Buses and bus depot snow removal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are buses ready?

Bus depot?

Bus drivers navigating on these conditions?

13k bus stops?

Sidewalks leading to those bus stops? (County was going to resume enforcement of unshoveled sidewalks Monday)

They've been working on bus depots since last week. The pictures looked pretty good at the Clarksburg depot, and those were taken 5 days ago.

Bus stops and sidewalks don't need to be fully clear. Kids can walk on snow. But the county did a lot of work on sidewalks over the weekend.

And how are the roads where buses pass through? Looked like blocks of freezing rain. How will bus drivers turn around those snow banks? Will guardS be mitigating the intersections to assist bus drivers?! And the students who walk to and from school? And to the bus stops? Not everyone lives on a cul de sac.

Most streets are fine. There may be some exceptional cases where buses have to modify their routes. People will manage.

Your kids don't ride a school bus. Got it.

They don't now, but they used it to. I've been through the days of occasionally having to come back and drive them because the bus never showed up. You can too if it really comes to that, but it probably won't. The bus might honk at your kids from a block away and they'll walk over. More likely it will be business-as-usual.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidewalks at bus stops may be a mess but schools will open anyway.

The best think parents could do last week and this weekend was to buy their kids snowboots to handle the snowbanks.

That was kind of you to offer parents snow boots for them and their kids

I'm a DCUM poor, and even I equip my family properly for winter. You buy in November. If your kid changes shoe size over the winter, you curse and buy again as soon as you realize it. BTDT.

DCUM poor isn’t the issue. There are really poor people in the county. Including those who have never had to deal with snow and ice before.

I grew up really poor. We got laughed at for wearing plastic bags over our shoes to try to stay dry. Fine, we got to school in the rain rather than sitting at home. However, you can’t climb a 2 foot mound of ice with plastic bags tied over your shoes.

I did, too. That's not how you do it. You put the plastic bags *inside* the shoes to keep your feet dry.

I find it hard to believe someone would actually do it the other way. Obviously that isn't going to work. The plastic would just tear.

DP. Nah kids who needed this method did it both ways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidewalks at bus stops may be a mess but schools will open anyway.

The best think parents could do last week and this weekend was to buy their kids snowboots to handle the snowbanks.

That was kind of you to offer parents snow boots for them and their kids

I'm a DCUM poor, and even I equip my family properly for winter. You buy in November. If your kid changes shoe size over the winter, you curse and buy again as soon as you realize it. BTDT.

DCUM poor isn’t the issue. There are really poor people in the county. Including those who have never had to deal with snow and ice before.

I grew up really poor. We got laughed at for wearing plastic bags over our shoes to try to stay dry. Fine, we got to school in the rain rather than sitting at home. However, you can’t climb a 2 foot mound of ice with plastic bags tied over your shoes.

Thank you for sharing. More need to speak up.

I guess the district could send out some common-sense approaches to dealing with snow, but are people really that dense here? I think the reactions are driven more by fear/anxiety than ignorance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidewalks at bus stops may be a mess but schools will open anyway.

The best think parents could do last week and this weekend was to buy their kids snowboots to handle the snowbanks.

That was kind of you to offer parents snow boots for them and their kids

I'm a DCUM poor, and even I equip my family properly for winter. You buy in November. If your kid changes shoe size over the winter, you curse and buy again as soon as you realize it. BTDT.

DCUM poor isn’t the issue. There are really poor people in the county. Including those who have never had to deal with snow and ice before.

I grew up really poor. We got laughed at for wearing plastic bags over our shoes to try to stay dry. Fine, we got to school in the rain rather than sitting at home. However, you can’t climb a 2 foot mound of ice with plastic bags tied over your shoes.

I did, too. That's not how you do it. You put the plastic bags *inside* the shoes to keep your feet dry.

I find it hard to believe someone would actually do it the other way. Obviously that isn't going to work. The plastic would just tear.

DP. Nah kids who needed this method did it both ways.

I've seen plastic bags used many times. I've never seen someone try to put them outside the shoes. That isn't going to work. It will tear, and before it tears, you're going to fall. If you've seen people in Maryland do that, to maybe we do need to send a mass email out telling people what not to do.

I have seen plastic bags inside shoes. Then you just don't wear shoes at your desk, or, ideally, you bring a second set of old shoes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are buses ready?

Bus depot?

Bus drivers navigating on these conditions?

13k bus stops?

Sidewalks leading to those bus stops? (County was going to resume enforcement of unshoveled sidewalks Monday)

They've been working on bus depots since last week. The pictures looked pretty good at the Clarksburg depot, and those were taken 5 days ago.

Bus stops and sidewalks don't need to be fully clear. Kids can walk on snow. But the county did a lot of work on sidewalks over the weekend.

And how are the roads where buses pass through? Looked like blocks of freezing rain. How will bus drivers turn around those snow banks? Will guardS be mitigating the intersections to assist bus drivers?! And the students who walk to and from school? And to the bus stops? Not everyone lives on a cul de sac.

Most streets are fine. There may be some exceptional cases where buses have to modify their routes. People will manage.

