Did(Do) you ride the school bus to school?

I only rode the bus to school in my final year (which is when you’re sixteen here in UK), I;d walked all the time up until that point. I was bullied when i walked and bullied on the bus. I used to sit at the front (couple of rows back) on my own every day and pray to god that no-one would start anything…they usually did.

I imagine people that ride the bus are still looked down upon yes… but even within the tier system of bus, car, walk… (not necessarily in that order) there are hierarchies… which kind of insinuates to me that it doesn’t matter where you are on the rung of the ladder of life…you will still always be below someone or above someone… unless you’re at the very bottom or very top, which is unlikely for anyone and surely must be the most slimist of odds in the entire world?

I can’t think of anything that i could have possibly have gleaned form this banal experience.

@lynneblundell What I took from the experience was knowing what it’s like and being able to empathize with those who have been there. Also the experience taught me how to deal with bullies.

I ask because my kids are approaching the age where they would ride the bus and my wife and I are in disagreement about it.

I rode the bus. Everyone did, for the most part. Having your parents drop you off was generally thought of as you were late waking up.

I still ride the bus. Hooray for public transit! I do know that I’ve been sneered at a time or two for being public transit only, but it is so much cheaper than owning a car, I kind of sneer back. It does not fit in my value system that people who live in the city like I do should pay so much for a car, insurance, gas, and parking for the convenience of getting wherever they are going five minutes faster.

@tekn0lust….right i see,...so how did you deal with bullies? (if i had figured it out i’m sure i would have learnt something too…)and I’m intrigued to know what you disagree about exactly? If you don’t mind disclosing that info?

I rode the bus up until third grade. Then we moved into a different district and I walked. In high school I got rides from various friends, it was cool to have friends that drove when I was only a freshman. Few of my fellow underclassmen had that option. My kids are bus riders, but my son gets a ride with his best friend because his mom drives past the school on her way to work. He hates the bus, says it’s hot and smelly and annoying. My daughter rides because she has no other choice. She says that sometimes she let’s this one little girl sit with her even though her friends make fun of her. This little girl is considered “dorky”. I’m proud of her for being nice because I realize it’s hard to go against the in crowd. But my kids have been exposed to things the other kids in this small town haven’t. They held a mock election at school and they voted for Obama when most kids said he was a terrorist.

I first rode the school bus in grades 1–3, in a small rural community. No one bullied the little kids, the older kids did not allow it.

Later, I rode the school bus in the 7th grade in a big city. No one stood up for anyone else, you were on your own.

Both were learning experiences. The first taught me the security that can come from feeling that you are not alone in an intimidating experience. The second taught me that there are many times when you are alone, and you’d better learn early how to deal with those situations.

I walked from Kindergarten and 1st grade, took the yellow bus from 2nd-8th grade, the city bus for high school. I’ve always been the person who is left alone. Not teased, but not wildly popular. I was OK on the buses.

We had a driver for 5th and 6th grades who was like Otto on the Simpsons: a bit of a stoner and always had music blasting. In my elementary school days, Walkmen (remember those?) were available but very expensive, so our “Otto” would jam to his Led Zep and Rush on a transistor radio he hung near his seat. Every time I hear Black Dog, or Head Games by Foreigner, I remember being on that bus. I was the only child on his route who liked his music. The other kids would snicker, “Zebra!” at me, and I’d snort something smartass back and that was that. My nose was in a book.

High school, I never sat near the kids who were making a ruckus, which was most of them, and they sat in the back. They ignored me. And Walkmen were affordable by then. I had a pink Sanyo knockoff.

The transport hierarchy was walking, driving, city bus, school bus, short bus. You didn’t want to be a kid on the short bus, which was called the “retard bus.” Aren’t kids nice? Walking was on top because my last elementary/middle school and both my high schools were in very desirable residential areas, so if you walked to my schools, that meant your family was rich.

@lynneblundell I just had to stand up to them. It’s easy to say now, but damn was it hard then. I remember agonizing over it for weeks. Several times getting ready to stand my ground and then running away. Then finally having to duke it out in the dirt one day. After that they were done with me. As you put it there’s a pecking order no matter where you look, you just have to make your place.

My wife thinks that putting them through that social situation is an unnecessary experiment with their safety. I whole heatedly disagree and think that there is a lot to be learned from that situation(as is pointed out in comments above). You can give kids tools, but only they can use them. My wife is very protective, I’m more “kick ‘em out the nest”. We will find a compromise we always do where the kids are concerned.

