Has your child ever not gotten off the bus?

United States
January 23, 2007 3:35pm CST
So today I'm sitting at the bus stop waiting for my son to get off the bus. I always watch the kids step off the bus (all I can see is their feet because they have to cross the road) but I noticed I didn't see my son's snow boots get off the bus and thought well maybe he wore his shoes home instead. Watched the kids walk off the bus and noticed my son and the other little boy in kindergarten didn't get off at their stop. I walk back to the other mom and she is in a panic. My solution would have been to call the bus line but neither one of us had the number. So we decided to just go to the bus garage (5 minutes away) and wait for the bus. The bus did turn around and took our kids back and fortunatly we saw it so we headed back to the bus stop. I expected troubles like this at the beginning of the school year--not half way through the school year. Both boys fell asleep. Must be nice! While us two moms were worried about how they were reacting, they were sitting on the bus giggling! Has this ever happened to you?
8 people like this
33 responses
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
23 Jan 07
Not exactly your same situation. We moved into this school district half way thorugh last school year. Towards the last 3 months of school ym son decided that he wanted to take the bus in the afternoons only. No big deal. I would wait for him every day. Well, one day the bus just doesn't come. There are 10 or so kids that get off at the top. For whatever reason, the bus driver just decided to not drive the kids home that day. The school had called, but my office number. They didn't bother to call my cell or the house. At the time I was working until 3pm and was long home by the time they had called. There were a few other parents in the same situation. As you can imagine I was worried and really confused. By the time the bus normally came (4:20) everyone but the afterschool care workers were gone for the day. Thankfully they let th ekids stay with them for no charge. Could you imagine if he was coming home alone? I would have been so freake dout if I had come home and he wasn't there.
2 people like this
• United States
23 Jan 07
Wow! How does a bus driver just decide not to do his job? I know they have substitute drivers. It is a good thing your school has an afterschool program.
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
23 Jan 07
Right now there are not many bus drivers and all the bus drivers own their own buses (weird, huh?). If the bus driver doesn't run you have to find a way to get your kids to and from school. Last year her bus supposedly broke down on and off for about a month. Thankfully, I had flexible hours at the time and my parents live close by and can help out.
@Stephanie5 (2946)
• United States
24 Jan 07
Well, mine isn't that the kids didn't get off the bus, the bus never showed up!!! We moved out in the country and I had taken them to school that morning, but they were riding the bus home. Well, they got out at 2:30pm, and around 3:00 (we lived WAY out in country) I go outside to wait for bus...I wait, 3:10, 3:20, by 3:30 I'm on the phone to the school, they have no explanation and say to call bus garage...I call and call and call bus garage for an HOUR and a HALF!!! NO ANSWER. By this time I'm absolutely hysterical, I'm in tears, I'm terrified, I have no idea where my kids are. It's 5:30. I finally get a hold of a police officer that will help me on the phone (after being on hold for 20 minutes) to have them tell me they didn't know what to do. I didn't want to leave and go to the bus garage for fear that the bus would show up while I was gone....I didn't know what the heck to do....Finally a dispatcher from the police station calls me back to tell me that I needed to go to the garage, but that is all she would say...So, all the way to the garage I'm terrified that something had happened, something was wrong....I get there, they were on the wrong bus completely. The bus driver had been driving around trying to find our house. He was clear on the other side of town.....They were ok and I'm still mad about it, lol.
• United States
24 Jan 07
Oh gosh! They weren't home until after 5:30. I would have been in hysterics and I'd still be angry too! That is terrible. The bus garage should have called you and let you know where they were. That is why they have our phone numbers!
1 person likes this
• United States
24 Jan 07
Yeah that's what I said!!! They all thought it was quite funny. I didn't. I contacted the principal the next morning and went off!!! Boy, they made sure those kids were at the front of the bus everyday after that! :-)
@emeraldisle (13139)
• United States
24 Jan 07
I help raise my neice and on her first day of kidnergarten she did not get off the bus. We called the school and they had put her on the wrong bus and they had said the bus would bring her back . That they would contact the bus driver. So we headed to the school. Problem came in they tried to contact the bus and got the message she wasn't there. We found this out at the school. My sister was in a panic and I wasn't doing much better but a little more calm then her. She stayed there while they called the cops and I headed back to see if she was on the other bus or had gotten off since the bus went near her Great Grandmother's house. I got over there and thankfully the bus was stopped and I went up there. She was on there and the message the bus driver sent back had been garbled. Since my neice verified who I was and the bus driver was able to get ahold of the school, although not the best connection, they let me take her. My neice was all upset because she had known it was the wrong bus and no one would listen to her. She was ok once she was with me and her mother. My sister was fine once she had her in her arms. I fell to pieces afterwards.
