It would dramatically raise the cost of school buses. School buses, as they are, are not acceptably accessible for the general public. They have only 1 door on the side and the passenger seating requiring climbing a couple of steep steps. They also don't have a bike rack on the front, and they usually don't have route displays on the front/side, either.
Also, school buses within a district are shared between elementary, middle and high schools, which is the reasons these schools have staggered starts. When California passed a law a couple of years ago that required high schools to start no earlier than 8:30am, that in turn forced elementary and many middle schools to start earlier.
Buses are used for field trips, for athletic teams (and any other school group needing to travel for an event/competition in normal cases. Some schools get charters if distance >x, but most public schools don't.), and more. There's not really a huge amount of downtime for a lot of the fleet, except in the evenings.
Finally, the reliance on bussing has been decreasing in many parts of the country over the past couple of decades. When I grew up (elementary & middle school in the 80s), everyone rode the bus unless they were close enough to walk or bike. Now, in many communities, the default is a parent/friend carpool. In denser cities, buses are barely required. The neighborhood elementary where my youngest attends in San Jose only has 2 short buses serving a school of >500 pupils because almost everyone lives within about a 1.5mi radius.
School buses, as they are, are not acceptably accessible for the general public.
Here's a fun fact: Most busses and trucks are designed to protect other drivers in the event of a collision from the rear, because otherwise the car would slide under the heavier raised vehicle and decapitate the driver. School busses, on the other hand, are designed to carry children, and the safety of other drivers is a much lower priority:
In most other countries, the accessibility and features is the other way around: the normal city bus can serve as a school bus if required.
That also means the children don't need to clamber up steps etc.
Though it's a long time since I lived somewhere with school bus services. Mostly the children use normal buses, and have a discounted or free ticket to do so.
My daughter's school (in the UK, its a 6th Form College, and they are coaches rather than public transport type buses) pays third party to run transport to school. I assume they are free to use those vehicles elsewhere during the day and on non-school days.
That said, only those coming from further away use these - my daughter and others reasonably near use public buses.
Comments
It would dramatically raise the cost of school buses. School buses, as they are, are not acceptably accessible for the general public. They have only 1 door on the side and the passenger seating requiring climbing a couple of steep steps. They also don't have a bike rack on the front, and they usually don't have route displays on the front/side, either.
Also, school buses within a district are shared between elementary, middle and high schools, which is the reasons these schools have staggered starts. When California passed a law a couple of years ago that required high schools to start no earlier than 8:30am, that in turn forced elementary and many middle schools to start earlier.
Buses are used for field trips, for athletic teams (and any other school group needing to travel for an event/competition in normal cases. Some schools get charters if distance >x, but most public schools don't.), and more. There's not really a huge amount of downtime for a lot of the fleet, except in the evenings.
Finally, the reliance on bussing has been decreasing in many parts of the country over the past couple of decades. When I grew up (elementary & middle school in the 80s), everyone rode the bus unless they were close enough to walk or bike. Now, in many communities, the default is a parent/friend carpool. In denser cities, buses are barely required. The neighborhood elementary where my youngest attends in San Jose only has 2 short buses serving a school of >500 pupils because almost everyone lives within about a 1.5mi radius.
Here's a fun fact: Most busses and trucks are designed to protect other drivers in the event of a collision from the rear, because otherwise the car would slide under the heavier raised vehicle and decapitate the driver. School busses, on the other hand, are designed to carry children, and the safety of other drivers is a much lower priority:
https://www.thedrive.com/news/school-bus-shrugs-off-high-spe...
In most other countries, the accessibility and features is the other way around: the normal city bus can serve as a school bus if required.
That also means the children don't need to clamber up steps etc.
Though it's a long time since I lived somewhere with school bus services. Mostly the children use normal buses, and have a discounted or free ticket to do so.
My daughter's school (in the UK, its a 6th Form College, and they are coaches rather than public transport type buses) pays third party to run transport to school. I assume they are free to use those vehicles elsewhere during the day and on non-school days.
That said, only those coming from further away use these - my daughter and others reasonably near use public buses.