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I frequent various areas whether it is Monsey or Brooklyn and each time I visit those areas, I am infuriated at the craziness of all the School buses jamming the streets. There needs to be accountability for all the unnecessary transportation for a lot of these kids. I have witnessed a school bus picking a child up from his house when the school was a half block away from his house. Furthermore, they stop every few feet for different children. I am not proposing to abolish School Bus transportation what I am proposing is limiting the unnecessary stops. When kids live within walking distance to a school, why do they need a bus? When there are 8 families on one block, why cant the bus stop once and pick up all the kids from one spot?
Just a thought.
Since you say that you ‘visit’ Monsey, I assume you are not a resident here. I am very happy that the bus driver is willing to pick my children up at our door, so they don’t have to wait outside in the rain and freezing weather. I am willing to put up with the inconvenience of traffic during ‘bus hours’.
I live pretty close to our boy’s yeshiva. Since there is a high traffic area that needs to be crossed to get there, I appreciate that the bus comes and I don’t have to leave the house, (and toddler) to do the crossing every morning and afternoon.
For the people living here, the convenience outweighs the inconvenience. I certainly hope you don’t wish for us to change things to make your visits easier.
School buses are dangerous. There is no way the bus driver can see the back of the bus.
That why they generally travel in the direction the driver is facing..
If the school bus stops every few houses It blocks the street from emergency vehicles going through. Those precious minuets make a difference for Hatzolah.
If the kids had to wait outside in the feeling cold they could chas v’shalom get sick, and if they walked to school, there could chas v’shalom be an accident, so this actually prevents there from being a need for Hatzolah calls.
Maybe they should stop picking up the garbage, though.
In the city (Not Borough park) the school buses stop at corners and not at every house and there doesnt seem to be a problem
I do live in Monsey and I basically agree. Legally, if East Ramapo is giving you busing, you have to wait at a corner stop with your neighbors unless the driver is exceptionally nice and doesn’t get caught. It’s the private buses that do house stops because they aren’t bound by rules like this. (Full disclosure- my private high school bus did give me a house stop.) In theory, this is fine, but the problem shows up when buses stop every three feet on INCREDIBLY busy and/or narrow streets like 306 near Maple and the streets off of it (Phyllis, etc) where getting stuck behind a bus can mean fifteen minutes of delays. The house stops also often mean that very young children are running into the street to get their buses, which as a driver I find really scary. (When I had a corner stop on a very quiet block, we were never allowed to walk to the corner without an adult until we were in middle school, but when we had a house stop briefly due to a ridiculously nice driver, my mom was more chilled about it- the difference being that people in apartment houses on 306 are sending their kids onto super busy streets either way.)
Writersoul, On 306 you are right, having buses stop at every house is nuts. On Main Street there is 1 bus stop and all the Mommies and kinderlach wait there.
I live on a quite street and my house is the only stop on the block for my kid’s buses. (There are more buses stopping at other homes for kids in different mosdos..)
We used to have East Ramapo buses, and the driver insisted my kids cross the street and stand at the corner, even though they were the only kids going onto the bus there. Thankfully we now have private bussing and the driver happily stops right at our front door.
I find it interesting that people expect taxpayer funded door to door service and then complain that their taxes are too high.
When I went to school, I had to walk 3 blocks to my bus stop because that was as far as the school district was allowed to make the stop from my home and they weren’t interested in paying more to extend the route closer to my home.
Member, My children’s school has private busses. The district busses made my kids wait at the corner, which didn’t help them in any way. My kids were the only ones getting onto that bus on our block, and the bus was passing my house anyways. I pay school taxes plus tuition, I don’t feel that I’m taking what’s not coming to me by having a house stop. Especially as it doesn’t in any way inconvenience the bus route.
I am a school bus driver in ERSCD and the fact that I have to wait behind the buses while picking up or dropping off at every other house is crazy. I do not give house stops since I don’t want the achrayus and I don’t want to risk my job. If an exception has to be made (and it did this year) I talk to my boss about changing the stop and having it done officially. That being said, I would like to applaud my fellow drivers who follow the rules and do their jobs so when a cover driver steps in, there are no problems.
Who is paying for the door to door service? A couple of years ago I saw a school bus on 14_Ave in BP stop his his bus on a diagonal, blocking traffic both way. I was told it was done because drivers ignored the bus’s flashing lights and stop signs and around the buses. Thus we the only way to prevent it
Taxpayers, and I believe it’s money well spent.
Who is paying for the door to door service?
Usually it ends up being the taxpayers. Rather than having the SD arrange and provide bussing, The schools lobby for the ability to provide bussing themselves and pass the bill to the SD.
So, what your saying is children don’t go to shul, relatives or friends on Shabbos or Yom Tov because, gasp,they’d have to actually walk. Queen, it’s easy to spend someone else’s miney
The frum community (in some areas including the one being discussed) puts a lot more money into the public school system than it gets out of it.
Of course everything needs to be done legally, but if it is, I have no problem with trying to get as much back as possible.
The argument that they’re spending someone else’s money doesn’t make sense.
It’s her money. She paid the taxes paying for the busing. They’re entitled to busing no less than anyone else’s children.
Door to Door busing is not a mandatory service
If you would cut the public school budget in half you could still technically provide all mandatory services.
Git Meshige, I always knew that getting born, paying taxes and dying were non negotiable.
Sorry about your ‘feeling’. As a homeowner, I pay school taxes.
I believe that putting our tax dollars to serve us as a community is smarter then using it to help a foreign country.
School taxes are always on the local level. Foreign Aid is from a federal level. Its a different tax
Queen, so how do your kids get to shul, relatives and friends on Shabbos? A Shabbos bus?
Zdad, true, I mean in general, using taxes to benefit the people who actually live and work in this country.
Lesschumras, If there wouldn’t be school buses, we would manage I’m sure.
“The Queen, what about all the parents who are on Government programs, who is paying for their kids transportation to school? “
If they are homeowners or even renters, they are paying the school taxes.
Do you ask the same question of all the public school students, most of whom are not from families who are home owners?
“School taxes are always on the local level. Foreign Aid is from a federal level. Its a different tax “
If you know how to read a School District budget you would see that there are Federal and State support as part of the budget as well. Her point is well made.
“Who is paying for the door to door service?
Usually it ends up being the taxpayers. Rather than having the SD arrange and provide bussing, The schools lobby for the ability to provide bussing themselves and pass the bill to the SD.”
That is actually not correct. A number of schools have their own buses or bus companies which contract with the school district to provide busing. The District does not have nearly enough resources to provide services for all students in the district and has to contract out services.
No different than all other districts.
And the amount the contract is for does not provide more for stopping in front of a house (nor is the cost higher in most cases). So there is no extra cost to the district for the extra stops made by the contractor.
I live out of town yet I love being in Bklyn or Lkwd in the morning or afternoon to see all the buses. It is amazing how many jewish children there are. I don’t think anyone’s grandparents 70 yrs ago would’ve believed that within 70 yrs there would be so many children!!
Flyer, my Bubby O”H suffered many losses during the holocaust. Toward the end of her life she spent a lot of her time sitting by her window watching the Brooklyn scene outside. She loved watching the kinderlach going and coming from school each day. She’d sigh with pleasure and say: ? ???? ??? ??????
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