Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NYC PP here.

I agree. All kids should be able to walk to a good in-bound school. But all cannot.

It's called WMATA

If your WMATA provided bus connections that were timed to connect with other busses, and had routes that ran within a block or two of every school, this would be great. But one thing I found when researching school options was a corner of NE that has about five charter schools in it (drawing kids from all over the city), and two bus lines, both of which have limited schedules and don't even come that close to the schools. Compound this with heavily trafficked streets and no crossing guards... because this area also has all of that.

New York has a fairly complicated formula that determines its bus routes, and who is eligible to use them. If you have to travel out of your borough, you either do a private bus or take the subway. But if you're more than a mile from a school and less than five miles from a school, a bus route has to accommodate you. If New York can work this out, I really don't see why DC cannot. Or cannot provide some kind of transit route that runs close to all of its schools.

Yes rude, ignorant, never left the dc area, PP

However, as I said, apparently parking lots are a bigger priority.

So NYC has bus system to transport all kids that want to go to different boroughs to hundreds of different schools?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NYC PP here.

I agree. All kids should be able to walk to a good in-bound school. But all cannot.

It's called WMATA

If your WMATA provided bus connections that were timed to connect with other busses, and had routes that ran within a block or two of every school, this would be great. But one thing I found when researching school options was a corner of NE that has about five charter schools in it (drawing kids from all over the city), and two bus lines, both of which have limited schedules and don't even come that close to the schools. Compound this with heavily trafficked streets and no crossing guards... because this area also has all of that.

New York has a fairly complicated formula that determines its bus routes, and who is eligible to use them. If you have to travel out of your borough, you either do a private bus or take the subway. But if you're more than a mile from a school and less than five miles from a school, a bus route has to accommodate you. If New York can work this out, I really don't see why DC cannot. Or cannot provide some kind of transit route that runs close to all of its schools.

However, as I said, apparently parking lots are a bigger priority.

So NYC has bus system to transport all kids that want to go to different boroughs to hundreds of different schools?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here: If you are a parent, PP, you know just how hard it is to make it here in DC with kids. Why are you acting like driving across town is something that everyone can do? My car-less friends were shut out of PK3. What are they supposed to do?

They are supposed to figure it out. That is life.

Anonymous wrote:NYC PP here.

I agree. All kids should be able to walk to a good in-bound school. But all cannot.

It's called WMATA

If your WMATA provided bus connections that were timed to connect with other busses, and had routes that ran within a block or two of every school, this would be great. But one thing I found when researching school options was a corner of NE that has about five charter schools in it (drawing kids from all over the city), and two bus lines, both of which have limited schedules and don't even come that close to the schools. Compound this with heavily trafficked streets and no crossing guards... because this area also has all of that.

New York has a fairly complicated formula that determines its bus routes, and who is eligible to use them. If you have to travel out of your borough, you either do a private bus or take the subway. But if you're more than a mile from a school and less than five miles from a school, a bus route has to accommodate you. If New York can work this out, I really don't see why DC cannot. Or cannot provide some kind of transit route that runs close to all of its schools.

However, as I said, apparently parking lots are a bigger priority.

But even then, where would the buses park for pick up and drop off? What would the addition of those extra vehicles on the road do to rush hour.

