BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

I've had similar encounters with school buses. I'm particularly cautious when passing them for that reason.

I distinctly recall some girl yelling all sorts of profanity in my direction to which I responded by smirkinglaughing at this person's rude behavior. She then screamed "Don't laugh at me!"

I remember the bus being pretty crazy in my day. It being so loudannoying was one of the factors that led to me cycling to school. (The other was that I always missed the bus in the morning and could get home faster at the end of the day on my bike)

For the three years I actually took a school bus to school, I remember it being dependent on the driver. Most drivers would let us do normal "kids on bus" things: swap seats, pass notes, be loud and annoying at each other. Nothing outside the windows, no jumping over the seats. We never got warned, but if we got out of line, we had trouble waiting at the school for us the next time we got there.

One substitute driver we had about three times actually mandated no open windows, no talking, no standing, sit in the next available seat and stay in it, no music. We all told him how much he sucked as we left the bus (literally "dude, you suck" from about half of us as we exited). I think enough people complained we didn't get him again.

Keep in mind, there's one driver, and about 50 kids. And the driver has to have his/her back to those kids most of the time.

Your report might actually help that driver get assistance keeping kids in line that he/she is afraid of, rather than hurting the driver. Could benefit everyone.

Keep in mind - if the kids fully expect to be expelled for *something*, and their homelife is punishment when they DO follow the rules (or there are absolutely no consequences at home regardless), there's very little recourse for disciplin - no threats are worse than what they've already got.

I was about 16 when I realized that getting suspended was kind of awesome. Required vacation. Granted i never did, but still.

From their Facebook page. Yes, they have a facebook page:

A-1 Transit

5501 Butler Street

Pittsburgh, PA, 15201

412.261.6170

Hm, thats kind of unexpected. Maybe I should try contacting them about it. I have a feeling, though, that they won't care.

Today was apparently "Heap Scorn on Cyclists" day in the local schools. I dealt with cat-calls from a bunch of kids at a bus stop, several bouts of profanity from two different school buses, then a few snowballs when passing the new Friendship Academy.

It doesn't bother me much, because I remember the Lord of the Flies atmosphere our buses had, and that was with several adults riding with the driver. Still, as a parent, if I caught wind of my kids randomly talking to strangers in that way, there'd be heck to pay...

Is this really that normal? That seems kinda ridiculous. I rode the school bus for all of my entire K-12 career except for one year, and this kind of stuff never, EVER happened on our buses.

Private bus companies are under allot of financial stress due to the increase of the cost in diesel fuel. School districts have given the companies permission to fill the departing school buses to max capacity and reduce the number of busses need to take children home. Basically they use more buses in the morning to take the kids to school so they are on time. And less busses in the afternoon because they don't care how long it takes to get them home. This saves the bus company some diesel fuel and less drivers (most of the drivers are now part time). This was a big story on the news when the children went back to school in the fall. Parents were complaining about if it's safe to have 3 kids to a seat and hour long bus rides home. Anyway Im just guessing but this probably has contributed to the situation.

Kids do dumb stuff... which is pretty normal. I avoid busses as a matter of routine.

I rode a bus from K-11th grade. 3 kids/seat was par for the course and I was on the thing for an hour because of where I lived on the bus route. The atmosphere was loud/obnoxious, but nothing was thrown out of windows and if any profanity was loud enough to reach the bus driver's ears our particular bus driver would pull over and interrogate until she found the culprit. If you were a jackass, you got written up and had a visit with the principal.

1 offense was a warning

2nd offense was 3 days off the bus. The idea here is that your parents punished you because they had to drive you to school. This is in rural Somerset County, so the drives were long.

3rd offense was loosing your bus privileges for the rest of the year.

They used to paddle kids in my school (the school had to get a consent from your parents first). I know how most people feel about corporal punishment, but I remember being scared straight by the thought of our 6'-1" tall tree-trunk of a principal wielding that thing. I think these days if you call a kid "fat" you loose your job..BS in my opinion. And it's no wonder kids think they can do whatever the hell they want.

BTW...GET OFF MY LAWN!

Last spring I had a half-full soda can thrown at me as well as balls of paper. I pulled up next to the bus at the light, knocked on the door to tell her what happened. The driver took one look at me and then pretended I didn't exist. Pure apathy while in charge of 50+ kids and a giant metal machine is a frightening combination.

Last spring I had a half-full soda can thrown at me

For some reason, I read this as "half-full sofa" and wondered what the heck a sofa was doing a school bus.

Back when I was a kid[1], I recall bus drivers being a different sort of person. And there were fewer buses in those days, as every school wasn't a magnet school, and lots of neighborhood schools didn't exist. These days, there are tons of buses on the roads, and I suspect lots of those drivers are doing because they really need a job, and could care less about what the kids are doing, as long as they leave the driver alone.

But, quizbot is right. Avoid buses if you can. I've been gradually adjusting my work hours so I leave home after most kids have been dropped off at school.

[1] You know, when we walked to school, up hill both ways, in ten feet of snow? And liked it?

And let's not forget the minivans that have "School Children" stickers on them have, somehow, been granted the right to drive like total morons.

It is kind of amazing. We (ok, some of us) drive vehicles with air bags and anti-lock brakes. We put our kids into car seats and boosters practically until they are teenagers. If we could we'd envelop them in bubble wrap.

But five days a week, two times a day we shuffle them off to the school bus stop where they board an enormous diesel-powered, sheet-metal tube with bad brakes, no seat belts, let alone air bags, driven by a marginally qualified operator, who may or may not get your kid home before he returns the bus to the garage. And, oh, by the way, the bus is likely ruled by a bully or gang of bullies who are physically and emotionally eroding our kids, hurling projectiles out the windows, and generally making nuisances of themselves.

What's wrong with this picture?

ALMKLM - I also think it's a little hypocritical that parents force mass transit on their children, yet then vote against mass transit for themselves (with money and behavior and actual votes).

http://theoatmeal.com/blog/bus