How Do Your Kids Get to School?

We live close enough to walk-- about 7 to 10 blocks (they are longer double-blocks, some of them), so the only time Kiddo gets a ride to school is if I can't take him and my husband has to hustle him to work-- otherwise, his father would rather walk him to school as well.

My middle schoolers take the bus, provided to us by the school district at no additional cost. They love it - it's a big party.

My high schooler *could* take the bus, or he could walk. We live about a 15min walk from the HS. We're offered a bus option because there aren't any sidewalks, and cars drive fast down the (kinda narrow) roads. The bus picks up at 7:10am. My spoiled son opts to get driven by his dad 10 minutes later. Luckily, it's about a 2 minute drive. When my husband is out of town on business, my son takes the bus - no way I'm indulging in that ridiculousness - he can either make the bus or walk when he's on my watch.

Everyone in the township is offered free bus service to and from school. We even have late buses for kids in after school activities. Still, there are many, MANY parents who choose to drive their kids. Reasons vary from they get more time in the AM to get ready (the buses do pick up earlier - I know some HS kids who get on the bus at 6:35am for a 7:30am school start time) to kids will get home faster in the PM to they get to spend quality time with their kids in the car.

Whatever works, I guess.

My three kids either ride the bus or get rides from us or the babysitter. We prefer to keep them off the bus, but it doesn't always work out that way. So they are normally on the bus. It's at no cost to us.

~hangs head in shame~

I have always driven my kids and as many neighborhood kids as I can fit to school and back. We started out in a neighborhood Catholic school with no busses. But built a house in the burbs (free bussing, ok well TAX funded) when they 7, 9, 12.

I like it, they like it, it worked for us.

~backs carefully out of the room~

:)

I am in Livermore CA. We have no buses...they were all sold. I take that back, there are special needs students do get bus services. I would love for my kids to ride their bikes but now with no buses, there are a CRAZY amount of cars on the streets all at the same time. Also, everyone is in such a hurry. We have had too many pedestrian and biking kids hit by cars in the past 3 years so we just don't feel safe with the before and after school traffic. The school is 3 miles away.

We carpool with 4 other families because our school has different start times. In middle school some kids choose a zero period(they take the option of adding an extra elective to their schedule) so they begin class before the rest of the school. I have one middle schooler that starts everyday at 7:25. Our other middle schooler has zero period only 2 days a week, the other days she begins at 8:25. Then we have a 2nd grader that starts at 8:30. It is crazy for families now to have to drive 3 separate times each morning just to get kids to school. So we have a massive carpool schedule to help each other out while trying to cut down on gas consumption and help the environment.

Our neighborhood elementary school is somewhat close but we are so busy with the carpool that we can't walk him...he just jumps in the carpool.

I drive my kids to and from school. They attend a Catholic school in a neighboring town. Since we don't live in that town, we do not have access to the free bus services.

Our school is 10-15 minutes away, and between school drop off, preschool drop off, preschool pick up, school pick up and evening sports/scouts, I sometimes make 4 round trips per day. It's all worth it though! They are getting a fantastic education!

My children could take the bus for free because we live more than 1.5 miles from the school but they don't. I drive them to and from school every day because I enjoy it. I love seeing their smiling faces when they come out of school and see me standing there. My 1st graders still runs full force at me every day and I catch her and twirl her in the air. We attend a public school and I feel like drop off/pick up is the only time I have to meet other parents. My favorite part is that my kids are the most talkative on the drives to and from school. This is when we get in last minute studying for spelling/math tests and when they tell me all about what happened during their day. The moment we get home, they are off again. The school bus would be convenient and give me more time but I would really miss that special time with my kids each day.

Growing up, my mom drove me to school every day. Elementary school/jr. high I didn't have access to a free bus. My parents would have had to pay for it but during high school, I could have taken a bus for free. Same thing though, it was a special time for my mom and I to catch up and enjoy our time together. As an adult, I wouldn't have given that time up with my mom for anything.

