This past year we moved to a new house in a more suburban area. This move put us right inside the edge for the county school district and while I was bummed my son would have to change schools I was happy that his new school had a bus system. Yes, they are very polluting but I still like the idea of mass transit for the kids and not a slew of hundreds of parents all cramming tiny streets idling (idling is very bad for the environment) while they picked up and dropped off kids. The worst part about last year was the fact that I had to get to my son’s school to pick him up about and hour and a half early to get a spot in front of the school and not a half mile away. This took ALOT of time out of the day and since it was hot on plenty of occasions I think 95% of the parents were idling to keep their air conditioners on…and I would too if I had to bring my other kids with me. :(
So that being said I like school buses….I just wish they would switch to biodiesel. Sounds like something to bring up before the PTA this year.
But I digress…my son’s first day was yesterday and I thought we were prepared. The bus driver and I had talked on the phone and he insisted that he would pick my son up at our driveway. I reminded him that our street was private with no through access. He still insisted he would come right to our driveway.
Well, I should have seen this coming but on the first morning the bus pulled up to the corner at the edge of our street and did NOT proceed to drive up it and to our driveway. He stopped, opened his doors for a few seconds, and we started to walk in that direction. Then he closed his doors and drove away…not wanting to wait for us. WTH?! I don’t think you want to hear some of the internal language going on in my head at that moment. And did I mention it was pouring rain this whole time?
So I had to drive my son to school. Oh well, at least I got to meet his teacher and see his classroom. That was nice.
Well, the return trip was not so easy either. Having no idea what time he would be getting dropped off I spent an hour and half waiting. Then, getting freaked out that he wasn’t home by almost 5:00, I called the school. They called the bus driver and informed me that he was still on the bus and was heading back to school as he had fallen asleep and the bus driver forgot about him. That was one heck of a long day for him and all the sweetheart could say when he got off was “Yeah! It is still light out. Can I play?” Oh and he needed some homemade ice cream to cool off after a hot bus ride.
Hopefully we have all the bugs worked out now. We shall see today….
So what are your thoughts on school buses? Do you hate them? Do you like them? How can we make them safer for children and planet?
