[robswc]

I was one of those kids. Only because taking the bus was a pain in the ass and my parents loved me enough to put up with it, at least until I could drive.

Bus was awful. Kids had no respect for the driver or other kids. Plus it easily tripled the commute time.

[SoftTalker]

Yes. The bus my kids would have to take to High School served both middle and high school. They would have been on the bus for about 40 minutes and arrived at school 30 minutes before the first period started. School was about 15 minutes away by car.

If I drove them (or when they were old enough to drive on their own), they could sleep nearly an hour later than if they had to take the bus. Since it wasn't much of a detour on my way to work, that's what I did.

[mgerdts]

Did you live in an area sparsely populated by families with children that matched your child’s age, or did you choose (or forced to use for desegregation) a school that was far away? The fact that transit was an option makes me think it was the latter.

I spent most of my school aged years in an city with a mediocre transit system. Most parents did not drive their kids to school except in very bad weather. Also, most people attended the school closest to their home. This meant the mediocre transit system used buses for special school routes usable only by students. I rarely took this bus as I preferred to bike or walk in about the same amount of time the bus would take.

Where I live now, something similar happens at least for the kids that are bussed across town to achieve a somewhat consistent racial mix in all schools.

Has everyone driving their kids to school eroded the viability of walking, biking, or taking a school bus?

[ravitation]

> Bus was awful.

Exactly. Similar to the problem many adults have trying to get to work by bus, it often doubles or triples a commute time.

[robswc]

Yep. I'm all for people choosing their transit... but even if I'm not driving, 3x-ing the commute just isn't something I could do.