I recently found a story online about a school bus driver in Asheville, N.C., who has documented the historic sites and noteworthy landmarks along her bus route and hopes to turn it into a bus tour for adults. Her route even includes a pretty ghoulish ghost story!
No doubt there are school buses that pass the monuments of Washington, D.C., the red rocks of Arizona, and other places of historic significance or natural beauty.
As many areas in the U.S. are overtaken by expanding suburbia, and historic landmarks and buildings are bulldozed to make way for the new, it’s hard to preserve the history of our towns and cities. I think it’s great that this bus driver is making an effort to keep track of local history and wants to share it with others.
When I interviewed Kristian Crozier at Tok Transportation in Alaska last year, I was fascinated by the idea of managing day-to-day life and running buses in negative temperatures during the winter months. Plus, living that far north in the wilderness, they probably see some interesting wildlife on their bus routes now and then.
When I’m commuting to work on a busy stretch of Los Angeles freeway, I often see school buses on their morning routes. When I was in elementary school, my buses never got on the freeway, but in this part of Southern California, it’s practically inevitable.
What kinds of interesting things do school bus passengers see on their way to school in your area? I’d love to hear about it.
— Claire Atkinson, Senior Editor
Print | posted on Monday, May 11, 2009 3:34 PM