Schools are cutting bus service for children. Parents are turning to ride-hailing apps
Schools are cutting bus service for children. Parents are turning to ride-hailing apps
The question of how to replace the traditional yellow bus has become an urgent problem for some, and a spark for innovation.
Summary
School districts across the U.S. are reducing bus services due to driver shortages and shifting transportation responsibilities to families, disproportionately affecting low-income households.
In Chicago, where only 17,000 of 325,000 students are eligible for buses, parents are turning to alternatives like ride-hailing apps.
Startups such as Piggyback Network and HopSkipDrive provide school transportation by connecting parents or contracting directly with districts, offering safety measures like real-time tracking and driver vetting.
Critics warn these solutions don’t fully address systemic inequities, as many families still struggle to afford or access reliable school transportation.
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I don’t know what a “level crossing” is
A place where roads cross at the same level, so a normal intersection. As apposed to a non-level crossing like a tunnel or bridge, where roads cross at different levels. Traffic on highways moves too fast and is too dense for level crossings so crossing a highway is one of the safest crossings you can ever make because you never have to actually cross traffic.
Highways don’t have intersections, it’s one of the defining features of a highway.
Highways don’t have intersections, it’s one of the defining features of a highway.
Once again, maybe learn a little about the place where you're talking about before you think there are "obvious" solutions. There's literally an intersection with no traffic lights where the rural road crosses the highway.
This isn't the intersection I am talking about, but it's a typical one:
And no, one road is not going underneath the other there. It is what you call a level crossing. No lights, no sidewalks, no stop signs, no reason for the cars to ever slow down or stop.
And no street lights.
You keep avoiding the fact that this would easily get a child killed and I'm starting to think it's because you just don't care if a child is killed as long as they are walking or biking.
There's literally an intersection with no traffic lights where the rural road crosses the highway.
That’s not a highway as I understand the term. When I read ‘highway’ I expect something like this. By definition they are conflict-free (no crossings, traffic lights, access only through on/off ramps that allow you to match speed, etc.
Do you not have safety/design standards for roads where you are? Because that definitely looks like a road that would be required to have traffic lights. What is the max allowed speed on that road?
It looks like what would be a 80 or 100 km/h road here. 80 km/h roads are fine to cross safely if they are single-lane, dual-lane (2+2) or 100km/h roads always have traffic lights. Highways are 130km/h and never have intersections.
And no street lights.
That’s just insane. A road like that would be required to have street lights here. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a road that size without lights. The only roads without street lights here are narrow, low-speed rural roads (the kind where you have to slow down and drive partially on the shoulder when you meet an oncoming car) and they usually still have a light at intersections.
What? You mean things in the U.S. aren't like they are where you live and so what "normal" kids like you do where you live isn't in any way safe for them to do here? Which is what I've been saying this entire fucking time?
I think it's fun for other people to dog pile on the "Americans are just lazy" idea and they refuse to consider that if they lived here they too would be forced into some of our grotesque and lazy ways. You said no backpacks allowed, they're like here neither! We had to use heavy backpacks! Completely ignoring your point and all their arguments were like that. Bless you for sticking with it until they finally understood.
Thank you.
Yeah, I'm from Kentucky (a state touching Indiana). My understanding is that, in Kentucky, a highway is a numbered road maintained by the state. Local roads get names and are maintained by the city or county.
Highways where I grew up were straight and had a 55mph speed limit. Side/local roads would intersect the highway. The side road would have a stop sign but the highway would not. Street lights were rare, and only in areas that were a bit more built up.
Edit: and the biking school commute Google suggested for me takes me down 2 highways.