My boys both ride the bus to and from school. It is provided by the district and it is paid for by our property taxes (nothing is "free").

When we lived across town, we were a lot closer to the school so the boys walked to and from.

I couldn't drive them even if I wanted to (I don't want to). I go to work before they go to school, and get home after.

My husband drives our 4th grader to school and I pick him up.

I drive our 10th grader to school and he rides the bus home; there is no charge for the bus. Our tax dollars cover it.

We live too far away for them to walk. Our oldest will get his driver's license in a couple of months, but he won't get a car for awhile. When he does get a car, he'll drive and he will pick up his brother from school. :)

I drive my kids to school.
Why?
Because, our public schools do not have, buses that pick up and bring home the kids. Parents, have to drive their kids or find a way to do that. ie: car pools or grandparents etc.
However, SOME of the private schools here, have their own buses that pick up and bring home the kids. It is not free.

When I was a kid I walked home. But my Mom drive me to school.
Why?
Because our home was not that far, from school.
AND it was a very, different time then and the development of the land and neighborhoods was not, dense.

It is not just because it is now "modern day." And per if kids walk or not or take the bus or not. The city planning of most all demographic areas, simply changes. Over time. Due to, INCREASES of population, city streets, density, quality of infrastructure and upgrades to the streets/traffic lights/crosswalks, etc. and if it keeps up with current population and traffic needs and demands, and budgeting, etc.
ie: in some areas here, on some streets even if it is a major street... there are intermittent parts of the "neighborhood" that does NOT even have... sidewalks NOR bike lanes. So, if a kid is walking or biking to or from school, even for an adult... at some points in the road... there are no sidewalks. Safety then is an issue and in conjunction with that streets traffic demands and speed limits etc. In combination, not safe.

The neighborhood *I* grew up in, is NOT the same as it is now.
Therefore, if my kids grew up in the same district I did, it would not be the same now, as it was when I was a kid. Therefore, any school routines and getting to school or not, would be different, now.
The neighborhood I grew up in is now, MUCH more dense, there are MORE development and population, and streets. And the demographics of it changed, too.
And thus traffic, increases too. And something as simple as the speed limit, on a "street" can change too. And the usage upon the streets, are much higher, too. Now. Because, instead of a street being a "street" like how it was when I grew up, it is now a "highway" with 3 lanes in each direction. When I was a kid, there was only 1 lane.

There is a neighborhood in my State, that WAS very rural. It is not now.
However, many of the kids still walk to school, much like how their parents did, long ago. BUT however, the whole structure of the streets/traffic/landscape/demographics, has changed. THUS, there are MUCH more, pedestrian car accidents NOW... than before. And pedestrians even dying. And the population of the school, INCREASED. Versus how it used to be, "long ago."

There are many factors into why a parent has their kid walk to school, or take the bus, or if they drive their kid to school.
It is not just about it being "modern day" or not.
The whole population structure and demands upon a district, changes. And upon transportation too.

It would be nice if there were buses in my State, or if more kids walked. But it simply can't be, sometimes.
And at the public schools, there are no Crossing-Guards. ONLY if a school has a budget for it, then they will have Crossing-Guards.
And/or sometimes a parent or grandparent will Volunteer. BUT for even this... the "volunteer" has to undergo, training per the Dept. of Education and be trained for it. And also, many people don't want to volunteer to be a Crossing-Guard, because, the timing of the shift, is simply not doable for a parent. I was going to volunteer once. But I couldn't because of the shift timing requirement. And I have to be elsewhere.

School bus.
School buses are part of the schools transportation budget.
We don't pay a fee - we pay through taxes.
The bus drivers park their buses at their homes so they are located all over.
Since our son is in the STEM program he gets bussed to a HS which is in a different HS district (if he wasn't in STEM the HS he would have gone to is a lot closer to where we live - only 15 min away).
There are only 10 kids on the bus but he's the first picked up in the morning and the last dropped off in the afternoon.
He gets on the bus 7am and gets home 4:30pm if they are running early but it can be as late as 5:15pm.
It would be even later if he stayed after school for anything.
If I go pick him up from school (to get him to a tkd class) I can get him home in 1/2 hr (it's a direct route and I'm not making stops along the way).
It's a wonderful school.
I just wish it wasn't so far away.
It might be easier for 11 and 12 grade when he can drive himself to school.