It's called WMATA

Anonymous wrote:The thing about the "bus the kids" plan is that it is only reasonable if there is a large enough cohort of kids from one neighborhood attending one or two proximate schools to fill a bus. If you're talking about one or two kids from SE going to Janney and one or two kids from SE going to Powell (or somewhere else not in upper NW), it stops being a reasonable idea pretty quickly. The point of a neighborhood school system is that children have a school that is either walking distance or a very short drive/bus ride/whatever. I completely understand that many elementary schools in the city are sub-par and that a lot of people would rather drive their kids across town than send their kids to the neighborhood school, but that is not a transportation issue. Spending money on busing kids across town is not going to improve the failing neighborhood schools that necessitate the buses, which is actually the fundamental problem. All DC kids should be able to walk to a decent public school from their home. That that is not the reality is what is lame, NYC PP.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing about the "bus the kids" plan is that it is only reasonable if there is a large enough cohort of kids from one neighborhood attending one or two proximate schools to fill a bus. If you're talking about one or two kids from SE going to Janney and one or two kids from SE going to Powell (or somewhere else not in upper NW), it stops being a reasonable idea pretty quickly. The point of a neighborhood school system is that children have a school that is either walking distance or a very short drive/bus ride/whatever. I completely understand that many elementary schools in the city are sub-par and that a lot of people would rather drive their kids across town than send their kids to the neighborhood school, but that is not a transportation issue. Spending money on busing kids across town is not going to improve the failing neighborhood schools that necessitate the buses, which is actually the fundamental problem. All DC kids should be able to walk to a decent public school from their home. That that is not the reality is what is lame, NYC PP.

It's ridiculous to believe that the much feared set-asides would mean Kids from SE at Lafayette or Mann. But that aside, the only way busing could be feasible would be removing choice and making IB schools the only option for those attending DCPS. But even then, where would the buses park for pick up and drop off? What would the addition of those extra vehicles on the road do to rush hour. And then there's a phenomenal cost - buses, drivers, off-hour storage, maintenance, liability.

I have to go back and look at the MySchool data, but I suspect there will be fewer and fewer OOB placements each year.

Anonymous wrote:The thing about the "bus the kids" plan is that it is only reasonable if there is a large enough cohort of kids from one neighborhood attending one or two proximate schools to fill a bus. If you're talking about one or two kids from SE going to Janney and one or two kids from SE going to Powell (or somewhere else not in upper NW), it stops being a reasonable idea pretty quickly. The point of a neighborhood school system is that children have a school that is either walking distance or a very short drive/bus ride/whatever. I completely understand that many elementary schools in the city are sub-par and that a lot of people would rather drive their kids across town than send their kids to the neighborhood school, but that is not a transportation issue. Spending money on busing kids across town is not going to improve the failing neighborhood schools that necessitate the buses, which is actually the fundamental problem. All DC kids should be able to walk to a decent public school from their home. That that is not the reality is what is lame, NYC PP.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

As a New York transplant, let me say this is one reason why DC is lame. School busses should be funded. You build PARKING LOTS for your schools instead of providing free parking permits for teachers to park on site. You renovate your schools like crazy. But you're too cheap to provide bussing, or ensure that every school is served by adequate transit options?

I'm honestly shocked at how everyone talks such a great green game and then drives their kid halfway across the city to school.

I'm not sure I agree that school buses should be funded because every child in DC has a DCPS school within walking distance of their home. If a family chooses not to attend their neighborhood school, why shouldn't it be their responsibility to get their child to the OOB or charter or private school they chose instead?

I agree. And for those whose inboundary school is further away (say, for middle and high school), there is a WMATA bus route that goes to their school and they get free bus fare.

I've got to believe that there will be bus service provided to support the mythical 25% set-aside for at-risk students that is supposedly coming in the near future. DCPS can't seriously expect homeless kindergarteners in SE to navigate the bus route to Lafayette or Mann alone.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

As a New York transplant, let me say this is one reason why DC is lame. School busses should be funded. You build PARKING LOTS for your schools instead of providing free parking permits for teachers to park on site. You renovate your schools like crazy. But you're too cheap to provide bussing, or ensure that every school is served by adequate transit options?

I'm honestly shocked at how everyone talks such a great green game and then drives their kid halfway across the city to school.

I'm not sure I agree that school buses should be funded because every child in DC has a DCPS school within walking distance of their home. If a family chooses not to attend their neighborhood school, why shouldn't it be their responsibility to get their child to the OOB or charter or private school they chose instead?

I agree. And for those whose inboundary school is further away (say, for middle and high school), there is a WMATA bus route that goes to their school and they get free bus fare.

I've got to believe that there will be bus service provided to support the mythical 25% set-aside for at-risk students that is supposedly coming in the near future. DCPS can't seriously expect homeless kindergarteners in SE to navigate the bus route to Lafayette or Mann alone.