I know this is not new, and probably not original but...

Why must the bus stop every 30 yards?  Can't all the kids go to one staging area?  This would encourage them to walk a little and get some excercise. That's the way it was back in the 70's.  We all met at the end of the street and the bus would pick us all up at once.
Also, you had to live more than two miles away from the school to even qualify for the bus to pick you up. When i was in high-school we lived three and a half miles from the school and i very seldomly even took the bus.  I either rode my bike or walked. In Jr high, the distance was a mile and a half.  A little better but still, riding or walking.  Grammar school was the closest at one mile.  Still we walked or rode our bikes.  On an odd day maybe my ma' would give us a ride.
I have seen the bus stop and pick up a kid where the school is in view; literally The school is RIGHT OVER THERE!  What, the kid couldn't walk 200 yards?  I mean its not like he would have to go far or cross the street, even then, there is a crossing guard up by the school (who incidentally is a friend of mine-big bow hunter him.  But i drift from the point).
What are we doing to our kids?  Did you ever see them cross the street?  They just run like little squirrels.  I know that when the bus has the lights on we are all supposed to stop but what about that one jackass who doesn't?  We have raise an entire generation that doesn't even look both ways before crossing!  Fat stupid kids!

There, I feel better.  a little.


edited because eye kant spel

I wonder the same damn thing, the busses here stop for every enterance to a subdivison, usually only about 50-100 yards apart from each other.  I had to walk just under a mile each way to school when I was in elementary(damn I sound like a bitter old fogey there dont I?)  and yes that was in the mountains so I would walk to school in the snow!  

now where's the crochety old guy smiley when you need him?

I'm a firm believer that kids should have to walk to school, up hill, both ways, in the snow, barefoot.....   Cause that's how I did it

Quoted: I wonder the same damn thing, the busses here stop for every enterance to a subdivison, usually only about 50-100 yards apart from each other.  I had to walk just under a mile each way to school when I was in elementary(damn I sound like a bitter old fogey there dont I?)  and yes that was in the mountains so I would walk to school in the snow!

The busses here don't JUST stop at the entrance to the subdivision, but actually drive into the subdividion to drop off the kids at an intersection, so that none of them have to walk more than 100 yards to their front door.  

When I lived in Denmark, Holland and Germany, there weren't any school busses.  I rode my bike, or I walked.  

I'm thinking they need to do away with bussing kids that live less than 1 mile from the school, and require that kids who live 1-2 miles away ride bikes.  then if they live over 2 miles then they can get a bus ride.

I know what you mean ... I got stuck behind a bus the other day that was not just stopping at every sub-division and side street, but dropping individual kids off at their houses in between ... The bus stopped 4 times in 500 feet.

Ready for the kicker?

While sitting behind the bus waiting for the 3rd or 4th kid to get off, I looked out the passenger side window, and the SCHOOL WAS RIGHT THERE. Oh sure, there were 2 soccer fields between the school, and the street the bus was dropping off on, but it was less than 200 yards.

You know what realy pisses me off about the whole thing? I'm usualy stuck behind the buss and there is always some dumb ass kid that is late and instaed of running to the buss he is strolling to it. I have to wait 5 damn minutes while he gets his lazy ass to the buss. What the hell is that all about? When I was a kid in the 70's you had to be at the stop at a certain time and if you were not the buss left you. If you were late and the driver saw you you had best be running because if you were walking she would leave your lazy butt right there. I'm sure that in this day and age if a kid got left at the stop some mom would be up there yelling about her precious son Harrison was left at the stop because of some mean bus driver. Never mind that she has allowed lazy ass Harrison to hold up the world while he gets his shit together. Damn I hate kids!

I rode my motorcycle to a friend's house right by the school....parked it there and walked in.


Riding a school bus after the 5th grade was for section 8 kids and dorks when I was in government schools.

"I for one welcome our new bus driver overlords."



(who the hell started that?)

I work at a school.  They only qualify for the bus if they live more than two miles away and the busses get them to school about an hour early (high school), because then they go to pick up the middle school and elementary school kids.

Quoted: I'm a firm believer that kids should have to walk to school, up hill, both ways, in the snow, barefoot.....   Cause that's how I did it

Damn, you take a perfectly good rant and turn it into this.  (oh, BTW you owe me a new keyboard)
I am reminded of that Monty python bit...

"I'm not old"
"What?"
"I'm not old.  I'm thirty-seven."

Quoted: When I lived in Denmark, Holland and Germany, there weren't any school busses.  I rode my bike, or I walked.

You didn't grow up in a country that was torn to shreds by radical judges and their forced busing decrees. You were lucky. School buses are a naked symbol of American communism. I attended public school during the latter half of my high school tenure. I was bussed all the way across the county. So were hundreds of other students.

The modern American public school is an oddball collection of strangers who live in different neighborhoods and have nothing in common, no logical reason to socialize with one another. I used to point this out during the 'pep rallies' we were forced to attend, but most fellow students stared at me with that Great American Sheep stare that is the norm today.

