Letters

Concern over bus cancellation

July 5, 2017   ·   0 Comments

As parents of Tech. Beeton Public School students, we are greatly confused and not happy with our upcoming school bus cancellation. A letter was sent home instructing us of our new bus. The following week, another letter was sent home telling us that our bus has been canceled.
We are a family of two full-time working adults. We have already altered our working schedule to get our children on and off the school bus safely.
To take away the bus will cause a great financial and emotional burden for us.
We cannot cut hours from our employment to drive our children to and from school. We would need before and after school care. However, the before and after school program at the school currently has a waiting list.
We still would need transportation and can’t afford to pay extra for a taxi service.
We moved to Beeton several years ago with the understanding that our house would be on the bus route for our children. We would not have chosen a house not on a bus route. If an under-1.6-km mistake was made previously, why should we now have to pay for it? We have timed the walking distance from school to home and it is 30 minutes long (adult time). We believe that this is not safe in bad or inclement weather. We are unable to walk or drive them due to the new school start time.
We understood the new 9:30 start time was to allow the buses to do more routes and schools.
Taking away our bus is the opposite outcome to the new time change. Why would a reassessment be needed when nothing has changed? Could you imagine a 4-year-old with a loaded backpack walking 2.8 kms in the winter to school across town?
Our bus stop presently includes households greater than 1.6-km distance.
Why would the bus services be taken away from households that already depend on them, and give it to the newer residents? Why are we less important? The decision to cancel our bus has caused me great stress and sleepless nights. How can I safely get my children to school without a bus?
We kindly ask that you rethink our bus route cancellation.

S. de la Bastide
Daniele Ave. South,
Beeton

Readers Comments (0)