Living walking distance to school vs taking a bus

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live just outside the 1 mi walk zone for my kids’ elementary school, so mine ride the bus. A few thoughts:

The ideal is being about a ~5-7 min (within a few blocks) walk of the school. There are a bunch of kids clustered near our elementary school and from talking to other parents it sounds like it’s fun for the kids to walk/bike in a mass together to school. And leads to a lot of stop by the park type playdates on the way home. I would love to be in that scenario.

However I think a 10-15 min walk gets a little less ideal. Now you’re talking about adding a full 20-30 min commute onto your day each way b/c you have to walk them there and then back home (maybe that is a pro if you have the time and enjoy walking, but could also be a hassle if you have 2 parents working). And even if you’re comfortable with third grade + walking to school, if you have multiple kids like me there could be a big span of time until your youngest can walk to school.

Some perks of having bus riders are that I can basically walk out my front door to get my kids to school (we can see the stop from our house). And with the ride time, we get an extra ~50 min our day (15 min bus ride + 10 min buffer for arrival/dismissal), which eliminates our need for after care. Also friends who want to come over for a play date after school can just get off at our stop.

So overall, I think it really depends on what your morning and afternoon schedules look like as to which is better. But would prioritize the house itself over walk vs bussing.

Agree with all of this.

We lived right at the edge of our ES district and having the kid ride the bus made it a lot easier for me to work a normal schedule without aftercare.

[Anonymous]

I walked to ES as a child and LOVED it. I really wish we'd found a house that was walking distance to school. It's really great, and a nice way to foster independence and to encourage children to make their own friends. I had a ton of neighborhood friends of various ages b/c we all knew each other from walking to/from school.

[Anonymous]

We live 0.6 miles from school (via road) and it is 20 minutes, at least. Not flat either . The length of our walk depends greatly on whether anyone stops so we can cross the main street. Less than 1/4mile, crossing no main streets would be best and could start independently at 7/8. Right now, I walk or drop off. I almost always walk for pickup but it does add 45 minutes to my morning and afternoon so 1.5 hours to my day if I do both on top of an 8 hour work day. One of the walks counts as my lunch.

Ill also add that if your kid has school devices - like PG chromebooks in the case- their backpacks are too heavy for them to walk (safely) solo. My sons backpack weighs more than 7.5lbs, which is 15% of his weight.

[Anonymous]

Always walking.

[Anonymous]

In our neighborhood, the kids can walk by themselves starting in first grade. The reality is that lots of parents are walking too so even if your kid is by themselves, there are friends and adults around. It is fabulous.

[Anonymous]

We were spoiled for 9 years because both our ES & MS are walkable from our house. Now kid is in HS who needs to catch a ridiculously early bus and deal with bus being late after school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live just outside the 1 mi walk zone for my kids’ elementary school, so mine ride the bus. A few thoughts:

The ideal is being about a ~5-7 min (within a few blocks) walk of the school. There are a bunch of kids clustered near our elementary school and from talking to other parents it sounds like it’s fun for the kids to walk/bike in a mass together to school. And leads to a lot of stop by the park type playdates on the way home. I would love to be in that scenario.

However I think a 10-15 min walk gets a little less ideal. Now you’re talking about adding a full 20-30 min commute onto your day each way b/c you have to walk them there and then back home (maybe that is a pro if you have the time and enjoy walking, but could also be a hassle if you have 2 parents working). And even if you’re comfortable with third grade + walking to school, if you have multiple kids like me there could be a big span of time until your youngest can walk to school.

Some perks of having bus riders are that I can basically walk out my front door to get my kids to school (we can see the stop from our house). And with the ride time, we get an extra ~50 min our day (15 min bus ride + 10 min buffer for arrival/dismissal), which eliminates our need for after care. Also friends who want to come over for a play date after school can just get off at our stop.

So overall, I think it really depends on what your morning and afternoon schedules look like as to which is better. But would prioritize the house itself over walk vs bussing.

This was us and while, yes, missed out on some of the parent connections from walking I also got to know a lot of parents in the neighborhood at the bus stop in the a.m. (there were a ton of kids at our stop). The kids did aftercare so I picked up there but starting in 4th grade let the kids walk home if they wanted to.

Being just outside the ES walk zone means we were in the walk zone for MS and HS. I think being walkable for MS/HS is much more valuable than ES.

[Anonymous]

I liked it in the warmer months but loathed it in the colder months and would drive most of the time anyway. It wasn’t worth getting soaked or wind blown for the day.

[Anonymous]

Question re: busing... we're about a 20 minute walk from ES. There's a bus stop in our neighborhood about a block away that I see many kids on our street use. This seems like a good option for days when the weather is too cold/hot, or rainy/windy, or if I had a work meeting during walk time, etc... but on nice days (work schedule permitting) it seems like it would be more pleasant to walk.

Will we be able to sign up for the bus, but somehow notify/opt-out on the days that we'd prefer to walk? Or can we say we want to use the bus from Dec-Mar, but that we will walk in the fall/spring?

[Anonymous]

We also live just outside the walk zone. I drive my DD to a common meet up place where all the kids meet and walk together. Started walking in third and she would MUCH rather walk with her friends than take the bus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Question re: busing... we're about a 20 minute walk from ES. There's a bus stop in our neighborhood about a block away that I see many kids on our street use. This seems like a good option for days when the weather is too cold/hot, or rainy/windy, or if I had a work meeting during walk time, etc... but on nice days (work schedule permitting) it seems like it would be more pleasant to walk.

Will we be able to sign up for the bus, but somehow notify/opt-out on the days that we'd prefer to walk? Or can we say we want to use the bus from Dec-Mar, but that we will walk in the fall/spring?

Sign up depends where you live… in MCPS there is no sign up, you just show up for the bus if you want it. On the back end, you do need to tell the teacher how your kid is getting home (in ES).

[Anonymous]

We're 1.5 miles away and right outside of the walk zone as well. It would be great to give my upper elementary kids the independence and freedom to walk home, but 1.5 miles is just too far. I also agree with the PP that said being walkable to middle/high school is more important with all of the early and late activities and meetings. Plus being able to hang out with friends after school.

[Anonymous]

Walking way better. By self? Seventh grade.

[Anonymous]

Depends on the house.

[Anonymous]

Walking better.