Source?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidewalks at bus stops may be a mess but schools will open anyway.

The best think parents could do last week and this weekend was to buy their kids snowboots to handle the snowbanks.

That was kind of you to offer parents snow boots for them and their kids

I'm a DCUM poor, and even I equip my family properly for winter. You buy in November. If your kid changes shoe size over the winter, you curse and buy again as soon as you realize it. BTDT.

DCUM poor isn’t the issue. There are really poor people in the county. Including those who have never had to deal with snow and ice before.

I grew up really poor. We got laughed at for wearing plastic bags over our shoes to try to stay dry. Fine, we got to school in the rain rather than sitting at home. However, you can’t climb a 2 foot mound of ice with plastic bags tied over your shoes.

I did, too. That's not how you do it. You put the plastic bags *inside* the shoes to keep your feet dry.

I find it hard to believe someone would actually do it the other way. Obviously that isn't going to work. The plastic would just tear.

DP. Nah kids who needed this method did it both ways.

I've seen plastic bags used many times. I've never seen someone try to put them outside the shoes. That isn't going to work. It will tear, and before it tears, you're going to fall. If you've seen people in Maryland do that, to maybe we do need to send a mass email out telling people what not to do.

I have seen plastic bags inside shoes. Then you just don't wear shoes at your desk, or, ideally, you bring a second set of old shoes.

Yes, see right here in the Old line state in the 80s by yours truly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidewalks at bus stops may be a mess but schools will open anyway.

The best think parents could do last week and this weekend was to buy their kids snowboots to handle the snowbanks.

That was kind of you to offer parents snow boots for them and their kids

I'm a DCUM poor, and even I equip my family properly for winter. You buy in November. If your kid changes shoe size over the winter, you curse and buy again as soon as you realize it. BTDT.

DCUM poor isn’t the issue. There are really poor people in the county. Including those who have never had to deal with snow and ice before.

I grew up really poor. We got laughed at for wearing plastic bags over our shoes to try to stay dry. Fine, we got to school in the rain rather than sitting at home. However, you can’t climb a 2 foot mound of ice with plastic bags tied over your shoes.

I did, too. That's not how you do it. You put the plastic bags *inside* the shoes to keep your feet dry.

I find it hard to believe someone would actually do it the other way. Obviously that isn't going to work. The plastic would just tear.

DP. Nah kids who needed this method did it both ways.

I've seen plastic bags used many times. I've never seen someone try to put them outside the shoes. That isn't going to work. It will tear, and before it tears, you're going to fall. If you've seen people in Maryland do that, to maybe we do need to send a mass email out telling people what not to do.

I have seen plastic bags inside shoes. Then you just don't wear shoes at your desk, or, ideally, you bring a second set of old shoes.

Yes, see right here in the Old line state in the 80s by yours truly.

Well, I guess that tracks with Marylanders overall lack of common sense with snow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are buses ready?

Bus depot?

Bus drivers navigating on these conditions?

13k bus stops?

Sidewalks leading to those bus stops? (County was going to resume enforcement of unshoveled sidewalks Monday)

They've been working on bus depots since last week. The pictures looked pretty good at the Clarksburg depot, and those were taken 5 days ago.

Bus stops and sidewalks don't need to be fully clear. Kids can walk on snow. But the county did a lot of work on sidewalks over the weekend.

And how are the roads where buses pass through? Looked like blocks of freezing rain. How will bus drivers turn around those snow banks? Will guardS be mitigating the intersections to assist bus drivers?! And the students who walk to and from school? And to the bus stops? Not everyone lives on a cul de sac.

Most streets are fine. There may be some exceptional cases where buses have to modify their routes. People will manage.

Source?

The county itself and a week of driving around.

[Anonymous]

I don't think they should close schools for this but I do worry about how slippery the entranceways to every school are going to get. Each school has like maybe 2-3 mats at the front doors and those will become soaked and covered in snow and ice after like the first 25 kids stomp their boots and shoes off. This happened at my middle school last year and kids and staff kept falling in the hallway. First time I watched it, I could help but laugh but eventually it stopped being funny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think they should close schools for this but I do worry about how slippery the entranceways to every school are going to get. Each school has like maybe 2-3 mats at the front doors and those will become soaked and covered in snow and ice after like the first 25 kids stomp their boots and shoes off. This happened at my middle school last year and kids and staff kept falling in the hallway. First time I watched it, I could help but laugh but eventually it stopped being funny.

Have you talked to building services about that? There are various approaches to help. The easiest one that is often enough is setting up some blower fans. The school definitely has them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think they should close schools for this but I do worry about how slippery the entranceways to every school are going to get. Each school has like maybe 2-3 mats at the front doors and those will become soaked and covered in snow and ice after like the first 25 kids stomp their boots and shoes off. This happened at my middle school last year and kids and staff kept falling in the hallway. First time I watched it, I could help but laugh but eventually it stopped being funny.

Have you talked to building services about that? There are various approaches to help. The easiest one that is often enough is setting up some blower fans. The school definitely has them.

