Where I grew up, I had to pay to ride the school bus. My parents had to chase down the school transportation building and pay out the nose for a bus pass. Before my freshman year, we just walked everyday. After 8th grade, that became impossible because of the hour or more that it might take to get there.
Here in the Midwest, everyone takes the bus, well, at least until you turn 16 or your sibling turns 16 or until your ultra cool best friend/cousin/neighbor turns 16. My neighborhood is 1 ½ blocks to the high school and middle school and about the same in the other direction to the elementary school. I have no problem that my tax dollars are being spent on bussing kids 3 minutes away (maybe a tiny problem) but there is something that baffles me.
In my neighborhood alone, there are probably 15-30 kids who take the bus. Any given morning you will see the mini-van moms parked at the corner in their cars, waiting 15 minutes for the bus to come. This may not seem strange to you given that it was 11 degrees this morning. It does seem strange to me that if someone is going to go to all of the effort of getting out of bed, warming up the car and driving 3 houses down to the corner (tiny houses I might mention, not sprawling estates) and waiting ten minutes for a bus to arrive, why wouldn’t they just venture out 1 ½ blocks, drop the kids off and come home. Same amount of time, similar amount of effort and a cost effective use of gasoline that would be used idling anyway.
The kids and parents in the Midwest have it too good.