If you live near one of our three neighborhood public schools, you know what it’s like–oh–between 7:45 – 9:30a.m., and again from 1:45 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.:
The endless march of school buses picking up, dropping off, picking up, dropping off.
This is a reminder that it all begins again next Wednesday (9/7).
And with that parade comes another chance for all of them to drive slowly and carefully in our neighborhood. In 1998, the William Makepeace Thackeray Traffic Calming Consortium worked with King County Metro (the bus), SDOT (streets), SPD (the Man) to craft a voluntary agreement from KCMetro that their “coaches” would drive 20 miles per hour on Thackeray from 50th to 42nd and then down 2nd until it meets 40th; the Seattle Public School District was encouraged also to do so and agreed though they need reminding routinely. (Thackeray is an arterial with an unposted speed limit of 30 mph. Other traffic calming measures included installing three “chicanes” which were placed to prevent speeding cars from swerving around stopped busses at the bus stops on Thackeray. There are also “Metro” with “20mph” signs below posted though the former frequently get stolen. Lots of cyclists use this street and there is a pedestrian parade on public school days. 20mph is also safer for those un-seatbelted kids inside the school buses.)
Thanks. This is a good reminder for all of us, and most especially, the school buses.
Also, some schools (especially the non-neighborhood schools) start and end times are different this year so if you are used to buses being around at a specific time it may be different this year.
I’m more afraid of the 10-year-old crossing guards than the school buses. Those kids are hard core.
JSIS will have only 4 buses this year instead of the 12 that served the school last year, according to the Seattle Schools Transportation Department. That should make for a better school bus experience for the neighbors.
A King County Metro staff person has contacted the Seattle Public Schools to request that the school busses observe the voluntary 20mph in place on Thackeray Place NE from 50th to 42nd (traffic calming in 1998 resulted in the Metro “coaches” slowing cars by driving 20 mph . . . most of the time. That is when the 3 “chicanes” were installed). SPS busses on Thackeray serve schools including John Stanford, others (last year anyway).
Also, at SPU a request is being fielded to have the lime green trash/recycle vehicles do the same on the days they use Thackeray to get to the transfer station (there is not a speeding problem on the pick-up day). Safety first and slow and steady wins the race.
What’s going on with the dates and times of the comment postings?