Metro Bus HORRORS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most jurisdictions have school buses, but DC lets students ride Metro for free so they don't have to bother with dedicated school buses. But then they don't put resources into buses along those school routes because they don't generate much revenue. The city can still say, though, that kids technically have a way to get to school using public transportation -- just not a reliable way.

Not everyone has the means or schedules to drive their kids to school and by the time you get to middle school and high school, inbound schools often aren't in walking distance. And as a public policy, we should encourage public transportation over more cars on the road.

JR at least excused tardies last year because the bus from Mount Pleasant was a frequent no show, with the WMATA app saying routes were cancelled because there weren't enough drivers. And for lots of families, the big, beautiful bus reform seems to have made things worse.

It's not about revenue. Bus doesn't generate much revenue anywhere.

They have to think about how to best serve the entire region under considerable resource constraints. Bespoke routes just for the schools in the wealthiest ward are generally not going to be the way to do that.

If the city expects students to use public transportation to get to school, shouldn’t the city provide that transportation?

I think the way school choice plays out in this city makes this a particularly complex problem. How do you serve students with transportation options equally (much less equitably) given the fact that only 28% of public and public charter school students attend their in-boundary school?

Well, at a bare minimum, students should be able to get to their by-right school without needing a car.

And not providing public transit access to out-of-bounds schools in effect limits access to high performing for those who can’t afford to live in the neighborhood or travel there by car.

So the lack of adequate service to W3 schools actually affects OB students at those schools the most?

Huh.

There are few OOB students at Deal/JR. Most of the Deal and JR routes are serving IB students who live on the edges of a catchment area that is way larger than it should be solely because of politics. Kids in Mt Pleasant, Adams Morgan, and 16th St Heights could get to Cardozo or Roosevelt fairly easily on public transit.

The Hardy/MacArthur area isn't well served by public transit, but school routes effectively serving IB students wouldn't be particularly useful to OOB students since they'd largely be going to neighborhoods with no/poor transit connections to the rest of the city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most jurisdictions have school buses, but DC lets students ride Metro for free so they don't have to bother with dedicated school buses. But then they don't put resources into buses along those school routes because they don't generate much revenue. The city can still say, though, that kids technically have a way to get to school using public transportation -- just not a reliable way.

Not everyone has the means or schedules to drive their kids to school and by the time you get to middle school and high school, inbound schools often aren't in walking distance. And as a public policy, we should encourage public transportation over more cars on the road.

JR at least excused tardies last year because the bus from Mount Pleasant was a frequent no show, with the WMATA app saying routes were cancelled because there weren't enough drivers. And for lots of families, the big, beautiful bus reform seems to have made things worse.

It's not about revenue. Bus doesn't generate much revenue anywhere.

They have to think about how to best serve the entire region under considerable resource constraints. Bespoke routes just for the schools in the wealthiest ward are generally not going to be the way to do that.

If the city expects students to use public transportation to get to school, shouldn’t the city provide that transportation?

I think the way school choice plays out in this city makes this a particularly complex problem. How do you serve students with transportation options equally (much less equitably) given the fact that only 28% of public and public charter school students attend their in-boundary school?

Well, at a bare minimum, students should be able to get to their by-right school without needing a car.

And not providing public transit access to out-of-bounds schools in effect limits access to high performing for those who can’t afford to live in the neighborhood or travel there by car.

So the lack of adequate service to W3 schools actually affects OB students at those schools the most?

Huh.

There are few OOB students at Deal/JR. Most of the Deal and JR routes are serving IB students who live on the edges of a catchment area that is way larger than it should be solely because of politics. Kids in Mt Pleasant, Adams Morgan, and 16th St Heights could get to Cardozo or Roosevelt fairly easily on public transit.

The Hardy/MacArthur area isn't well served by public transit, but school routes effectively serving IB students wouldn't be particularly useful to OOB students since they'd largely be going to neighborhoods with no/poor transit connections to the rest of the city.

Your first statement is a big part of the issue. People want access to JR, so they don’t want the boundaries adjusted. If the council said “okay we will switch thr boundaries of families EOTP to Roosevelt” those families would flip out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Or the OP could be a responsible parent and drive their child to school. Black children in ward 8 don’t have dedicated buses to get to school so why are white residents in northwest given a dedicated metro bus?

Same for Ward 5. Pretty much only ward 3 gets this kind of treatment. It's total BS.

This is not a dedicated bus for the school. It is the ONLY bus in this neighborhood and the school is on a major road, so yes, the only neighborhood bus has stops on that major neighborhood road.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most jurisdictions have school buses, but DC lets students ride Metro for free so they don't have to bother with dedicated school buses. But then they don't put resources into buses along those school routes because they don't generate much revenue. The city can still say, though, that kids technically have a way to get to school using public transportation -- just not a reliable way.

+1000

[Anonymous]

The C85 that was supposed to go from Foggy Bottom (07:42 AM per schedule)
to Tenleytown today through MacArthur just never reached Palisades at all, even though it was displayed as moving on a Wmata map.
If anyone has their kids using its northbound route - how has it been? Have you found the emailing Wmata helpful?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In addition to WMATA and your councilmember, find your ANC rep as an advocate, and definitely get other parents to raise their voices.

