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moderndukes t1_ja9o7er wrote

I mean, you also have to then consider the counter-question: does Baltimore City need school busses? A lot of cities go without them and rely on their public transit network.

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sassydragon23 t1_jaa0slg wrote

Exactly in Philly only the youngest elementary school students and special needs kids use school buses and it’s my understanding that New York is the same. Some school buses are prudent but a whole fleet seems like a waste of funds

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waterorsharks t1_jacdz8g wrote

The city uses taxis/Ubers for special ed students. I'm not sure about elementary.

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Animanialmanac t1_jaeed1c wrote

Elementary students have city school bus service, up to 6th grade. The title is misleading, only students 7th grade and older take MTA buses.

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No-Lunch4249 t1_jaa8cag wrote

Yeah riding the bus to work in DC I see kids on it all the time going to school. Plenty of cities are doing without.

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marvelmon t1_ja9yqk4 wrote

County high schools don't provide service under a mile. What's the longest distance in the city? Is it over a mile?

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water_in_the_forest t1_jaafv45 wrote

Yeah if you live within a certain radius you don't get the bus ticket packs. There's quite a few high schools (if not all of them) where kids are coming from all over the city.

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Xanny t1_jab93os wrote

The dumb school choice system means kids are being taken 3-5 miles across the city to the good schools.

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Bitchi3atppl t1_jac1lak wrote

We don’t get to go on any field trips. It costs about $2000 to rent a bus to go anywhere that isn’t within walking distance. Meaning we can’t take our kids to places like the science center, port discovery, the zoo, a planetarium, a theater, any fun locations to celebrate our successful scholars, that live science shit near fells, any trails or hikes that are 20mins out driving.

Not having a bus is an issue. It sucks that we cannot take them anywhere unless we fundraise money for it.

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jupitaur9 t1_jacos7f wrote

Is there a way to use public transportation for this?

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Bitchi3atppl t1_jaczvth wrote

Obviously yes but I really don’t see how can can fit approx 30-50 kids. We have large classes and it’s easier when our field trips involve more than one class with the goal of going to point xyz, especially for shows, productions etc.

We don’t have access to transportation as readily as we should and it sucks.

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jfichte t1_jae73a9 wrote

Yes, but Baltimore's public transit system is terribly insufficient. So it's not like we have some great, efficient bus system that can take public school kids to and from school, but also for field trips and after school activities like sports and the arts. Sure, if Baltimore had a functioning public transit system then maybe, but Baltimore's bus system is a mess, it's not sufficient for getting thousands of kids to and from school each day.

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