Are School Buses Really as Bad as they say......?

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CatSmile
Posts: 49
Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2008 6:39 pm
Location: Belvedere

Are School Buses Really as Bad as they say......?

Post by CatSmile »

Hi all,

My son is off to secondary next week and we've been 'discussing' :roll: how he's getting there. We have several bus route options including a 'school bus' (601 for anyone in the Bexley area). This bus is convenient and apparently would guarantee to get him to school in good time. However, he is very reluctant to use it because he's heard the behaviour of some of the kids is really bad. He would rather use two separate ordinary buses so that other adults would be on board. I can see his point, but have noticed that in the mornings the school buses (3 usually) seemed ok, even quite empty sometimes. Also taking two ordinay buses increases the chances of being late. I don't want to force him to do something he's not comfortable with, especially with al the other first day nerves, but being late wouldn't help. I can't take him because I have to get his younger sister to primary school and I don't drive.
Any advice on the best thing to do? Maybe someone has a real experience of life on the 601? I have said that after school he can take whatever bus he likes so long as he texts me to say when he expects to get home.
Thanks guys
Catsmile
Bexley Mum 2
Posts: 851
Joined: Sat Nov 17, 2007 9:55 pm
Location: Bexley

Post by Bexley Mum 2 »

Catsmile - I've sent you a pm.
fm

Post by fm »

Any time you get a group of children together, unsupervised, and you are going to get bad behaviour. I remember once catching the school bus in the North of Scotland with a friend and could not believe how everyone was behaving--this was 1965!

In 1970, then a student, I travelled up to Aberdeen by train and ended up stuck in a long carriage with a bunch of total hooligans who were throwing food, shouting and swearing -- they were destined for Gordonstoun, Prince Charles' old stomping ground, at return of term.

I imagine you will have the usual pecking order on the bus. Bad lads and girls at back, newbies at front keeping a low profile. He's going to experience this rowdiness eventually and a change of 2 buses and therefore a more difficult journey seems a lot of effort to avoid what will just be a bit of pushing, shoving and swearing.
Tolstoy
Posts: 2755
Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2008 5:25 pm

Post by Tolstoy »

Some I believe are worse than others so it is something to keep an eye on.

My old school bus was fine, just usual hussle and bussle f.m has described, I now know it to be a problem. My neice taught in one of the school's it serves and it is one of the ones that they get most grief over. My friend's daughter, who travels on it, had big problems initially but her parents went direct to the parents (not always an option) and got it sorted.

I know in my current village one of the drop offs is such a problem that most of the children get off at the preceeding bus stop and walk the last bit. This is wrong and I can not accept that it is allowed to happen :shock: . Thankfully my DS won't have to use this particular school bus, his gets back later. So longer bus journies do have their advantages.

Personally I would try to encourage the use of the school bus, be aware that bullying can sometimes happen and deal with it as and when it arises. I don't feel that one or two children should be able to make these buses no go areas and by reporting them only we can prevent that.
andyb
Posts: 645
Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2007 10:27 am
Location: Buckinghamshire

Post by andyb »

DS's school have prefects allocated to as many of the council run school buses as they can to try minimize "silliness". Unfortunately they are not able to police public transport but there is a chance that a prefect would be travelling the same route. I am more concerned with DS actually getting on the right bus with everything he needs that evening - he is so used to being able to pop back into primary school to collect something he has forgotten :roll: .
Milla
Posts: 2556
Joined: Mon Nov 24, 2008 2:25 pm

Post by Milla »

when there was a bit of argy bargy on my boy's school bus, I phoned the company who were brilliant. Shot straight into action, tackled the boy concerned straightaway and said any further bad behaviour and he would have his pass removed. It worked - parents don't like that sort of thing, not least because the pass costs nearly £750 a year. The company won't want a reputation for bad behaviour particularly if there is a viable alternative option you could choose (= lost revenue for them) so it's worth getting in touch with them about your concerns (you're anonymous on a phone!)
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