even minor public transit innovcations can add up to quite a big deal

[phantom power]

I think it's important to understand that even minor public transit innovcations can add up to quite a big deal. Bus travel is slowed down substantially by on board fare collection and single door entry. Remove those and the ride is faster.

Buses on an experimental route in the Bronx are moving significantly faster thanks to a series of innovations meant to cut travel time, including having riders pay before they board, transit officials said on Thursday.

...

A trip from end to end on the Bx12 route that previously took close to an hour now takes about 12 minutes less, a time saving of 20 percent, said Joe Smith, New York City Transit’s senior vice president for buses.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/05/nyregion/05bus.html?ref=nyregion

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_08_31_archive.html#8646887916312851179

[valerief]

1. School buses create bottleneck and higher gas consumption.

[DCKit]

2. More so than every parent driving one or two kids?

There may be some very limited circumstances where it's true, but I'd rather see 40 kids on one bus than in 20 to 30 cars. Just the thought of the economic impact on the poor if they *had* to have a vehicle for school transport....

Sorry Valerie, there are a lot of things we could do to make the system more efficient, but banning school buses isn't one of them.

[happyslug]

3. They is an alternative, make the Students walk to school

A Suburb of Pittsburgh (Mt Lebanon Township) made a commitment to such a program right after WWII when it was being developed. That meant sidewalks on every street in an otherwise post-WWII suburb (a rarity I know, most Suburbs actually OPPOSE installation of Sidewalks).

The reason Mt Lebanon adopted its Sidewalk rule was it fit in with they policy of having their kids walk to School (i.e. Schools must be close enough for all the Children to walk, and roads and Sidewalks to permit them to walk to work). Thus the location of the Schools was part of the design of the township, i.e. the Schools were spaced so far apart so that almost every student is in walking distance of that School.

Now the Mt Lebanon has only one High School, two Middle Schools but Seven Grade Schools in its six square miles. Thus, I believe, busing exists for the High School and Middle Schools but NOT for the grade schools (I am NOT a resident of Mt Lebanon, thus the comment on the Middle Schools and High Schools may be wrong, but Mt Lebanon has long been known for NOT busing any of its Elementary School students). My point is the Grade Schools are all within walking distance and no bus is used for students (Exception exist for handicap and other children with special needs but NOT anyone else). Thus having the students WALK to school is possible, if both the School District And the local Government work together to get it done.

Side Note: In Pennsylvania the Local Government and the local Schools District are two different political entities. In many cases the School District includes many local Governments (In fact the City of Pittsburgh School District includes not only the City of Pittsburgh but the Borough of Mt. Oliver, among the many school districts that covers more then one political sub-division). In the case of Mt Lebanon the School District and the Township cover the same area, so both work together in the matter of how the Children get to School.

Mt Lebanon Township web cite:
http://mtlebanon.org/

Mt Lebanon School District Web Cite:
http://www.mtlsd.org/district/