We live in a rural area, north of town. About 90% of the children are bussed to school, free of charge (no add'l fee). The other 10% are dropped off by parents. Children in our area are not allowed to walk (unless accompanied by a parent) or ride bikes to school. The school is just a block off the hwy in one direction and a couple blocks from a 50 mph arterial in the next direction. There is no safe way for kids to walk or ride their bike to get to school.
Most children live quite a few miles from the shool anyway.

My son is just in Kinder but i drive him to school. The school he attends services a very small area so there are no buses available at all. We are close enough that he could walk, and will when he gets older, but since he is so young i just take him and make sure he gets in the building.

We live less than half a mile from the three schools our kids go to. Two of them are on my street, the other one is on the next block.

I'm embarrassed to say that in the morning, we often give them a ride, literally up the street. We always start off great in September, setting the expectation that they will walk and will leave the house with plenty of time to get to school. Then the wheels fall off the cart and before you know it, we're back to jumping in the car 5 minutes before the second bell, hoping that the drop off line isn't too long. My youngest actually - are you ready for this - RIDES THE BUS one block to school LOL. This is the first year that they have offered free bus transport for all students (in his K-2 school only) and the bus stops right at the end of the street. He's in second grade and this is the last year he can take the bus, so he does because he thinks it's fun.

All four of them walk home from school, every day. I walk with my youngest 3 days a week and that little afternoon walk is often the highlight of my day. They also walk to and from activities that are hosted on school grounds, like soccer or lacrosse practice.

When I was a kid, if my mom drove me I was in trouble for missing the bus. I took the bus or walked when I was close enough. My sks walked or took a bus most of the time, especially in MS. SS did get a ride from a friend's dad (from down the street) his last 2 years of HS. When the sks were younger, they got a ride in part because SD was in before care and we had to drop her off to the daycare people before going to work. When we had an au pair, the au pair walked her to/from school. We don't have a crossing guard. I expect DD to walk on her own/with friends when she is older.

I drive DD most of the time because we are always late in the AM but she walks with me sometimes on the way home. The buses in our area are tax-funded. We've never had to pay for a bus.

My neighbor carpools in the AM and her child rides a bus home in the afternoon. But her kid goes to a private school.

Bus from day one! Senior year driving privileges. Never with friend or sibling in car!

Many many places have free busing but for some reason parents feel the need to drive them. IMO riding the bus is part of the whole school experience. It also gives kids a sense of independence.

My kids are in 6th and 7th and have always taken the bus to and from school unless they missed it-arggghhh.

But this year-they have switched to the middle school and it is on my way to work so I do take them. The bus would come at 7:15 and if I take them-we need to leave around 7:45 so it's a little extra sleep/breakfast time. It works pretty well except I am usually hustling to get out the door on time and it's not always their fault. It gets me to work a little earlier than normal so it's an adjustment for me too.

They do take the bus home.

The bus would be free if they were to take it and it would take way too long to walk or bike it. It would also be a pretty busy road with no sidewalk that I would not be thrilled to have them walk or bike.

That ain't what it actually costs. I haven't looked at actual bus prices for years but even in the early 00s it was around 1,500 a student. They probably pass that amount onto parents to get the ones who can drive to drive.

Oh the reason I looked up the public school bus costs per student. Tax hike. I was angry that they were asking for more money when I pay tuition and drive my kids there. So they still got their tax hike and now I have these numbers running around in my head. Still think about it, you have to have insurance for every kid on that bus, without seat belts, that in itself is 400 a year.

So, the question, my older two went to private schools so no bus. Younger two take the bus to school. I am not about to add to that cluster..... by driving them to school.

