Wow -- I'm back from talking to the school district's bus co. charter guy, and I'm kind of stunned by how easy they're willing to make this. And cheap. After we talked for a while the guy said he kind of expects to see requests for private afterschool busing from parents at other schools, too.
Basically, we could have a 48-seat bus for $130/day. At that price, we could schedule people flexibly (1-5 days/wk), charge about $5/day, break even relatively easily, make enough money to provide a buffer if the demand is there, and also reserve a bloc of sliding-scale seats for low-income families. The bus company would provide a dedicated driver who'd get familiar with the kids and destinations, and would make sure the kids got inside wherever they were supposed to go. All the liability would be the bus co's. The main hassle on my end would be collecting payments and taking care of some paperwork.
Now I'm just finding out how much route hassle they're willing to put up with -- for instance, if a kid has T-ball on MW and goes to Grammy's TThF, can they accommodate that? I'm kind of guessing they're willing to try, given the coming district budget cuts.
I can see why the district and schools wouldn't want to be responsible for coordinating this service themselves, but I'm just surprised that -- given the agonies over delayed return to work, "who's picking them up today" stress, etc. -- nobody's here has looked at this option before.
Basically, we could have a 48-seat bus for $130/day. At that price, we could schedule people flexibly (1-5 days/wk), charge about $5/day, break even relatively easily, make enough money to provide a buffer if the demand is there, and also reserve a bloc of sliding-scale seats for low-income families. The bus company would provide a dedicated driver who'd get familiar with the kids and destinations, and would make sure the kids got inside wherever they were supposed to go. All the liability would be the bus co's. The main hassle on my end would be collecting payments and taking care of some paperwork.
Now I'm just finding out how much route hassle they're willing to put up with -- for instance, if a kid has T-ball on MW and goes to Grammy's TThF, can they accommodate that? I'm kind of guessing they're willing to try, given the coming district budget cuts.
I can see why the district and schools wouldn't want to be responsible for coordinating this service themselves, but I'm just surprised that -- given the agonies over delayed return to work, "who's picking them up today" stress, etc. -- nobody's here has looked at this option before.