Last year we closed every entrance and funneled all kids through one set of doors and used all the mats in the building at that one entrance. We also used blower fans and put down cardboard as makeshift mats. Still turned into a slip and slide 10 feet further into the school. I mean it's unavoidable but it still is concerning. Again, I don't think they should cancel school for this reason at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think they should close schools for this but I do worry about how slippery the entranceways to every school are going to get. Each school has like maybe 2-3 mats at the front doors and those will become soaked and covered in snow and ice after like the first 25 kids stomp their boots and shoes off. This happened at my middle school last year and kids and staff kept falling in the hallway. First time I watched it, I could help but laugh but eventually it stopped being funny.

Have you talked to building services about that? There are various approaches to help. The easiest one that is often enough is setting up some blower fans. The school definitely has them.

Last year we closed every entrance and funneled all kids through one set of doors and used all the mats in the building at that one entrance. We also used blower fans and put down cardboard as makeshift mats. Still turned into a slip and slide 10 feet further into the school. I mean it's unavoidable but it still is concerning. Again, I don't think they should cancel school for this reason at all.

Must be a high school? That should have been enough for the number of people coming into elementary schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are buses ready?

Bus depot?

Bus drivers navigating on these conditions?

13k bus stops?

Sidewalks leading to those bus stops? (County was going to resume enforcement of unshoveled sidewalks Monday)

They've been working on bus depots since last week. The pictures looked pretty good at the Clarksburg depot, and those were taken 5 days ago.

Bus stops and sidewalks don't need to be fully clear. Kids can walk on snow. But the county did a lot of work on sidewalks over the weekend.

And how are the roads where buses pass through? Looked like blocks of freezing rain. How will bus drivers turn around those snow banks? Will guardS be mitigating the intersections to assist bus drivers?! And the students who walk to and from school? And to the bus stops? Not everyone lives on a cul de sac.

Most streets are fine. There may be some exceptional cases where buses have to modify their routes. People will manage.

Source?

The county itself and a week of driving around.

So you saw ALL the roads where two lanes turn into one? It's bad enough that buses go through streets that are basically one lane both directions when there is no snow. And you want them to go through areas now where the snow is piled so they can't get through safely?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidewalks at bus stops may be a mess but schools will open anyway.

The best think parents could do last week and this weekend was to buy their kids snowboots to handle the snowbanks.

That was kind of you to offer parents snow boots for them and their kids

I'm a DCUM poor, and even I equip my family properly for winter. You buy in November. If your kid changes shoe size over the winter, you curse and buy again as soon as you realize it. BTDT.

DCUM poor isn’t the issue. There are really poor people in the county. Including those who have never had to deal with snow and ice before.

I grew up really poor. We got laughed at for wearing plastic bags over our shoes to try to stay dry. Fine, we got to school in the rain rather than sitting at home. However, you can’t climb a 2 foot mound of ice with plastic bags tied over your shoes.

I did, too. That's not how you do it. You put the plastic bags *inside* the shoes to keep your feet dry.

I find it hard to believe someone would actually do it the other way. Obviously that isn't going to work. The plastic would just tear.

DP. Nah kids who needed this method did it both ways.

I've seen plastic bags used many times. I've never seen someone try to put them outside the shoes. That isn't going to work. It will tear, and before it tears, you're going to fall. If you've seen people in Maryland do that, to maybe we do need to send a mass email out telling people what not to do.

I have seen plastic bags inside shoes. Then you just don't wear shoes at your desk, or, ideally, you bring a second set of old shoes.

Yes, see right here in the Old line state in the 80s by yours truly.

Well, I guess that tracks with Marylanders overall lack of common sense with snow.

MD is not equipped like your snow hole country

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidewalks at bus stops may be a mess but schools will open anyway.

The best think parents could do last week and this weekend was to buy their kids snowboots to handle the snowbanks.

That was kind of you to offer parents snow boots for them and their kids

I'm a DCUM poor, and even I equip my family properly for winter. You buy in November. If your kid changes shoe size over the winter, you curse and buy again as soon as you realize it. BTDT.

DCUM poor isn’t the issue. There are really poor people in the county. Including those who have never had to deal with snow and ice before.

I grew up really poor. We got laughed at for wearing plastic bags over our shoes to try to stay dry. Fine, we got to school in the rain rather than sitting at home. However, you can’t climb a 2 foot mound of ice with plastic bags tied over your shoes.

I did, too. That's not how you do it. You put the plastic bags *inside* the shoes to keep your feet dry.

I find it hard to believe someone would actually do it the other way. Obviously that isn't going to work. The plastic would just tear.

DP. Nah kids who needed this method did it both ways.

I've seen plastic bags used many times. I've never seen someone try to put them outside the shoes. That isn't going to work. It will tear, and before it tears, you're going to fall. If you've seen people in Maryland do that, to maybe we do need to send a mass email out telling people what not to do.

I have seen plastic bags inside shoes. Then you just don't wear shoes at your desk, or, ideally, you bring a second set of old shoes.

As a child, you didn’t wear shoes at your desk at school? Or , as a child, you brought the old shoes that were now a size too small to wear all day?

Or you have only seen adults do this and have no idea what it is like to be a child sitting in soaking wet shoes in school for six hours?