Hi everyone. Before I ask the questions, I want to say that I think those yellow school buses are great. I have lived in Canada (now in UK) as a child but over 25 years ago and as a child I didn't really appreciate how they came about or what the rules of use were. I assumed my parents were handling all that. Besides which, after all this time, the rules may have changed. Thus, my questions below.
1. Are the buses open to every child irrespective of distance from the school?
2. Are they free?
3. How regular are they? If you miss one, can you get another?
Any other info would be most useful
Thanks.

Hi all. We are thinking of moving to Ontario and are wondering about the above and what age do children travel on their own on ? Are all the drivers security checked? Do other parents recommend this form of transport for their children? Any advice appreciated.

Hi -I'm not 'over there' yet - so I stand to be corrected on all my answers ! We visited a couple of elementary schools in December and my guess on your questions from the info we received are as follows :

1) Depends on how near you live - if you are within a certain 'cut off' point re distance from school (ie, pretty damn close) - then no - you would not be entitled to a place on a bus - and in fact there would not be a bus route so close anway. Prepare to walk or drive them in ...

2) I got the impression you pay towards this but I don't have figures - maybe the local education board website will have this info ...

3) Again, I get the impression there is one bus for each route, at a specific time - it goes around it's route collecting kids from various stops. If you miss it, tough !

One of the schools visited was on the same site as the middle and high school for the town - there were 42 buses each day coming in from far and wide ! Some of the kids were on that bus at least an hour before the school day started as it wound it's way past various pick up points. And bear in mind that the school day in Canada seems to start way earlier than the UK, about 0810 hours - some of those poor kids must have been at the bus stop by about 7am !! Yikes !!

So bear that in mind when you buy your house !

Cheers

Comments based on experience in the GTA....

Or how far away, two of my kids went to school about 25 miles from the house and had to take public transit as the school was administered by a different board. One travels 30 miles the other way, the school board sends a taxi as no one else lives in that direction. If you live a sensible distance, say five miles, then the board typically provides a bus.

We have never had to pay.

Tough on the parent! If the bus is missed then the parent is expected to deliver the child.

Much of this will vary from Province/School Board etc. Here on the Rock every kid who lives more than 1.2km away from the schools gets a bus. No idea whether you pay for it. (Have no kids although Mrs AX is a teacher) and if your kids miss it then as dbd33 says it's up to the parents to get the kids to school. All in all I think it's an excellent system. Much better than in UK.

I have a friend in Toronto who said the child must live more than 1.6 km from the school to qualify for the school bus. She claims the bus system is not that good. There are so many younger school age children who must walk or the parents take them to school, only to have the bus pass you by less then half full. Apparently many parents are frustrated and have complained about the distance, especially for younger children.

Here in Australia, children in infants (kinder - Year 2) are entitled to free school bus travel regardless of the distance (I didn't even know that until I looked it up the other day!). Otherwise we also have the 1.6km rule for primary children. Perhaps Canada has something like that for the younger students are well.

I've been a victim of this a few times. The frustration of saying to my teen daughter, "hurry up you're going to miss the bus", her rolling her eyes at me because she's confident she won't followed by a hasty return home five minutes later because she's missed the bus!

My one concern about the yellow school buses, (and its a big concern in my mind) is that there are NO seatbelts in them ! This is why I take my son to school in the car.!

My friend around the corner from me sends her daughter to the same school on the bus and she pays for it per yr. I'll have to ask her the exact figure.

The bus waits a few minutes at each pick up point, but it won't wait forever !!!

When was the last time you heard or read about a serious accident involving a school bus? The seat belt thing is like that I think because smaller kids would be unable to do them up and undo them themselves, especially if there was a fire or something and everyone had to get off in a hurry. Wouldnt hurt to have the option I suppose for the bigger kids.

