Bring back school busses!

[FINate]

Our district stopped running busses about 10 or 15 years ago, because money. I get it, costs a lot.

Now parents are responsible for transportation. However, none of the schools were designed for handling large numbers of cars. Predictably, pick up and drop offs are a circus with cars lining up around the block 30 minutes early impeding non-school traffic. To prevent total gridlock the school staggered pick up and drop off times for different grades, but this means that parents with 2 or more kids may make multiple trips per day.

Ideally more people would bike and walk, but even in our supposedly environmentally friendly area very few do. We live far enough away that walking isn't an option, though we have an electric assist cargo bike on order that should work for us and allow us to avoid the traffic.

The sensible thing seems to bring the busses back. Traffic around town would be much improved and parents would avoid making multiple trips sitting in traffic. This is a no-brainer for mass transit.

I have no idea how to go about proposing this. Anyone have experience with this or know of examples where parents successfully brought busses back?

[Michael in ABQ]

I've never heard of a school district not having buses. I remember in High School going to Boy's State (program put on by the American Legion) and there were other boys from all over the state including some very rural areas. Some of them had a bus ride of a couple of hours and in some cases the high school actually had dorms for the student to live in during the week as the daily commute took up so much time.

[WildJager]

Isn't this practically the same with mass transit for work commuting in cities?  While the obvious solution would be to have efficient public transit, we in the US choose to commute around in our private chariots.  I get it that long range mass transit is a challenge right now, but city commuting for the sake in residing in our personal bubble, while ignoring the time cost behind it, blows my mind. 

I don't have kids and I've been out of the school system for a while.  When I went to school, there were still plenty of bus options.  But back then I sure would have liked to drive for the comfort factor.  Now I appreciate the value in public transit just for the sake of understanding how traffic works.  Gridlock is the worst.

[FINate]

I've never heard of a school district not having buses.

They're an endangered species in California. When I was growing up they were everywhere, now I seem them less and less. Weird that California is spending billions on high speed rail yet we can't prioritize such low hanging fruit for cutting emissions. Electric busses would work really well...established routes with known range and time to recharge when school is in session. Or CNG even.

[FINate]

Isn't this practically the same with mass transit for work commuting in cities?  While the obvious solution would be to have efficient public transit, we in the US choose to commute around in our private chariots.  I get it that long range mass transit is a challenge right now, but city commuting for the sake in residing in our personal bubble, while ignoring the time cost behind it, blows my mind. 

I don't have kids and I've been out of the school system for a while.  When I went to school, there were still plenty of bus options.  But back then I sure would have liked to drive for the comfort factor.  Now I appreciate the value in public transit just for the sake of understanding how traffic works.  Gridlock is the worst.

I should add that our district is not a sprawling rural district. It's a fairly compact urban district (though not high density by any stretch), too far for most people to walk (more than 2 miles each way) but ideal for bussing. Could almost fill a bus by having just a single stop for my neighborhood. Not sure how the kids would feel about it, but I can't imagine parents enjoy shutting back and forth multiple times a day...I know I don't. Would much rather shove my kids onto a bus and be done with it.

[Bicycle_B]

The sensible thing seems to bring the busses back. Traffic around town would be much improved and parents would avoid making multiple trips sitting in traffic. This is a no-brainer for mass transit.

I have no idea how to go about proposing this. Anyone have experience with this or know of examples where parents successfully brought busses back?

Experience in general with civic participation, not with school bus issues.  Paths to explore:
1. Contact school board members, ask what the status of the issue is.  There may be pending activity or analysis of the issue that they can give you, getting you up to speed quickly.  It may be that the district itself ran the buses, in which case the school district is a logical party to revive them.  In this case, the school board, an elected body of citizens, would likely make the decision.  You can persuade them, get many other parents to persuade them, or run for their seat and win and personally propose the improvement that you seek.
2. It may turn out that a large move like this would require additional funds to be raised by means of a school bond, which if passed would increase tax rates to pay for the bonds.  Generally in this case, the school board would propose the bonds (perhaps after some public input process), and voters would vote "yes" or "no" on the bonds during the next election. Your role would be to get the school board to study and propose the bonds.  Along the way, you advocate to other citizens about passing the bonds.  Get out the vote!
3. Were buses in your area run by a separate entity, such as a public transit agency?  If so, contact them about such procedures.
4. Contact your Parent Teacher Association and find out if anyone there is familiar with the issue.
5. Use Google Fu, often quite informative, especially if local media or activists produced articles or blog posts on the subject.

Have fun! 

Such things are great opportunities to meet numerous caring neighbors.  Lots of unpaid work, though, be aware it's a potential time suck if there are other activities that you like doing instead.  That said, much of democracy consists of individuals digging into an issue like this, and leading a lot of other ordinary citizens into a communal victory.  If you have time freedom because of your thrifty ways, the ability to contribute in this way is one of the privileges you have earned.

