WNY School Bus Pick-Ups + Drop-Offs – Too Frequent or Not Enough? [POLL]

Last week we got a text from John in Buffalo regarding school bus stops:

Good morning Laura. Here's a topic for you to discuss in the morning with your listeners. So I'm driving to work and I'm behind a school bus. This bus is picking up children on their way to school. Which is fine but why is it that children need to stand outside their house and not at a designated bus stop. This bus is literally picking up children from one house and then going 2 houses down picking up more children three houses down picking up more children. I walked to school many times and when my son went to school the bus pick the kids from that block up on the corner not in front of each house. Again are we giving children of this era a sense of entitlement. Not to mention now I'm gonna be late going to work. Just a thought. Curious what other people think about this issue.

Interesting that John brought this up last week, as there's a new piece of legislation heading to Albany this morning allowing bus companies and districts to mount cameras on their buses. Incidents of illegal passing of school buses were at the highest in eight months, prompting the legislation.

We asked if you thought John had a point, that buses stop too frequently when kids/families could gather at one or two more centrally located pick-up/drop-off locations....or if it's strictly a safety issue to not have children walking too far from home to catch the bus.

The calls/texts/emails BLEW UP.

Many of you (lots of school bus drivers included) said the district is the one who makes the route and that some stops are requested by households (some special needs students, some not).

Some comments we received:

Jenny:  The buses I see on my way to work stop at almost every house. In a close-nit neighborhood. I think it is the helicopter parents not wanting their children to be inconvenienced having to walk. We always had to walk to a group bus stop, and no one got hit by cars...

cindy / arcade: I did the routing for a major carrier for a Southtowns District. Bus stops are generally determined by the district. the district decides when a child can or can not walk to a stop. certain roads like Route 16 require house-to-house stops, due to lack of sidewalks and traffic patterns. But a major problem is parents who do not want their children to walk at all to a stop. I had a parent call and complain because her child would have to walk to the driveway next door when I tried to explain to her that the other stop had been an established stop in previous years she complained that walking to the next door driveway was too dangerous. it was literally 20 feet away. I would say that parents are the biggest problem, everyone wants end of driveway pickup. If we can't teach our kids to walk to a stop a short distance away....there will be more and more stops.

Kim/ Williamsville: In Williamsville they stop at your house. In Buffalo it's a designated corners..unless it's a special circumstance. When I was a kid I had to cross 4 different streets to get to the bus stop ...I was 10

Jordan / Depew: Every afternoon, there's a bus on Broadway in Cheektowaga from the Buffalo City Line to Harlem that stops on every side street. Since Broadway is a commuter route, it causes backups and makes people act stupid to get around

Patricia / Lockport: Back in my day we had the kids wait at a designated corner. I agree living in the Town of Lockport, The buses stop at every house. Obesity is high for kids....hmmm Let them walk!!