Standing room only on the school bus

[Anonymous]

Jeez. How dysfunctional can they be? Unacceptable.

[Anonymous]

For us they weren't standing, sitting on the floor in the aisle. It didn't help that the principal denied there was a problem, and said the problem was because friends were going home with friends from school when they weren't supposed to. And the bus depot told us they couldn't afford to add another bus at this time. Yes I still have that email.

Here's the suggestion if it hasn't been solved in a week or two. Call the police, have them pull over the bus. It'll be fixed the next day, promise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For us they weren't standing, sitting on the floor in the aisle. It didn't help that the principal denied there was a problem, and said the problem was because friends were going home with friends from school when they weren't supposed to. And the bus depot told us they couldn't afford to add another bus at this time. Yes I still have that email.

Here's the suggestion if it hasn't been solved in a week or two. Call the police, have them pull over the bus. It'll be fixed the next day, promise.

In our school kids can only go to a friends house on the bus if they have a note AND there is room on the bus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was surprised to hear that many of the kids had to stand on my DC's school bus yesterday (this bus goes on the beltway). Does anybody know if MCPS reworks the route etc., or will this be the situation all year?

silly magnet students, why are you carpooling like all the private school kids do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was surprised to hear that many of the kids had to stand on my DC's school bus yesterday (this bus goes on the beltway). Does anybody know if MCPS reworks the route etc., or will this be the situation all year?

silly magnet students, why are you carpooling like all the private school kids do?

Because MCPS provides bus transportation.

[Anonymous]

This always happens at the beginning of the year when they’re getting the kinks worked out. My son had his bus route changed 3 times last September after they figured out what routes worked best with the number of kids at each stop. Just call the transportation department and let them know. It’s really not a source for outrage after the first day of school. It just takes a little while to get it all right.

[Anonymous]

It was the first day yesterday ....it is only the second day. Call the MCPS Transportation number on their website. They are still working out the kinks!

[Anonymous]

Call the bus depot. They added a second bus to our route last year. It just takes a week or two to get allocated.

[Anonymous]

Does this apply to elementary school students as well? I could see middle or high school kids standing/sitting on a bus for a few days--but for K or 1st graders, this sounds extraordinarily dangerous!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks. I will call the school.

You need to call the Bus Depot not the school. But, the school can give you the number.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, so much entitlement on this thread. If you don’t like the bus system, then why don’t you drive your kids to school yourself?

I'm a PP who thought that it was a bit premature to complain after one day of school.

But I don't think it's entitled to expect the school system to provide adequate bus transportation. At least not entitled in the pejorative sense of the word. Also, not everybody in Montgomery County has a car, is able to drive, and is available to drive at school time.

[Anonymous]

What is this "working out the kinks" nonsense? It's not hard to figure out how many buses you need.

If you know where the kids live, it's not hard to figure out a route that will pick them up and allocate the correct number of buses to ensure everyone has a seat.

You all have really low expectations, which I get because it's MCPS, but this is kids' safety we're talking about. It's ridiculous to say "oh it's ok that they're standing or sitting in the aisle. Just give them time to figure it out!"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For us they weren't standing, sitting on the floor in the aisle. It didn't help that the principal denied there was a problem, and said the problem was because friends were going home with friends from school when they weren't supposed to. And the bus depot told us they couldn't afford to add another bus at this time. Yes I still have that email.

Here's the suggestion if it hasn't been solved in a week or two. Call the police, have them pull over the bus. It'll be fixed the next day, promise.

At least they were being honest with you. So you have any idea how much school districts spend on busing students, to the detriment of actual educational programs? It’s staggering.

[Anonymous]

That sounds incredibly dangerous. Wtf??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is this "working out the kinks" nonsense? It's not hard to figure out how many buses you need.

If you know where the kids live, it's not hard to figure out a route that will pick them up and allocate the correct number of buses to ensure everyone has a seat.

You all have really low expectations, which I get because it's MCPS, but this is kids' safety we're talking about. It's ridiculous to say "oh it's ok that they're standing or sitting in the aisle. Just give them time to figure it out!"

Yes, it's very easy to run a system that transports 120,000 students twice a day, when you're sitting somewhere typing on your phone on a keyboard.

It's not so easy when you're actually the one doing it, though.