If they're US American, a plane is likely the only public transportation they've ever taken. If they live anywhere remotely rural, it's likely the only one available to them.

Signed, -An American

[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

I was going to say "almost every American takes a school bus at one point in their life" then I looked it up and was disgusted to find that recently more children are driven to school than take the bus.

[–] janNatan@lemmy.ml 13 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It's absolutely ridiculous how many people drive their kids to school. The traffic reduction during fall break last week was astounding.

[–] Alienmonkey@lemm.ee 12 points 1 month ago (2 children)

It's absolutely ridiculous how hard the school systems make it to get on a bus route.

You basically have to stay at the same residence and at the same school for their entire education. Even just moving within the district and they use it as an excuse to "put you on a wait list".

Add in the shortage of drivers (who wants that job) and any excuse they can use to change boundaries or cut a route.

It's like the fucking DMV on steroids.

[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 month ago

I am curious where you are located, this has not been my experience working closely with our schools.

[–] i_dont_want_to@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 month ago

That is crazy. I didn't realize how bad it is in some areas. I live in a red state and have moved every year or two, and was able to get bus service with very little issue.

However, that does sound like the struggle with getting after school care. You pretty much need to get in the back of the line for every school and hope you'll get a spot so you can continue to work and pay rent.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It is honestly necessary sometimes. My daughter was eventually taken out of school by us entirely and put in a (public) online school because of how severely she was being bullied, but before that, we had to take her to school because she could handle getting on the bus with all the kids being horrible to her every morning and afternoon.

For a while, she was allowed to listen to an mp3 player with earbuds, but then they started just shouting over the earbuds. And bus drivers barely give a shit considering how low they're paid.

So yeah, sometimes people drive their kids to school for a reason.

[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

But 53% of people??

[–] thevoidzero@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Considering the current division, yes. There's also a lot of homeschooling because they don't want their children taught anything from 'state'.

[–] NotationalSymmetry@ani.social 0 points 1 month ago

The school buses don't have seatbelts.