Where old American school busses go to finish out thier life

[Houston1stWordOnTheMoon]

KINSHASA, Congo - Ever wonder where America's yellow school buses go to die? Some don't

[dbigtex56]

I'm reminded of my childhood school bus rides, which were terrifying without being fast. Our bus never maintained a steady speed - it would first accelerate to thirty miles per hour, then slow almost to a stop, then accelerate again. By the time we got to school everyone felt slightly seasick.

The problem wasn't with the bus; it was the driver, a short fellow who must have weighed at least 300 pounds. The bus just wasn't a good fit for Ed. Even with the seat in its furthest rearward position his gut overflowed the bottom of the steering wheel. And then he couldn't reach the pedals, as his legs were too short.

So he'd suck in his stomach and force himself down in the seat far enough to poke at the gas pedal with the toe of his shoe. The pressure of the steering wheel in his stomach must have prevented him from inhaling, as he couldn't maintain this position for very long. Soon as we'd reach thirty mph, Ed would pull himself back up and gasp for air until the bus slowed to a crawl. This process would repeat until we reached the school. You could look out the rear window and see a line of cars stuck behind us, and the drivers would just be cussing Ed out. It was very educational.

[Guest Marty]

Wow that's a cool story. School buses remind my of the all the kid's that got suspended at the end of the year. They would egg the bus on the last day of the school year!

Edited September 9, 2006 by Marty

[Guest danax]

On the local level, a lot of these buses end up in private hands on the East End where they continue to take kids to school.

A nightmare scenario in a town without zoning and a neighborhood without deed restrictions is to have your next door neighbor decide to go into the student transportation business. There are some neighborhood lots over here with small herds of yellow school buses, with belching diesel smoke, revving engines and grinding gears in the early hours of the morning as they prepare to crawl the narrow streets. Since these are private companies, there are no bus stops, they pick the kids up in front of their house, proceeded by loud horn honking. I've got two picking up sisters next door. Always in a hurry, the buses begin the honk several houses away so I would get a nerve jolt as I sat eating breakfast as they would pass my house on the approach.

After a couple of years of this, I went up to the driver one morning and, with great tact and restraint, requested that they pull up to the house first, then honk. I was given a grumpy sort of ok in Spanish then had the little girl's father talk to me the next day telling me that they had the right to honk. His daughter told him what I had done and he took offense to my request. I guess I had violated some protocol by not asking him first. The bus actually made a half-hearted effort to honk more carefully but that effort is no longer, maybe due to a new driver and a new school year.

Trying to force courteous behavior is like trying to teach a cat to hunt dogs. I've moved my breakfast spot to a less vulnerable location.

[jm1fd]

On the local level, a lot of these buses end up in private hands on the East End where they continue to take kids to school.

A nightmare scenario in a town without zoning and a neighborhood without deed restrictions is to have your next door neighbor decide to go into the student transportation business. There are some neighborhood lots over here with small herds of yellow school buses, with belching diesel smoke, revving engines and grinding gears in the early hours of the morning as they prepare to crawl the narrow streets. Since these are private companies, there are no bus stops, they pick the kids up in front of their house, proceeded by loud horn honking. I've got two picking up sisters next door. Always in a hurry, the buses begin the honk several houses away so I would get a nerve jolt as I sat eating breakfast as they would pass my house on the approach.

After a couple of years of this, I went up to the driver one morning and, with great tact and restraint, requested that they pull up to the house first, then honk. I was given a grumpy sort of ok in Spanish then had the little girl's father talk to me the next day telling me that they had the right to honk. His daughter told him what I had done and he took offense to my request. I guess I had violated some protocol by not asking him first. The bus actually made a half-hearted effort to honk more carefully but that effort is no longer, maybe due to a new driver and a new school year.

Trying to force courteous behavior is like trying to teach a cat to hunt dogs. I've moved my breakfast spot to a less vulnerable location.

What you ought to do is find a horn the same tone as what the bus has, put it in the attic near a vent, and start firing off false honks. If it doesn't cause the bus to quit honking, it should at least be entertaining.

[Guest danax]

What you ought to do is find a horn the same tone as what the bus has, put it in the attic near a vent, and start firing off false honks. If it doesn't cause the bus to quit honking, it should at least be entertaining.

The house-honking honky.

[VicMan]

A lot of these buses also go to Latin America for the same reasons as in Africa.