Parents Balk at Soaring School Bus Fee Increases (2 miles, $210/yr)

[The Straight Story]

Parents Balk at Soaring School Bus Fee Increases


AUBURN, CA - News10 asked our viewers to let us know whether your kids are getting charged any unusual fees in high school or elementary school this year. Viewers responded -- overwhelmingly -- about the rise in bus fees at your kids' schools.

Some parents said fees nearly doubled in their districts, including Auburn-area parent Christian Logay.

"We're just kind of making do, you know.. doing what we can," parent Christian Logay said.

Logay, already fighting to make ends meet while raising his 13-year-old son Sean, said when he got his son's school bus fee schedule for this year, he couldn't believe his eyes.

Though Sean's entire bus ride is only about 2 miles to school and back, Logay said he was asked to pay $210 this year in order for Sean to continue that ride.

http://www.news10.net/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=68339&catid=2

[Swamp Rat]

1. Bicycles sales will go up.

I hope. :)

[gratuitous]

2. Two miles for a 13-year-old?

Why, when I was his age . . . Yeah, uphill, both ways, in the snow. I guess kids don't ride bikes anymore, but I would have been more than a little embarrassed to depend on a bus for that short a distance at that age.

[The Straight Story]

3. Well my school was not much further, but the main road there is not one

you want to be walking or biking on (and I have done both).

Very dangerous, not pedestrian friendly. You walk/bike along the side of a rocky roadside around a blind curve.

[Gormy Cuss]

6. That's often the issue.

God forbid we actually have roads with wide,level shoulders or sidewalks on major routes to schools.
There's one road near me where the city made a short term fix by placing curbs on the stretch without sidewalks, but the longer term goal is to install proper sidewalks.

[seabeyond]

10. to walk to sons high school (no bus), massive busy at 8, no sidewalks, no place to walk

but peoples yards. lots of traffic, thru another schoool zone of slow and impatient to get to work, four narrow lanes of mess. the whole way is a mess. and workin on still dark. more than two miles. not a chance. first couple days driving kid to school, i decided insurance need to raise my sorry ass cause possible accident increased an hundred fold.

[juno jones]

11. Amarillo was the most dangerous place I ever walked.

Few sidewalks or even curbs. At night outside the city you had the added danger of rattlesnakes, ugh. Good luck, stay safe. :hi:

[seabeyond]

12. lol... it really is a sorry place for pedestrians or bicyclists. i am from calif where we stop

at crosswalks. and pull over for emergency vehicles. they dont do either here. but pull over for funeral procession is a must. the sick, screw em. the dead, respect, lol.

ask cop about the crosswalks. if law states we stop. people refuse and would get mad at me. cop says, well.... if they are in crosswalk.

so you are saying i cant run over. good to know. geeeesh, rollin eyes.

[LisaM]

5. But who knows what the walk would be like

two miles isn't that far (though it's a good half hour walk) but a lot of neighborhoods don't have sidewalks - they're built off busy roads and there's no good way to walk. I don't know about this kid's individual circumstance, but our junior high (to which I'd walk occasionally) was a mile away, and I could go the whole way on sidewalks. In fact, I remember roller skating there and back a few times!

[Chulanowa]

7. When I was 13, I was hiking into the next county over

But I'd be damned if I was going to hoof it for something as irritating as school.

[here_is_to_hope]

9. I used to ride my skateboard 3 miles to the bus stop...

in Jr. High and yeah, I still got chicks.

[CreekDog]

4. 58 cents per ride too much?

If you can't afford it, that's one thing.

But for door to door service, the parent couldn't do it as cheaply.

[zazen]

8. how many states charge for bus-riding? Yeesh--it's always been paid for in NC

Didn't realize how lucky we were (in that respect), to have "socialized busing." I guess it comes out of taxes, thank heavens. What a burden on families on top of everything else!