Busing System Suggestions - 2006

The following emails were sent in from parents expressing concerns about the busing system - from January to May 2006. This was in response to the School District soliciting bids for the 2006 busing contract in April 2006.

Bus H3B: I know that in our neighborhood, families have started driving their children to school because the bus comes late and the children are getting to school late. One teacher has told a family to contact the school to let them know the bus is late daily. Parents from our street have spoken with Mr. Williams regarding this problem and have spoken with the bus company as well. My son's teacher has told me he is the last child to arrive each day. I don't know if there are too many stops for one bus or what the problem is but this has gone on for 3 years and some parents here have given up on the bus.
We also have a problem with the bus arrival time being too irregular to reliably know when it is coming.
I would also like to know what the seat belt policy is. I know that (according to my children) the driver doesn't wear a seat belt and the children are not instructed to wear the seat belts.
Children that ride the schoolbus are dismissed last. This adds an additional 10 to 15 minutes delay to the time they return home. To encourage ridership, schoolbus children should be dismissed first, and those getting picked up by cars dismissed last. For example, at Swallow Union School, children being picked up are dismissed to the cafeteria, and parents must come in to get them.
In Lebanon, their model is such, that they lease the buses. The school district has their own bus transportation coordinator (paid by the district) and they hire their own bus drivers. I am told that Hartford owns their buses (did not verify). Not sure what our district’s time frame is, but these two options would require investment and time to establish and coordinate in advance. It sounds like our time is limited. There is a certain amount of liability involved with these models.
Unreliability of the route pick up times and the late school arrivals. That is problematic on some of the routes. Also, dependent on the route, some children are on the bus for 50 minutes. Parents feel that is too long. Not sure if reconfiguring routes is an option/remedy.
First Student buses are “equipped” with seatbelts for the children to wear. All are not always functional. NH law requires children under the age of 18 to wear a seatbelt, with the EXCEPTION of school buses. This is not unique to NH. There are only 2 states that require seatbelts on buses: NY and NJ. For a lengthy report, you may refer to NH School Transporation News.
Those of us who live on Hanover Center Road between the Dogfords and who ride H4 feel very discriminated against when it comes to busing. We live a 10-12 minute drive from the Ray School, and yet our children must spend 50 minutes or more on the bus each way, riding to and from school. We shared our concerns at a Hanover School Board meeting in the fall, but nothing has changed. If we could be tagged onto another bus route that is shorter or if the "in town" part of the bus route for H4 were eliminated, these measures would greatly reduce the time our children must ride the bus, and our children would be able to ride more often.
Although we were not impressed with the busing situation the first few months of the school year the situation has improved. We started out the year with late arrivals a couple times a week. On the days the bus wasn't late, it would occasionally arrive early and several children would nearly miss the bus. Since then, the bus has been more predictable and on time.
However, I'm concerned about one issue. We live in town on Ledyard Lane. About 10 children get on at our stop in the morning. The bus which picks up in our neighborhood (H12) is one of the small, short buses. When our children get on there are very few seats left and they often have to sit three across a bench. On the flip side, when my kindergartner gets off at 11:30, she rides a full size bus with only a few children riding. This seems like an inefficient use of equipment and fuel.
My understanding is that the small bus picks up in the morning because of a traffic barrier which prevents the regular size bus to enter on one end of our neighborhood. But, I suggest the morning route be changed to allow the full size bus to enter on the other end (as it does at Kindergarten drop off). Conversely, the smaller bus could be used for kindergarten drop off when fewer children are riding.
Is there any chance that there could be a bus route (of a full size bus, not the little one) for the Richmond school which includes a stop at the Howe Library in the afternoon?
My Ray School son rode bus H3B. If the bus arrives on time to Ray School in the morning, it's there at 8:05 which is after the first bell rings. That that bus is normally not on time, which makes the bus even later. Because of this, my son no longer takes the bus. I really hate that but it's important that he be on time for school.
Both the H3 buses have a really odd route in the mornings. They drive down Lyme Road to Emily Lane (which is near Carriage Lane), turn around to come back south on Rt 10, then make a left onto Carriage Lane, pick up kids there, then make a left out of Carriage Lane back onto Rt. 10.
Making two left-hand turns at that time of day seems to me to not be terribly safe - I would think it would make more sense for the bus to pick up the kids on Carriage Lane towards the beginning of the route as it's going north on Lyme Road to avoid those left turns.

Last updated May 2, 2006