APS transportation for high school
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Anonymous
| Do kids automatically get assigned a bus in high school just like elementary / middle school? Anyone have rough numbers for what percentage of 9th graders ride the bus? |
Anonymous
If they are in a bus zone, yes they are automatically assigned to a bus route. No idea what %age of any grade rides a bus; but likely more freshmen and gradually fewer in each successive grade as students get driver's licenses etc. But I'm guessing mommy and daddy don't drive freshmen so much anymore.... |
Anonymous
There are tons of parent drop offs at our school. The bus zone is not based upon walking route, but as the crow flies. No one in our neighborhood gets bus service and no one walks. “Mommy and daddy” drive plenty of kids through junior year. |
Anonymous
The question is about kids in bus zones getting assigned to the bus routes automatically, not about kids who are deemed in the walk zone getting driven to school. I would suspect that mommy and daddy don't drive their high schoolers so much in general, but especially if they are able to take a bus....unless they need to bring their tuba or cello which aren't allowed on APS buses, or are coming to school early for a practice or late from a medical appointment, etc. |
Anonymous
| Bus routes in high school are hella long and so early. It’s easier to pop high schoolers somewhere close to school and walk. They sleep in and don’t burn an hour meandering through Arlington streets |
Anonymous
Well, then why don't we just eliminate buses for high schools and solve our bus driver shortage problem? |
Anonymous
| We're a long way from HS but I've wondered this. We're zoned for Wakefield and I can't imagine there is enough parking for students to drive themselves to school, so the choices are bus or parents, no? |
Anonymous
Your assumption is wrong |
Anonymous
Most people use their elementary bus routes. It’s the same drivers and buses for elementary middle and high school. The elementary routes and buses are the long poles, so cutting high schools only saves some gas and makes the job less attractive to bus drivers (since they now work less hours) unless we raise the hourly rate to compensate. |
Anonymous
Yes they get assigned a bus if they are not in the walk zone. I don’t remember how we were first notified of the bus number and stop when they started though sorry. Yes a lot of high schoolers ride the bus daily. Mine do. Bus ridership does drop off as kids get licenses and drive themselves. I hear they have to park pretty far away from school in the neighborhood and walk. Other kids get driven by their parents, so it varies. |
Anonymous
| APS decides who gets a bus for HS based on as the crow flies, not how far a kid has to walk. For my kid, we don't get a bus, but kids actually closer to the school by walking and with fewer major roads to cross still get a bus. I am not willing to have my kid walk on Langston where there is no curb lane and narrow sidewalks in the morning rush hour over a mile to get to school. So he is driven. Kids have been hit. |