Galland

You weren't even allowed to ride a bike to school where I went.

Quoted: "I for one welcome our new bus driver overlords." (who the hell started that?)

Anchorman Kent Brockman from "The Simpsons".

Quoted: Quoted: You weren't even allowed to ride a bike to school where I went. We weren't allowed to wear shoes when walking to school.

yeah but you had three miles worth of cushy snow to walk on, talk about luxury!

Originally, buses were only for kids in rural areas.  You had to live outside of town to ride a bus.  If you lived in the city limits, you walked, rode your bike, or your Mommy dropped you off.

Now, I have been told, you can't ride the bus only if you live within 500' of the school.  

When I was a kid in the 70's you had to be at the stop at a certain time and if you were not the buss left you

But I bet at that time that you didn't fail for the year for being late five times in the same semester?  The buses around here used to not wait on kids until 1988(?) when state law required the schools to fail the kids if they missed class more than so many times per semester, but according to state law, missing class due to a late bus didn't count towards the five.  So, if the bus left the kid six times and the parent got the kid to class over 10 minutes late, the student failed for the year.  After the state law changed, the buses around here now wait on the kids.  Failing a kid with an A average is just too harsh because they're a little late to the bus stop.  I agree that the buses shouldn't have to wait, but the punishment for being late not is just too ridiculous.z

What if precious little Dillon or Hanna (For some reason I hate those names) was picked up by Chester the child mollester? Maybe somewhat overblown fears are contributing to this?

Shit I remember riding my bike all over town as a six year old kid with no helmet...all alone...

These days, my parents would be accused of "child endangerment".

Why when I was in school we had to walk 10 miles, uphill both ways, through 10 feet of snow to school.

I had to walk through the snow to the subway station, take the subway, walk some more.  I'm still alive, though old.

Quoted: I support conveyor belt legislation.

Especially for runways!

According to my wife who is a teacher, it's some kind of federal regulation that the kids have to be picked up within a certain distance from their front door, there's one bus route here that makes 4 stops in about 100 yards!

What annoys me is that the state will ticket me if I am not wearing my seatbelt while driving (I am committing some dangerous offence.), Yet the same state puts all of our kids in a big vehicle that is not even equiped with seatbelts. -- I should get to ticket them.

ktm500

Seattle School District eligibility requirements for bus transportation:

Grade School - live more than 1 mile from school
Middle School - live more than 2 miles from school
High School - live more than 2.5 miles from school

Stop locations must be no more than 7 blocks from student's home for grade school and 10 blocks for middle and high school.  ( which allows for centralized stops on arterials)

Of course special medical conditions and special ed do not fall under these rules.  They are pretty strict in applying these rules.

Getting behind a bus that stops every 50 yards can really put you behind when your running tight on time!

My main gripe is that no matter what the speed limit, the school bus drives 20mph under it. This is even true if the bus is empty.

Quoted: My main gripe is that no matter what the speed limit, the school bus drives 20mph under it. This is even true if the bus is empty.

Unless when they are empty - then the drivers around here drive like they are racing an F1 car on amphetamine.  

Around here my kids could not conceivably walk or ride their bikes.

Not one sidewalk between here and the school and the only road is a state highway leading out of the capital.  In addition, it is four miles to school and it is elementary school.  When they go off to middle and high school it will be a 12 mile one-way trip for them.

If we can afford it they will go to private school before too long, but that is unlikely.

Quoted: Quoted: My main gripe is that no matter what the speed limit, the school bus drives 20mph under it. This is even true if the bus is empty. Unless when they are empty - then the drivers around here drive like they are racing an F1 car on amphetamine.

Send some to TX please.

Quoted: What annoys me is that the state will ticket me if I am not wearing my seatbelt while driving (I am committing some dangerous offence.), Yet the same state puts all of our kids in a big vehicle that is not even equiped with seatbelts. -- I should get to ticket them.

Not to hijack the thread, but the younger kids are much safer hitting the padded seat backs than they are with a lapbelt.  Very few school buses in the history of this country have ever flipped so that's not even a safety consideration.  A family member had a five year-old foster child that was on a short school bus for a field trip.  She put on the seat belt while none of her classmates did.  When the bus hit a tree after swerving to avoid an oncoming car, her pelvic bone was crushed.  It was almost a year before the poor girl was able to walk again.  None of the other children had any injuries worse than bruises.  The seat belts are left off for a good reason.z

Quoted: Quoted: My main gripe is that no matter what the speed limit, the school bus drives 20mph under it. This is even true if the bus is empty. Unless when they are empty - then the drivers around here drive like they are racing an F1 car on amphetamine.

Around here they drive like they're the only vehicles on the road.  If you're driving past one and the road is just wide enough for the two of you , you better be ready to drive through someone's yard to avoid getting run'd over.

Quoted: Of course special medical conditions and special ed do not fall under these rules.  They are pretty strict in applying these rules.

I was in special education classes, when I lived in Chicago I took the bus to school.  

When I moved to the suburbs my mother gave me a lift to and from school, until I went to high school where I took the bus again.