[FINate]

The sensible thing seems to bring the busses back. Traffic around town would be much improved and parents would avoid making multiple trips sitting in traffic. This is a no-brainer for mass transit.

I have no idea how to go about proposing this. Anyone have experience with this or know of examples where parents successfully brought busses back?

Experience in general with civic participation, not with school bus issues.  Paths to explore:
1. Contact school board members, ask what the status of the issue is.  There may be pending activity or analysis of the issue that they can give you, getting you up to speed quickly.  It may be that the district itself ran the buses, in which case the school district is a logical party to revive them.  In this case, the school board, an elected body of citizens, would likely make the decision.  You can persuade them, get many other parents to persuade them, or run for their seat and win and personally propose the improvement that you seek.
2. It may turn out that a large move like this would require additional funds to be raised by means of a school bond, which if passed would increase tax rates to pay for the bonds.  Generally in this case, the school board would propose the bonds (perhaps after some public input process), and voters would vote "yes" or "no" on the bonds during the next election. Your role would be to get the school board to study and propose the bonds.  Along the way, you advocate to other citizens about passing the bonds.  Get out the vote!
3. Were buses in your area run by a separate entity, such as a public transit agency?  If so, contact them about such procedures.
4. Contact your Parent Teacher Association and find out if anyone there is familiar with the issue.
5. Use Google Fu, often quite informative, especially if local media or activists produced articles or blog posts on the subject.

Have fun! 

Such things are great opportunities to meet numerous caring neighbors.  Lots of unpaid work, though, be aware it's a potential time suck if there are other activities that you like doing instead.  That said, much of democracy consists of individuals digging into an issue like this, and leading a lot of other ordinary citizens into a communal victory.  If you have time freedom because of your thrifty ways, the ability to contribute in this way is one of the privileges you have earned.

Thanks for the leads. Yeah, kinda worry about what I'm getting myself into :)

[simonsez]

I should add that our district is not a sprawling rural district. It's a fairly compact urban district (though not high density by any stretch), too far for most people to walk (more than 2 miles each way) but ideal for bussing. Could almost fill a bus by having just a single stop for my neighborhood. Not sure how the kids would feel about it, but I can't imagine parents enjoy shutting back and forth multiple times a day...I know I don't. Would much rather shove my kids onto a bus and be done with it.

Carpool? Vanpool?  With so many parents and kids nearby, it would seem if buses/walking/biking are not options that agreeing to a neighborhood schedule would be an improvement.

[teen persuasion]

I've never heard of a school district not having buses. I remember in High School going to Boy's State (program put on by the American Legion) and there were other boys from all over the state including some very rural areas. Some of them had a bus ride of a couple of hours and in some cases the high school actually had dorms for the student to live in during the week as the daily commute took up so much time.

I've never heard of it either.  I'm pretty sure state law here requires bussing if over 2 miles from school (for HS students; kindergarteners likely have a lower limit) but we are a 2 town rural district so everyone is effectively bussed except for those within the village each school is located in (ES in one village, MS and HS in the other village).

When I attended HS in the city, suburban students were each bussed by their home districts (up to a max of 15 miles), while city resident students were given metro bus passes.  My bus cycle was convoluted - get picked up with local public kids, drop them off at their school, ride to another school's lot to transfer to a bus going to my specific school (my brother got on a different one for his school).  In the afternoon, choose a bus at my school going to my transfer point (not the same as the morning one), and again switch to the bus going to my neighborhood, no public school kids on this route.  The need to make the short bus window meant I couldn't stay after school for clubs or sports, there were no late/sports buses like my public school kids have access to.

[FINate]

Carpool? Vanpool?  With so many parents and kids nearby, it would seem if buses/walking/biking are not options that agreeing to a neighborhood schedule would be an improvement.

A vanpool may be possible. Organizing a handful of neighbors would be less work than dealing with the district.

[FINate]

I've never heard of it either.  I'm pretty sure state law here requires bussing if over 2 miles from school (for HS students; kindergarteners likely have a lower limit) but we are a 2 town rural district so everyone is effectively bussed except for those within the village each school is located in (ES in one village, MS and HS in the other village).

I wish California law mandated buses, but unlike most states it does not. Apparently districts realized that they could optimize their budgets by offloading the costs to parents.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/02/california-school-bus-service-vanishing_n_946860.html

Just seems so short sighted, especially with climate change and all.

[FireHiker]

The middle school where we are has buses, but the high school (well, and elementary schools) do not. There is a fee to ride the bus; I think it's about $600/year per kid. We carpooled with three other families instead of using it. The elementary school doesn't really need one because everyone is within walking distance (although no-one walks...). The high school should have buses too; I'm not sure why it doesn't, since it draws from a bigger area than the middle school.

[Mac_MacGyver]

We have busses in abundance, the schools in Northern Virginia seemingly have enough busses that they can stop at each and every house when I am behind them