The boys beg to ride the bus, which Patricia Israel of Atlanta says is fine with her. She sees it as environmentally sound transportation that reduces traffic on streets and at the school.It also saves money on gas for her sport-utility vehicle. "We're looking at getting a hybrid," Israel says. "Every time I fill up the gas tank, it's like $75."
With gas prices hovering around $3 per gallon, more parents are sending their kids to school on the bus this fall, and school districts across the nation have noticed the increase in ridership.
The more the prices go up, the less riders get to school on their own and they go with our buses," says Doug Geller, assistant director of transportation for the Clark County School District in Las Vegas
Janette Shealy, a teacher in the Atlanta suburb of Alpharetta, says her school sends letters to parents about the environmental advantages of the bus system. "We try to just create an awareness of the fact that car vapors impact the quality of our air — the fewer vehicles on the road the better," Shealy says.
"Gas really is so expensive," says Mary Lynn Jones, who has four of her five children riding the bus to an elementary school in northern Atlanta. "It's just so much easier." (Associated Press)
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-08-23-kids-bus_x.htm
Using school buses already paid for by taxpayers, dumping SUVs, reducing pollution and traffic congestion while making kids walk a few more feet ... it would seem to be a shining moment for America, only the underlying motivation is a loss of money because of higher fuel costs. Maybe higher gas prices aren't such a bad thing.
Link here to see my videos and the still images that go with them.
Link here to see my current still photo archive.
Link to my other blog entries in Photoblog
Leave a comment