There is no charge for bus service because the parking lots are not big enough to have that many cars running around along with the buses. Pretty sure if they could they would abolish cars on the lots.

Never been close enough to any school to walk. Wish we were, my kids would have loved that.

I am so surprised with the people who think 400 is a lot. The average bus driver makes 32,000 a year and the average bus carries 54 students, that is 593 dollars a student right there! If you have less students on the bus that goes up. That is no where near real costs to transport your student.

Looked up the local numbers, average salary, 35,500 which kicks it up to 657.

Dad drives them and I pick them up from school. The school bus comes SUPER early--too early for them to take. We are only about 1.5 miles from school, but there is no sidewalk down two of the roads.

I grew up in S. FL and we rode our bikes to/from school. It was about a mile.

We are close enough to walk but my daughter is too young, and my husband prefers to drive her (I'm at work an hour before they leave, so hubs is the drop-off guy). The walk is loooong block but a nice straight shot and no hills. I don't know what age I would feel comfortable letting her walk alone. I am pretty sure I was walking either to or from (my mom never had me do both in one day) around 3rd grade. that seems so young to me now!

NO busses. Except maybe the "short bus", our school has the k-3 special day classes in the are so we get all the special needs kids from other neighborhoods. Everyone else is pretty close by. It's a dense neighborhood. I'm not aware of any bus options for the gen ed population.

Well, Iowa has changed. Taking the school bus in my district costs $300 per kid per year. If you live within 1 mile of the school then you are expected to walk. If you choose to place your kid in a different school than the one that is closest to his residence then you are expected to provide transportation.

My daughter attends a school that is closer to her sister's preschool than it is to our home so I drive her to school and pick her up. Transportation is not provided for preschool so I pick up the younger one at 3 and the older one at 3:05.

I see plenty of children walking home, being picked up and taking the bus when I get my girls.

I live in small town Alaska, and we still have a free bus system to get our kids to school. My kids both take the bus to and from school.

The first school my son attended was about 2 miles away on a busy county highway. So they did not allow kids to bike to school. My son took the bus (free) except when he had his before/after school program to which I drove him.

Now he has switched to a neighborhood school which is about 2.5 miles from our current house but only a half mile from the house we are building. So during the fall and spring my 10 year old and I drive to the construction site and hop on our bikes to his school and I continue on my bike to work. Then he bikes to the construction site on his own to meet my husband in the afternoon.

Next year he will attend a charter school that is about 10+ miles away so I will drive him or we will carpool. When he is 15 the school will provide him with a free Metro Transit pass to take the city bus/light rail.

My children are bussed. I thought this was a PA law but apparently it is not.

Your question made me curious so I looked it up. PA provides a subsidy for transportation which is approximately half of the cost. If the school provides bussing, it must be free and paid of district funds. They are not allowed to request or accept reimbursement from the students.

If bussing is provided to the public school students then they are required to provide transportation for their students attending another non-profit school if it is within 10 miles of the district's boundaries.

$400 per student seems ridiculous to me, but then again I've heard that our property taxes in PA are some of the highest in the nation. Since the money has to come from somewhere, maybe it is all a trade-off??

Where I live all students grade six and under that do not live within walking distance to school are entitled to a school bus. Grade seven and up are expected to use public transit. We are very fortunate that my kids only have to walk 1/4 kilometre to elementary, 1/2 kilometre to middle school and 3/4 kilometre to the high school. One of our major considerations when buying a house was access to schools. My kids have always walked, although I walked with them until the oldest was in grade three.
ETA: Our neighbourhood has sidewalks and bike paths, and the grade five students act as crossing guards. There is no extra charge for the school bus.

When my kids were elementary age, they walked to school (about 5-6 blocks). 4th and 5th graders were allowed to ride bikes.

Jr. High was too far to walk (2 miles) so they took the bus. Same for high school (about 3 miles).

We're in a unit district that has 30 schools and owns their own fleet of buses. Free bus service is provided for any student living further than 1.5 miles from their assigned school. Obviously, everybody pays for it in property taxes and school fees, but riders don't pay an extra transportation charge.

