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Comment by commandlinefan | Hacker News Reader

Yeah, it’s a nice thought, but completely unworkable. I live 0.99 miles (seriously!) from my kids’ school. The minimum bus distance in 1 mile - so they won’t send buses to pick up my kids. That means that they have to walk 0.99 miles, sometimes in the rain, sometimes in the cold, across three fairly busy intersections, or I have to drive them. My commute is about an hour long (longer because I’m driving at the worst possible time), so I’m getting into work later than everybody else as it is.

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Is there a reason they can not walk to school? It doesn't really take long to walk a mile and it is very good for them mentally to get a walk in before and after school anyway. There may be times when inclement weather might make it a little miserable but proper clothes can address that in all but the most extreme cases. I grew up in MT and had to walk about a mile to my elementary school and almost a mile to my High School bus stop. I enjoyed those walks and the time to think it afforded.

Well, if school didn't start until 9 AM, I'd have to, but I'd feel horrible about it.

Do you live in a particularly dangerous area or something? I walked (later biked) a mile to school a few times a week starting some time in elementary school.

In my country there is no really the concept of the "school bus". Google Maps says I walked exactly 1.0 miles... climbing a mountain, because my school was in the freaking top of a mountain. In some parts climbs were so steep that nowadays there are escalators on the streets.

I did that from 4 to 18 yo. It did never bother me, sometimes I literally did the whole way back running non-stop for fun, it was kind of like a roller coaster. But:

- Weather was generally good

- I obviously didn't walk alone when I was 4 yo.

We don't even know the age of those kids. Maybe they will walk to school alone... when they are older.

How many 30-40 mph roads/intersections were between your house and school?

Unfortunately this is the kind of thing that prevents many kids from walking to school in the US, even in cities, there are often few safe walking routes, incomplete sidewalks, poorly designed intersections across wide, fast moving roads.

Sounds like you have bigger problems than school starting times. I'd be working on the local municipaility to get the facilities in place. Being able to walk anywhere you need to go should be one of those human rights. It's basic to our physology.

> Is there a reason they can not walk to school?

Sounds like a good way to get yourself a visit from CPS. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/04/13/parent...

I can't believe this isn't some sort of Onion article.

Could they walk to a stop that’s 0.01 miles further away? Surely there’s another stop nearby.

The school checks them against a list. We weren't the first parents to think of that.

It takes 10 minutes at most to cycle one mile. What's the problem?

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