I rode the bus to school from kindergarten all the way through high school. We lived 15 minutes out of town, in the country on the lake. Hoqever the bus ride made the trip in and out 45 minutes rather than 10 or 15.
Riding the bus wasn’t really attached to any social class, because everyone took the bus here or there. The only people who didn’t were those who lived within 1.5 km of the school they attended.
I would get dropped off at school but only because my mom would have to go to work, and it meant i could sleep in.

@lacerbabe99 oh i feel your pain. I was the first one on and the last one off… sucked. What should have been 10–15 minutes was easily 45+

I rode the bus to school for Elementary and Middle school. I didn’t mind it too much, actually. We didn’t have too many crazy kids on our route causing trouble, and I had a few friends who got on/off at my stop, so it was fun most of the time. If I was ever fighting with any of those friends, I’d just pull out a book. The only things I remember hating were standing at the bus stop early in the morning in the middle of winter, freezing my butt off, and when the bus driver wanted us all to sing this Boom-Chika-Boom song together. That was pretty bad. But over all, I liked the bus. I guess it’s good I didn’t have to ride it in high-school, though.

I hated standing out at the end of the driveway for my bus in the winter. we would hide in the barn and peak through the barnboards to see if the bus was coming and then run as fast as we could to the end of the driveway at the last minute.

No. It was too dangerous.

@BlueDing – My buses picked me up at my house. I’d wait by the front door. I was usually the only child in my immediate area to be picked up, so it didn’t make any sense for me to have to walk to a stop. He’d beep and I was out the door!

I rode the bus on and off without much thought until about 10th grade. I’d had a summer fling with a popular guy, and dumped him for another guy. When school started up again, he and all his friends harrassed me on the bus for months. It sucked royally. I finally gave up on the bus altogether. My mom drove me in on her way to work, and I took a city bus home.

I did until I was in high school and one time in the fourth grade I fell asleep on the bus and woke up at the bus drivers house, it was kind of scary. I hated the bus!!!

@aprilsimnel I’m so jealous! My bus stop was just up the block, but we had to wait for 10–15 minutes, and it was so cold in the winter! It would have been nice to wait in my warm and toasty house.

YES I RIDE THE SCHOOL BUS. I AM IN 10TH GRADE. I HAVE RODE THE BUS EVER SINCE KINDERGARTEN. I AM ALWAYS THE FIRST ONE TO BE PICKED UP IN THE A.M. AND THE LAST ONE TO BE DROPPED OFF IN THE P.M. IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN THAT WAY. THERE ARE A LOT OF KIDS THAT RIDE MY BUS, SO IT IS A 2 HOUR RIDE EACH WAY TO SCHOOL. THE BUS COMES AT 5:45 IN THE MORNING AND DROPS ME OFF AT 5:15 IN THE EVENING. SCHOOL IS 8 AM TO 3 PM.

Thanks for the reply, Luke. But turn off your caps lock. All caps implies you are YELLING. :)

i am sorry about the cap locks. i just wanted you to see my point because i don’t like riding the bus.

DOES ANYONE FEEL BAD FOR ME WITH A BUS ROUTE THIS LONG?

Not really—mine was that long in high school. It was faster to walk, but I generally brought a book to keep myself entertained. On nice afternoons, I’d walk.

@LUKE Chill with the caps lock.

yeah, but was your bus ride that long every year or just in high school?

It was the same bus route from grade school and middle school.

what time did the bus pick you up and drop you off? what time was school ?

SO HOW DOES ANYONE ELSE FEEL ABOUT MY 2 HOUR SCHOOL BUS RIDE TO SCHOOL AND THEN ANOTHER 2 HOUR SCHOOL BUS RIDE HOME

@LUKE/LUCAS Why do you have two different user names, and for the love of God… why are you shouting again?

Because he’s a troll in training. Just ignore him until he learns that there are more appropriate ways to communicate online.

isn’t the topic on this entire page about riding the school bus? yes it is so i am talking in an appropiate way.

i have two user names because i cant remember my password to the old user name, so i got a new user name

in the winter months (when the daylight hours are short), it is dark outside when i get on the school bus and its dark outside when i get off the school bus. you can just imagine how long my days are with 7 hours of school and 2 hours on the bus to school and 2 hours on the bus home.

I only rode the bus for 4th-6th grades because I wen t a private school for the first three and a different zone for the last six.