My children receive free transportation on the bus. The bus schedule is pretty daunting at times as my youngest spends at least an hour on the bus in the afternoon. My oldest thankfully only spends about a half an hour on the bus both to and from school.

I wish I could walk them to school but with two children in two different schools plus the distance to said schools it would not work. I'm lucky as my youngest will always receive free transportation to school due to his needs. We'll see what the future holds for my oldest.

I am in South Florida. My son walks to school either with myself or my husband (who is also Daddy) or with a neighbor child and one of his parents (there are 4 kids within 3 houses of ours). Because we are in a city, I can't imagine letting my 2nd grader walk without a grown up. He would have to cross busy streets without a crossing guard. We live 4 blocks from school and are too close for the free (taxpayer supported) bus. Some of the moms and I have envisioned a day in 4th or 5th grade where the group could either walk or bike together.

For middle and high school he will take the bus. We will figure out after-school activity situations as it comes up. Believe it or not, those bus stops wouldn't require him to cross a street:)

C.

Last year we walked. I didn't like it all that much. Even though the school is only 1/2 mile from our apartments, it's a straight shot down a 2-lane road with a speed limit of 35mph.

This year I drive them to school. I'm pregnant, and not at all interested in walking to school, or climbing the rockery to get to the street.

My son attends a private school that doesn't have bus service, so I drive him. We live only 3 or 4 minutes away, so no need for carpooling.

I have one in First Grade and one in afternoon PreK. I work full-time, so my little guy goes to daycare in the morning. Since I have to take him to daycare anyway, I drive my oldest to school. My youngest (and 2 other boys in his daycare class) ride the bus from daycare to school. Both my kids ride the bus to daycare afterschool.

Next year my youngest will be in kindergarten, so they will be taking the bus to school at least some of the time. We are sooooo lucky that the bus comes by our house only 10 minutes or so before we would leave anyway. If they take the bus to school next year, I can do some housework before leaving for work myself. With our schedule the way it is, I either run an errand or go to work early. Since I teach, there's always something for me to do, so going to work early sometimes means not bringing home as many papers to grade!

We live out in the country, so it's either the bus or mamma's taxi! Mamma's taxi for now.

I do not pay extra for the bus. My boys take the bus unless I am late getting everyone out the door in which case I drive them.
I can't imagine having to PAY for the bus! In that case I would drive or form a carpool too.
We are not close enough to walk and the road they would have to walk on is a highway with no sidewalk, 4 lanes of traffic. Then they would have to cross that road at a very busy intersection that has two highways meeting. Nope, not safe!
L.

We walk, we live 4 or 5 streets from school. we live in a residential area and we have a side walk to the school...only to the school though.

Towns aren't build for walking/bike riding any more. It's sad.

I take them, because it is more convenient for me. My son wants to ride the bus, but that means a longer morning routine for me because he'll have to get up earlier. No charge for the bus for me, we are 2 miles away and have to cross a major road with no sidewalks so it's considered a hazard. My husband won't let my daughter walk to school because there are no other kids to walk with her, he's a little overprotective of her, son walked at this age. So I take him to his school then drop her off on the way home. Son rides the bus home, I walk down to meet daughter after school and we walk together.

We are about a mile from our school. We live on the west coast of Florida within a short distance to the Gulf. Many parents walk or ride their kids to school but many drive as well. We usually drive but on some occasions we ride our bikes.

I drive my dd. We used to ride the bus, but there were too many problems with misbehaved kids, plus they charge $150 for a bus pass.

We do not pay extra for riding the bus. It is "free". We live in a rural county, with only one high school for the entire county. It is almost 30 miles from our house. My kids catch the bus in the morning and ride it for half an hour before school. They get on at the last stop in our area. If they got on where they are "supposed" to, they would board the bus at 6:15 a.m.