1 person likes this
• United States
24 Jan 07
Aww...the first week of school the kids had to wear name tags that had their bus number on and the bus driver checked all the little kids as they got in. I know the first day they were 25 minutes late because all the little kids were trying to ride the same bus...LOL I'm glad you were able to get it her off the bus so that she could finally get home!
@ronita34 (3922)
• Canada
24 Jan 07
LOL...Actually not exactly! This did happen to me with my nephew though about a year ago. It is terrifying that is for sure and this is the funniest part! He also fell asleep and the bus showed back up within about 10 minutes or so...LMAO!! It was the scariest 10 minutes of my kife though that is for sure!!! Glad to know i wasn't the only one with this terrifying experience!!!
• United States
24 Jan 07
LOL! I am laughing now. yesterday I was just wondering where he could went because he had never gotten on the wrong bus. Then I find out they were BOTH sleeping...lol
@judyt00 (3497)
• Canada
23 Jan 07
No, only one of my kids actually took thebus, and she wasthe only childat thestop which was theend of the lane. Oneday, in the middle of winter, when she ws in grade 1 the bus just sailed right past and left her standing, and two other school busses that drove past later also sailed right past. Since I was more than 9 months pregnant, I just watched her walk to the end of the lane way, saw the bus coming and assumed she had been picked up, She came back to the house more than an hour later, crying and nearly frozen. It took more than an hour to get her warmed, even though I quickly put her in a tub of warm water. Within a week, we had moved back into town fron the small farm we were renting
1 person likes this
• United States
23 Jan 07
Oh gosh, the poor thing! I would have called the bus company to complain! That is terrible that she was so cold!
• Uzbekistan
24 Jan 07
no, but when i was in elementary school, i rode home with my friend on her bus, and we missed her stop, and the bus driver wouldn't take us back home, so we got off at some random stop and had to walk really far, through an alley way that was rumored to house hobos. it was pretty scary. but that's not as bad as the friends episode when joey and chandler left ross's baby on the bus and then went to the headquarters couldn't tell which baby was ross's. do you watch that show?
1 person likes this
• United States
24 Jan 07
LOL! That is something Joey and Chandler would do! I used to watch Friends every Thursday but haven't started watching reruns yet.
@freak369 (5113)
• United States
5 Feb 07
I had to pick up my neighbors kids at Head Start. They knew I was coming for them, the teachers knew I was coming for them ... they were both still taking a nap when I got there so I sat down and read a book. HA! Three minutes later the fun of Red Fish, Blue Fish wore off and I peeked over the wall to see if they were still sleeping and they were gone. The prince and princess decided, in their own wisdom, that they wanted a snack and headed down to the cafeteria and started eating all the snacks that had been set out for the next morning (all bagged things like cookies and such). They weren't my kids but they were my responsibility and my heart felt like it was going to jump out of my chest. And there they were, covered in cookie crumbs, grinning from ear to ear, chocolate all over their faces.
@crazynurse (7482)
• United States
24 Jan 07
OMG, I would have been in a panic. It sounds like it was a public transportation system? Something similar happened here, a child had fallen asleep in the back of the bus and the driver delivered all the children and then took the bus to the school bus garage. He got out and got in his car and went home!!! There was a big lawsuit , as the kid woke up and of course became very scared. Supposedly, there is a rule that the driver has to check the bus, all seats and under them, before leaving it for the night. I am so glad you got your boy and he was safe!
• United States
31 Jan 07
Oh the poor kid! That would be scary. He may not have even known how to get the door open!
