This is probably non-obvious if you've never interacted with the system, but school buses are not public transit buses and would be ill-suited
- They're much less accessible, as typically there's a separate route with a specifically accessible bus.
- they need to be immediately available and in the right spot the instant school lets out, which means the downtime is typically a little bit shorter than you would even expect so they can all be in place.
- they likely have MUCH lower milage-per-day specs, including things like general wear and tear and number of hours of continuous use.
In reality, You would likely have to rebuild from the ground up and go the other way around, starting with a mass transit system and then dedicating certain buses and routes to pick up and drop off
Every country has a set of “weird things” that seem inscrutable to outsiders. Presumably your country does as well. And good thing, life would be less interesting otherwise.
But the US’s oddities seem to come in for lots of this type of “let me enlighten you” commentary.
To think about this from a school system perspective: why? They're expensive as it is, and they are already safe and functional.
The reason most counties don't have a transit system isn't because of cost, but the cost to benefit ratio. There just isn't enough of an audience for one in the first place. Population density in the majority of the country just doesn't work like that.
Comments
This is probably non-obvious if you've never interacted with the system, but school buses are not public transit buses and would be ill-suited
- They're much less accessible, as typically there's a separate route with a specifically accessible bus.
- they need to be immediately available and in the right spot the instant school lets out, which means the downtime is typically a little bit shorter than you would even expect so they can all be in place.
- they likely have MUCH lower milage-per-day specs, including things like general wear and tear and number of hours of continuous use.
In reality, You would likely have to rebuild from the ground up and go the other way around, starting with a mass transit system and then dedicating certain buses and routes to pick up and drop off
This is just another weird US thing. It's fine, school buses don't need to look like those transporting WW2 conscripts forever, they can be upgraded!
Every country has a set of “weird things” that seem inscrutable to outsiders. Presumably your country does as well. And good thing, life would be less interesting otherwise.
But the US’s oddities seem to come in for lots of this type of “let me enlighten you” commentary.
The USA pushes its culture in movies etc.
American school buses are sometimes featured. The only other school transport I've seen in a film is the Hogwarts Express.
To think about this from a school system perspective: why? They're expensive as it is, and they are already safe and functional.
The reason most counties don't have a transit system isn't because of cost, but the cost to benefit ratio. There just isn't enough of an audience for one in the first place. Population density in the majority of the country just doesn't work like that.