In these weeks with armed National Guard and masked ICE agents roaming DC, having clusters of teenagers milling about is a recipe for a problem. Even well-behaved kids waiting for the bus.

Correction. They wouldn’t bother white teenagers milling around regardless of the egregious nature of their behavior, which in almost all cases is worse than the black and brown children. ICE and the National Guard are more concerned about harassing black and brown children for simply existing.

[Anonymous]

These are life skills your kid is learning. The world doesn’t cater to people. It’s a cruel dog-eat-dog world. Tell him next time to wave the bus down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Or the OP could be a responsible parent and drive their child to school. Black children in ward 8 don’t have dedicated buses to get to school so why are white residents in northwest given a dedicated metro bus?

Who is arguing that students in Ward 8 don’t deserve better too? What kind of stupid ideas have gotten into your brain that you are trying to divide people on this board by race? Pretty sure everyone wants the city to do a better job supporting students getting to school safely and in a timely manner. What a moron...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These are life skills your kid is learning. The world doesn’t cater to people. It’s a cruel dog-eat-dog world. Tell him next time to wave the bus down.

It’s actually the perfect recipe for a lesson in how to advocate for yourself and your peers. Families and kids could take action to change the system. It shouldn’t be a “well, life is hard, kid, so shut up and take the scraps they give you” moment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most jurisdictions have school buses, but DC lets students ride Metro for free so they don't have to bother with dedicated school buses. But then they don't put resources into buses along those school routes because they don't generate much revenue. The city can still say, though, that kids technically have a way to get to school using public transportation -- just not a reliable way.

Not everyone has the means or schedules to drive their kids to school and by the time you get to middle school and high school, inbound schools often aren't in walking distance. And as a public policy, we should encourage public transportation over more cars on the road.

JR at least excused tardies last year because the bus from Mount Pleasant was a frequent no show, with the WMATA app saying routes were cancelled because there weren't enough drivers. And for lots of families, the big, beautiful bus reform seems to have made things worse.

It's not about revenue. Bus doesn't generate much revenue anywhere.

They have to think about how to best serve the entire region under considerable resource constraints. Bespoke routes just for the schools in the wealthiest ward are generally not going to be the way to do that.

If the city expects students to use public transportation to get to school, shouldn’t the city provide that transportation?

I think the way school choice plays out in this city makes this a particularly complex problem. How do you serve students with transportation options equally (much less equitably) given the fact that only 28% of public and public charter school students attend their in-boundary school?

Well, at a bare minimum, students should be able to get to their by-right school without needing a car.

And not providing public transit access to out-of-bounds schools in effect limits access to high performing for those who can’t afford to live in the neighborhood or travel there by car.

So the lack of adequate service to W3 schools actually affects OB students at those schools the most?

Huh.

There are few OOB students at Deal/JR. Most of the Deal and JR routes are serving IB students who live on the edges of a catchment area that is way larger than it should be solely because of politics. Kids in Mt Pleasant, Adams Morgan, and 16th St Heights could get to Cardozo or Roosevelt fairly easily on public transit.

The Hardy/MacArthur area isn't well served by public transit, but school routes effectively serving IB students wouldn't be particularly useful to OOB students since they'd largely be going to neighborhoods with no/poor transit connections to the rest of the city.

Your first statement is a big part of the issue. People want access to JR, so they don’t want the boundaries adjusted. If the council said “okay we will switch thr boundaries of families EOTP to Roosevelt” those families would flip out.

This is a really lame excuse for forgiving the city's transportation fails. If you can't afford to get there by car, you shouldn't be able to attend? About 30% of JR students live out of bounds. And what about kids who get into Walls, Ellington, or Banneker? The city can't tout the benefits of magnet schools and OOB access if they don't also provide ways for kids to get to these schools.

[Anonymous]

OP here, I did email WMATA and I am partnering with some parents to see how we can make this better. Apparently they tried last year and they had no luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most jurisdictions have school buses, but DC lets students ride Metro for free so they don't have to bother with dedicated school buses. But then they don't put resources into buses along those school routes because they don't generate much revenue. The city can still say, though, that kids technically have a way to get to school using public transportation -- just not a reliable way.

Not everyone has the means or schedules to drive their kids to school and by the time you get to middle school and high school, inbound schools often aren't in walking distance. And as a public policy, we should encourage public transportation over more cars on the road.

JR at least excused tardies last year because the bus from Mount Pleasant was a frequent no show, with the WMATA app saying routes were cancelled because there weren't enough drivers. And for lots of families, the big, beautiful bus reform seems to have made things worse.

It's not about revenue. Bus doesn't generate much revenue anywhere.

They have to think about how to best serve the entire region under considerable resource constraints. Bespoke routes just for the schools in the wealthiest ward are generally not going to be the way to do that.

If the city expects students to use public transportation to get to school, shouldn’t the city provide that transportation?