They travel so slowly, are inspected daily, the drivers have special training in defensive driving, they never seem to go out in adverse weather, stop for everyone/thing and are given a wide berth by everyone else on the road, the danger is minimal, and statistically I suspect you are far more likely to have a serious accident driving the kids to school than they are in the bus.

The only fatalities I am aware of were the result of the driver not seing kids crossing directly in front of him, in the forward blind spot under the hood, and the driver running them over. For that reason all the buses in my area now have an extending arm that keeps kids far enough in front of the bus that the driver can see them at all times.

The other thing to consider with the busses (at least here) is that if a parent or other designated adult is not present when the bus brings you kids home, they will not let them off the bus unattended, so you have to plan accordingly.

TBH I have no idea what happens to those kids whose parents dont make it back home in time to greet them. Perhaps there is a large central holding tank in the praries somewhere, and if you dont come to get them they get put up for adoption or used for medical experiements or something

Also called cheese wagons around here For Elementary kids you have to live something like 1.4 km away from school for Middle school I think it's around 2 km, haven't got to High school yet but the High school kids take public buses anyhow (or drive themselves). If you want your kid to take the bus but you are not far enough away you have to pay, if you miss one panic happens, stressed out Mum happens, shouted at kid happens - Mum then whines at kid all the way to school - kid doesn't miss bus again (so far anyway)

When we registered our son for the local elementary school we were given a leaflet on school bus safety (even though we're actually close enough that he'll be walking to school), which addresses the question of seatbelts. This info's also here http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/saf...us/safebus.htm with the added bonus of a pretty picture...:

Parents - what makes a school bus safe
Ontario regulations require buses be driven by specially-trained, licensed drivers with good driving records. School buses must meet safety standards established by Transport Canada, including the recent addition of a requirement for a front safety crossing arm.


Why no seat belts?Information from all types of school bus collisions demonstrates that the current school bus design provides a high level of protection to occupants and that seat belts may actually adversely affect the safety of children on school buses (Transport Canada).

Instead of requiring seat belts, school buses are designed and constructed differently from passenger cars. School buses protect passengers through "compartmentalization", a design that includes:

• Seats with high backs;
• Seats filled with energy-absorbing material;
• Seats placed close together to form compartments;
• Strong seat anchorages.

Studies have shown that adding seat belts to the current seating configuration of a school bus can increase the chance of head and neck injuries. For a seat belt to be effective, it must be worn correctly, snug and on the upper thighs. Because school vehicles carry passengers from the very young to high school students, if seat belts were used, they would need to be readjusted and their use monitored. A seat belt not worn correctly may cause serious injuries.

When our lad travelled on a yellow school bus he had a "late bus" which came round sometime after the normal one.

Now he travels on a "city" school bus service, and has to go catch it after my hubby and I have both normally left for work.

The other day when I got home he admitted that he'd missed the bus, and just come back and stayed home for the day. Sigh.

So (after I had scraped myself off the celing) we sat down and worked out other buses he might catch that would get him to school late, but at least get him there!!

kids can get ride even if living 300 yrds. -30c with windchill is still enough time to lose some skin. but it costs $200 for a year and you have to buy the year. bus has a route and your assigned stops. kids jump buses and most drivers don't care.

Please note -40c with -50+ windchill buses don't run kids stay home, school is open for videos tho. Thats City rural school is closed. kids given a time and a place to be picked up. People build little bus shelters and the kids stand in the out of the wind and ran.

Ours car to walk home or roller blade once snow not around

There seems to be a fair bit of variation in how the system works. We never had to pay for buses in Oakville. Not even the one that took the Boy to school in Mississauga, which is in a different school board area.

He had to wait at the street corner for the bus (a bit silly really, as the bus had to come past our house anyway). A lot of parents with young kids have them dropped off at after-school daycare and pick them up later. We did that for a while. There wasn't really any need for it as I was at home anyway, but I'm mean.

These days he's at private school so yellow buses are not open to him. However, the public bus company has laid on extra services to coincide with school hours and students can get subsidised passes (tax deductible BTW).