly thinking about work or not being late for work.

What could go wrong!

Shit ... let's reduce the speed limit drastically to prevent accidents! Ok, now it's just a big fat traffic Jam! Shit ... let's build specialised roads within the school to increase the speed of drop off. Ok ... now we've lost some of our school grounds and it's marginally better ... except everyone's driving tanks/four-wheel-drives now so it's pretty dangerous for kids still! Shit lets ...

Seen all of that. It's really really dumb and stressful for kids and parents alike.

We don't do school buses anymore? I suppose we have to condition them to drive everywhere in a car from when they're young.

Oh man it's the worst. I used to work in an office next to a high school and a 10-minute drive to work in the summer months became almost an hour as soon as school started.

@const_void the school traffic situation was the tipping point for getting a #cargobike for us. Much calmer and faster way to do it, with opportunity for spotting and chatting about stuff going on in the neighbourhood. There’s the occasional poor driver behaviour that affects us but it’s quite rare compared what you get in the car.

FWIW, I live in the US and my kids ride their bikes to and from school. It is possible, but only in a few places.

Completely insane and infuriating every time I see it.

I live across the street from an elementary school and my driveway is blocked every single day. Including Fridays when I have lunch with my father, who lives out of town, and need to... Park in my driveway. Parents and school districts are inconsiderate fucks.

where I live, there is pretty much always an elementary school within walking distance.

yet, they still drive 🤷‍♂️

What do you mean "now?" Always been like this where I am.

I was able to walk to school, but I remember the busses only being accessable in certain areas, so some people needed to be dropped off as there was no alternative. I remember one guy getting a taxi everyday.

This can depend on a lot of factors, but the biggest is often time. School busses usually can service the overwhelming number of kids in their district, but for some kids that route can add an extra hour before and after school. For kids with after school activities, that could be a non-starter.

I noticed the same thing with a local school in Canada.

It could be because kids aren't within "walking distance" any more, could be because the kids have something to do right after school, could be less bus drivers (because who wants to put up working 4 hours per day for minimum wage dealing with all those kids), or finally just the culture has changed (to driving everywhere).

Not exactly a new thing. My kid rides the bus except for special occasions, but those drop off/pick up lines are crazy. I don't get how people handle that every day.

Where I live we never had school buses, so I was always dropped off at school and would walk home. I used to think it was odd to have a school bus pick kids up, though that was before I realized how fucked car centricity is

I went from being able to walk to school where I used to live, to the bus being my only feasible option where I live now and during middle/high school. Only got picked up when absolutely necessary, because my dad's commute times didn't quite line up. After school stuff was something I only got to experience in the walking days, and the brief time a friend volunteered to take me home from the robotics club he was already in (which unfortunately dissolved like 2 weeks after).

When I was in high school my dad dropped me off in the morning, but he worked a block away from my school.

After school I took the public bus, but it took almost an hour from when the final bell rang to when I got home, since the bus didn't come very frequently and didn't drop me off very close to my parents' suburban house.

Are you suggesting they wouldn't have to take time off if they walked to the school, then home, then back to work?

This isn't new. 20 years ago when I was a kid, my school both buses, walking/cycling, and car drop-off. It's definitely a failure of urban planning.