I think the way school choice plays out in this city makes this a particularly complex problem. How do you serve students with transportation options equally (much less equitably) given the fact that only 28% of public and public charter school students attend their in-boundary school?

Well, at a bare minimum, students should be able to get to their by-right school without needing a car.

And not providing public transit access to out-of-bounds schools in effect limits access to high performing for those who can’t afford to live in the neighborhood or travel there by car.

So the lack of adequate service to W3 schools actually affects OB students at those schools the most?

Huh.

There are few OOB students at Deal/JR. Most of the Deal and JR routes are serving IB students who live on the edges of a catchment area that is way larger than it should be solely because of politics. Kids in Mt Pleasant, Adams Morgan, and 16th St Heights could get to Cardozo or Roosevelt fairly easily on public transit.

The Hardy/MacArthur area isn't well served by public transit, but school routes effectively serving IB students wouldn't be particularly useful to OOB students since they'd largely be going to neighborhoods with no/poor transit connections to the rest of the city.

Your first statement is a big part of the issue. People want access to JR, so they don’t want the boundaries adjusted. If the council said “okay we will switch thr boundaries of families EOTP to Roosevelt” those families would flip out.

This is a really lame excuse for forgiving the city's transportation fails. If you can't afford to get there by car, you shouldn't be able to attend? About 30% of JR students live out of bounds. And what about kids who get into Walls, Ellington, or Banneker? The city can't tout the benefits of magnet schools and OOB access if they don't also provide ways for kids to get to these schools.

Deal and Jackson-Reed are literally right next to a Metro station. I think the OOB kids are fine.

And yes, everyone else in this city has to consider the trade offs between school quality and school distance from home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
So the lack of adequate service to W3 schools actually affects OB students at those schools the most?

Yes. The C85 and D94 run in two directions. The direction for IB students seems not too bad. The direction for OB students is pretty crowded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most jurisdictions have school buses, but DC lets students ride Metro for free so they don't have to bother with dedicated school buses. But then they don't put resources into buses along those school routes because they don't generate much revenue. The city can still say, though, that kids technically have a way to get to school using public transportation -- just not a reliable way.

Not everyone has the means or schedules to drive their kids to school and by the time you get to middle school and high school, inbound schools often aren't in walking distance. And as a public policy, we should encourage public transportation over more cars on the road.

JR at least excused tardies last year because the bus from Mount Pleasant was a frequent no show, with the WMATA app saying routes were cancelled because there weren't enough drivers. And for lots of families, the big, beautiful bus reform seems to have made things worse.

It's not about revenue. Bus doesn't generate much revenue anywhere.

They have to think about how to best serve the entire region under considerable resource constraints. Bespoke routes just for the schools in the wealthiest ward are generally not going to be the way to do that.

If the city expects students to use public transportation to get to school, shouldn’t the city provide that transportation?

I think the way school choice plays out in this city makes this a particularly complex problem. How do you serve students with transportation options equally (much less equitably) given the fact that only 28% of public and public charter school students attend their in-boundary school?

Well, at a bare minimum, students should be able to get to their by-right school without needing a car.

And not providing public transit access to out-of-bounds schools in effect limits access to high performing for those who can’t afford to live in the neighborhood or travel there by car.

So the lack of adequate service to W3 schools actually affects OB students at those schools the most?

Huh.

There are few OOB students at Deal/JR. Most of the Deal and JR routes are serving IB students who live on the edges of a catchment area that is way larger than it should be solely because of politics. Kids in Mt Pleasant, Adams Morgan, and 16th St Heights could get to Cardozo or Roosevelt fairly easily on public transit.

The Hardy/MacArthur area isn't well served by public transit, but school routes effectively serving IB students wouldn't be particularly useful to OOB students since they'd largely be going to neighborhoods with no/poor transit connections to the rest of the city.

Your first statement is a big part of the issue. People want access to JR, so they don’t want the boundaries adjusted. If the council said “okay we will switch thr boundaries of families EOTP to Roosevelt” those families would flip out.

This is a really lame excuse for forgiving the city's transportation fails. If you can't afford to get there by car, you shouldn't be able to attend? About 30% of JR students live out of bounds. And what about kids who get into Walls, Ellington, or Banneker? The city can't tout the benefits of magnet schools and OOB access if they don't also provide ways for kids to get to these schools.

Walls, JR are within blocks of a metro station. Banneker has access to a metro. All three schools are close to major roads with bus routes. Why is it a lame excuse? Change the boundaries for JR so kids are closer to their IB schools. But you would actually like that change, so instead you complain about a bus that exists to basically get your kid to the school you want them to attend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please Keep the discussion going we need more buses and there are many weird guys in the buses vouchers and homeless guys very scary. Tell your kids pay attention to their surroundings when they are on the bus and do not use the cell phone too much during the rides

Absolutely. We have no choice but to have DCs ride metrobus, but the crap I have seen and dealt with on the bus even in the middle of the day makes me anxious. My tweens aren’t equipped to keep themselves safe navigating public transport in a city on public transit. And they shouldn’t be expected to.

I don’t think the last sentence is correct, tbh.