They ride the afternoon bus home and get home around 4:45, unless they have school activities. Once in high school, there is an activity bus that will bring them home after those activities. It drops off around 6:15. If your high schooler does sports, the athletic bus runs even later, but doesn't have neighborhood drop offs... it is a central drop off area a few miles down the road.. at 7:15 pm. We have an incredible football program here, and they take bussing the kids for that seriously. Since they do it for them, they do it for the rest of the sports too.

I drive my kiddo to school in the morning time (he's in preschool) but he rides the bus home. It's free thankfully, and a big help to me in saving me the extra trip. The bus drops him off a few blocks away from home, so every day I will walk down to meet him, and we walk back home. It's good exercise so I don't mind too much.
We don't live close enough to walk TO the school, it's about a 6 to 10 minute drive. If it was close enough, then yes, we'd just walk each day.

I can't believe how expensive it is for your bus system though good grief!

My son rides the school bus. It is paid for by my tax dollars. There are no walkers at his school. The child across the street from the school takes the bus. The school's rationale is - it is too expensive to hire crossing guards and there are no sidewalks in our town (that part is true and many roads are narrow, windy and have poor visibility).

When I was a kid, we either rode the school bus (lived more than a mile from elementary school or 1.5 - 2 miles from high school [depending if we were on an austerity budget that year]) or you walked. Walkers (as we were called) - WALKED - by ourselves or with siblings or other neighborhood kids. Our town had sidewalks and there were crossing guards. In high school, if you were a senior, you could drive so sometimes I got a ride from a friend (so we could stop for a Tab and donut before school).

My daughter attends a Magnet school and is eligible to ride the school district buses. They will actually pick her up and drop her off after school at her day care since my work schedule does not allow me to drop her off at school or pick her up at school.

Both my boys take a bus.

When I am caring for my girlfriend's boys - the two oldest go to the same school and they take the bus. The youngest? I drive.

My youngest could walk or ride his bike to school - he can cut through the golf course we live on. However, he takes the bus.

Our buses are paid via our taxes and are part of the Fairfax County school system.

when I lived in CA, I drove my kids to school. We lived too close for a bus but too far to walk. Most people drove their kids anyway. It was just normal. Here my kids go to a private montessori school where I work and it's about a 30 minute morning drive (with traffic), so of course I still drive them

My kids go to a public charter school. Busing is free but we live 3 blocks away. My kids are in 4th and 1st grade. I drop them off and pick them up each day. I know I could make them walk but I like dropping them off and knowing they are where they are supposed to be. Also the school is on my way to work.

Our house is 4 miles from the school, so it would be a long walk. We have free public buses here and the school buses are also free. So...the kids take the bus.

It's about a mile to my son's school. We can walk or ride bikes, but we don't get to all of the time. Last year I carpooled with a neighbor. This year our boys ride the bus. We paid $200 per kid per year for a bus pass.

I walk my son to first grade every day. There are no buses where we are so it's either walk or drive. We have a lot of kids that come from a farther neighborhood, so they all drive and create too much traffic. I don't want to deal with it and I enjoy the walk (about half a mile each way). My neighbor directly across the street drives every day and I think it's ridiculous. We cross one small street in our neighborhood and one slightly bigger street that has a crosswalk and a crossing guard. Other than that, we are on greenbelts the whole way.

When my son is older (probably 4th grade), he will likely bike or scooter to school by himself or with a friend (biking isn't allowed until 3rd grade per school rules).

My daughter goes to preschool a couple of miles away from our house, so I drive her there. No one lives in our neighborhood so carpooling isn't an option (and it's too much of a pain with car seats anyway).

WOW - just read all the answers and I'm really surprised that almost no one walks! Obviously, many are too far, weather conditions may be much harsher than what I enjoy here in So Cal (where today it is over 80 degrees), etc. But so many that live within walking distance and still choose to drive, rather than walk their kids to school, is surprising. I wish more people would walk when they are close enough. It teaches kids a good lesson about both fitness/health and the environment (and I am NOT a huge "save the world" fanatic).