This is the fourth story I read on this subject and we're going to see more of this in the near future. Even though gas prices have dropped, diesel prices are still over $4.00 a gallon and not falling! The whole notion of busing students to school, daycare and after school activities is going to crumble in the next twenty five years. I can see entire school districts dropping their bus programs and basically forcing parents to drive their kids to school or after school programs.
When you think about it, the yellow school bus enabled kids in the burbs to attend school without having to walk miles along roads with no sidewalks. It's all coming to an end because many schools districts don't have the money to continue funding costly motorized transport. Electric hybrid buses will not pay for themselves because they cost twice the price of a new bus or about 200K.
It looks like families are going to have to rethink where they want to live or the women will just have to stay home and play chauffeur for their kids. Since most families can't afford this luxury, we'll see more migration to towns and cities that have adequate public transportation. Schools that are close and within walking distance will be in high demand.
The school bus concept came about during the 1950's when the government thought they could save more money by building larger schools and closing down the many of the smaller ones. The idea worked because a motorbus was able to retrieve the students who lived miles away. Unfortunately, this whole concept is about to crumble because some of these towns are spending close to 6K just in gas alone for a single bus!
The answer is simple. Towns in the burbs are going to have build more schools that are within walking distance. I know it means more taxes but that's life. There are no cheap solutions anymore when it comes to motorized transport.
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If you read the bottom of the page, comments made by some of the readers are insane. They think the school bus crisis would never have happened if the women just "Kept their legs crossed" and not have children in the first place. Unbelievable.
http://www.news-journalonline.com/Ne...ST01090308.htm