School Bus Stops nonsense

[Save Us]

On my way to work this morning,, I noticed the local school bus stopping at every driveway to pick up kids. My points

1. Increased pollution
2. Increased costs to taxpayer in the form of increased gas
3. Anti-social suburbanite parents creating children that can't socialize with each other
4. Over protective parents that can't see the forest through the trees
5. Decreased productivity of the worker tied up in slow moving traffic

[Ms.Depew.to.you]

Which 'burb? Lancaster has stops at corners and hydrants, not individual driveways.

[NoCtUrNaL]

On my way to work this morning,, I noticed the local school bus stopping at every driveway to pick up kids. My points

1. Increased pollution
2. Increased costs to taxpayer in the form of increased gas
3. Anti-social suburbanite parents creating children that can't socialize with each other
4. Over protective parents that can't see the forest through the trees
5. Decreased productivity of the worker tied up in slow moving traffic

Don't forget lazy kids. School buses should stop once every mile at the least.

Blows my mind, the whole world needs to stop because some kid getting on or off a bus. Do these kids never cross a street otherwise? Must make for a small world. Maybe that's why Gore invented the internet, so kids wouldn't have to cross the street to play with their friends after school without 4 crossing guards and being dressed in bubble wrap.

[FisherRd]

East & West Rd in West Seneca is infuriating.

[BlaCkROcKDan]

uhh so whats the solution?

[raoul duke]

uhh so whats the solution?

Create bus stops that kids have to congregate at. I understand the bus meeting kids at the drive-way if the kid is living on huge farm, who's neighbors are otherwise distant or disabled, but when I was living in Eden I encountered the same frustration driving down Pierce Ave. in Hamburg every morning.

[Save Us]

Which 'burb? Lancaster has stops at corners and hydrants, not individual driveways.

Amherst of course

[Save Us]

uhh so whats the solution?

when I was a kid we chose another kids driveway and all waited there...was no big deal at the time..shouldn't be now,,except of course some parents would take exception to that and feel violated somehow.

another solution, bring it up to the school board maybe thye can do something..

It's just plain stupid

[crabapples]

I understand your arguments against buses stopping every driveway and you raise some valid points. However, should a kid be hit by a car passing a school bus and the kid dies, the school district (i.e. taxpayers) would be paying out a lot of money in lawsuits and settlements.

Trust me, I dont like getting stuck behind a bus in the morning either. But, I have found alternate routes and/or have found that leaving 5 minutes earlier or later helps to avoid this situation.

There were obviously events in the past where kids were hurt and school districts found liable for injuries and death. That is why the State passed such laws as the stopping for a bus with flashing red lights and how far away from a school a child must walk versus having a bus stop.

[Jazz]

Create bus stops that kids have to congregate at. I understand the bus meeting kids at the drive-way if the kid is living on huge farm, who's neighbors are otherwise distant or disabled, but when I was living in Eden I encountered the same frustration driving down Pierce Ave. in Hamburg every morning.

Not gonna happen .... you'll have a freaky parent wanting the bus stop in front of their house. They already want bus drivers to wait 1-5 minutes for their kid to come out of the house. In a 60 stop route, that puts each driver behind by 1-5 hours!! Many transportation departments fight this fight every year. In West Seneca the parents want buses to travel down in cul de sac's that a bus can't turn around in!!

[NoCtUrNaL]

I understand your arguments against buses stopping every driveway and you raise some valid points. However, should a kid be hit by a car passing a school bus and the kid dies, the school district (i.e. taxpayers) would be paying out a lot of money in lawsuits and settlements.

Trust me, I dont like getting stuck behind a bus in the morning either. But, I have found alternate routes and/or have found that leaving 5 minutes earlier or later helps to avoid this situation.

There were obviously events in the past where kids were hurt and school districts found liable for injuries and death. That is why the State passed such laws as the stopping for a bus with flashing red lights and how far away from a school a child must walk versus having a bus stop.

So none of these kids crosses the street, at all, anytime of day or night, unless there is a crossing guard or a parent there to assist them? So we send them to school to learn, but they don't know how/when to cross a street safely? Maybe we should take any sharp objects away from them also, least they stab themselves in the eye.

[Downstate Buffaloian]

So none of these kids crosses the street, at all, anytime of day or night, unless there is a crossing guard or a parent there to assist them? So we send them to school to learn, but they don't know how/when to cross a street safely? Maybe we should take any sharp objects away from them also, least they stab themselves in the eye.

What really stinks is that you are looked down upon by the other smothering parents if you actually want to teach your child responsibility by letting them do something on their own that you know they are capable of.

What you end up with is an adult that at 25 or 30 doesn't know how to cook dinner or do laundry and still lives at home with Mommy because things are comfortable to them that way. This is an epidemic on Long Island where I live. Mommy and daddy pay the car payment on their BMW too. Barf!

[Eat My Gun]

I'm not going to comment about the bus stopping every ten yards to let a kid off other than to say I think all those fat little kids could stand to walk a little more.

But, as I was traveling through North Tonawanda one day, I got stuck on a wooded street behind a school bus with its flashers activated. The door went open and the stop sign extended. A minute passed, but no one exited.

I don't like waiting behind school buses, but, as this was a short bus, I endeavored to remain patient. Still no one exited. I backed up a little bit to get a view of the door. No one was exiting, but someone was throwing things out of the door and into the woods.

I was like WTF?

Then I realized the bus driver and aide were tossing carrots and apples out the door to feed the deer. With the flashers on! While I'm stuck waiting behind them! And there are no kids on the bus! Needless to say, I was a little pissed.

I took out my cellular phone and called the 695-XXXX number on the back of the bus and vented to a supervisor. He called me back later in the day and told me the driver and aide were admonished for improperly using the flashers. Whatever. I'm sure nothing ever came of it, but I still can't believe the driver and aide were so inconsiderate of the traffic behind them.

[crabapples]

So none of these kids crosses the street, at all, anytime of day or night, unless there is a crossing guard or a parent there to assist them? So we send them to school to learn, but they don't know how/when to cross a street safely? Maybe we should take any sharp objects away from them also, least they stab themselves in the eye.

Where did I even come close to saying any of this?

All I said was if a kid gets hit by a car crossing the street when a bus used to pick that kid up, it would be very easy for an attorney to draw the correlation that the school district was negligent (by not offering bus service) in the childs death. That in turn would be a much more costlier prospect than bussing.

[Linda_D]

Not gonna happen .... you'll have a freaky parent wanting the bus stop in front of their house. They already want bus drivers to wait 1-5 minutes for their kid to come out of the house. In a 60 stop route, that puts each driver behind by 1-5 hours!! Many transportation departments fight this fight every year. In West Seneca the parents want buses to travel down in cul de sac's that a bus can't turn around in!!

That freaks me far more than frequent stops! Get your kid ready before the bus shows up! Better yet, get your own lazy butt out of bed before the bus shows up!