Driving the rest of the non-schoolchildren population around?
The driver, which instead gets an - at least in europe - somewhat awkward job, having to work two tiny shifts with a useless break in the middle.
Source: Worked twenty years in public transport resource planning uptimization algorithms, and came to know how dearly the actual bus drivers hated those "work two times a day with a useless unpaid break in the middle".
(Our algorithms would often generate them to e.g. arrive at fewer <something to optimise for>, but our clients would tell us "you can't make that many 2-part shifts, our bus drivers would kill us".
For the most part, if the system is working, you'd have to pay them a living daily wage regardless of what you're paying them hourly for 4 hours or 8 hours. (Which is such an obvious concern in the US that it's the first thing I thought of) But that doesn't address the inconvenience to their lives.
Let's say schools are 7-14, 8-15, and 9-16 for high-middle-elementary. Routes start at 6, and end at 17, which is an 11 hour day with two shifts of 3 hours plus a 5 hour break in the middle.
I would imagine something like the London's Dial-a-Ride service would be ideal – public provision of bookable door-to-door trips by minibus for people with long-term disabilities that make it impractical to use public transport.
US school buses are huge, and the limiting factor is drivers, not capital costs.
The drivers end up only having a relatively short break (compared to the length of the school day) because of repositioning, etc. they also sometimes do field trips.
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Is there anything else busses can be used for during the day, which is off-peak?
Driving the rest of the non-schoolchildren population around?
The driver, which instead gets an - at least in europe - somewhat awkward job, having to work two tiny shifts with a useless break in the middle. Source: Worked twenty years in public transport resource planning uptimization algorithms, and came to know how dearly the actual bus drivers hated those "work two times a day with a useless unpaid break in the middle". (Our algorithms would often generate them to e.g. arrive at fewer <something to optimise for>, but our clients would tell us "you can't make that many 2-part shifts, our bus drivers would kill us".
For the most part, if the system is working, you'd have to pay them a living daily wage regardless of what you're paying them hourly for 4 hours or 8 hours. (Which is such an obvious concern in the US that it's the first thing I thought of) But that doesn't address the inconvenience to their lives.
Let's say schools are 7-14, 8-15, and 9-16 for high-middle-elementary. Routes start at 6, and end at 17, which is an 11 hour day with two shifts of 3 hours plus a 5 hour break in the middle.
I think public transportation is most used during commuting hours.
I would imagine something like the London's Dial-a-Ride service would be ideal – public provision of bookable door-to-door trips by minibus for people with long-term disabilities that make it impractical to use public transport.
Those exist as separate services.
US school buses are huge, and the limiting factor is drivers, not capital costs.
The drivers end up only having a relatively short break (compared to the length of the school day) because of repositioning, etc. they also sometimes do field trips.
I suppose you mean they are great for V2X... :)