• United States
25 Jan 07
this happened to me once, sort of. My first child like 2 weeks into school she is in kindergarten, i wait at the bustop everyday i get there 15 minutes early just to be sure im on time all the time. bus pulls up, i walk up to the bus because jenny ( the bus driver ) lets my daughter off first she opens the door and says gabby its your stop, she turns and looks at me horrified, gabby got off at another stop. i begin freaking inside, trying to stay calm to find out where my daughter got off, turns out she got off the stop right before ours ( not even a 5 miinute walk down the road) i ran to the stop as fasta as i could as a lady had her byt the hand and begin walking her up the hill. about 20 minutes later jenny shows up at the house to apologize that she didnt realize gabby snuck off at the wrong stop. i was a nervous wreck!
• United States
24 Jan 07
Oh my gosh, I would have been flipping out! Luckily (I guess) I live in a very small town and the bus driver knows everyone and who belongs with who. If she had seen me, she would have been like, "Oh! There must be a kid on my bus!" Isn't it funny how kids think everything is an adventure while we're having cardiac arrest? Little devils. =O)
• United States
31 Jan 07
LOL! He was laughing about it on Sunday. We were driving down the road and he was telling me where all the stops were that he shouldn't know about it. I asked him where the bus turned around at and she made it about 2 miles down the road before she turned around to bring them back...lol. He thought it was fun!
• Canada
24 Jan 07
Yes when my daughter was in her first year of school . I was watching for the bus at the window and saw it slow down but it didn't stop and then continued on it's way . I was in a panic and wasn't sure what to do because I didn't have a car at the time and my son was just a baby . I called my cousin who worked at the school at the time to find out what was going on and what I should do . While I was on the phone I got a knock at the door and it was an older child who lived down the road wanting to know if I was home . The bus had drove by the driveway because I had my blinds down in the living room and JUST ASSUMED no one was home . My daugther was scared and told the busdriver he missed her stop and told him to go back . He told her he couldn't because no one was at home , she said "my mom is home ", and he asked her how she knew this and she told him because I was always home , so he turned around and sent another child in to check and see before he would let her off the bus . I was really pissed at the time because we live in a small communtity where everyone knows everyone . And he had no right to assume anything . I had my blinds down because the light would hit directly on the t.v. and you couldn't see anything . That is what the blind was put there for . Any way I was quick to call the school and tell them this better never happen again . That I was always there for my childen and always would be . It has never happened again.
1 person likes this
• India
24 Jan 07
well my son daily goes to the school by bus and i go to the bus stop to pic him up..
1 person likes this
@lloyd_07 (167)
• Australia
24 Jan 07
When I was younger, way before I had a mobile phone, I was catching the train to my dads, and I had been up all night the night before, so I feel asleep on the train and missed the station my dad was waiting at. Needless to say, that was a bit of an ordeal.
1 person likes this
• United States
31 Jan 07
My wife told me a story of when she was about five and living in Sacramento Ca. She missed her stop for one reason or another and the bus driver let her off at the last stop, which happened to be at a busy mall on Sunrise Blvd. Luckily a concerned parent saw her wandering around alone and probably scared. After calling her dad the lady sat with her until her dad came to pick her up. I don't remember the end result but I know her father and I'm sure someone got in big trouble that day.
@wolflvr (335)
• United States
24 Jan 07
My son has no luck with buses. His first day of school they tried to put him on a bus even though I would walk to pick him up since we lived across the street from the school. Lucky for me I was there before they put him on the bus. My son is a very verbal kid and kept telling them he wasn't supposed to go on the bus and they didn't listen or give me a call. A year later we moved to a different city. Before he started his new school my husband and I went to an open house. The teacher has us fill out an information sheet. On the paper the questions was asked whether or not your kid would take the bus or be picked up. I put picked up. So first day of school comes around. I am waiting in the car line to pick up my son. I get up to the door and the teacher helping kids get in the cars asks who my kid is. I tell them and low and behold they can't find him. They get his teacher and she tells me they put him on the bus. They tell me that they will call the bus company to make sure the driver does not leave my 6 year old son home alone. I get home before him. The bus drops him off. He was the last kid off because the school had put him on the wrong bus route. My son has not had good experiences with buses. The current school he is in now his first day there the bus never came to pick him up. My son never fell asleep on the bus. I can only imagine how stressful it was for you when your son didn't get off the bus. But you do have a cute story to tell your son when he gets older.
@1grnthmb (2055)
• United States
24 Jan 07
We had one of our kids get on the wrong bus. When the other two came home we was asked where their sister was and they said they did not know and had not even seen her. Great! We called the transportation department and they called on the radio to find if any of the bus drivers say her. The bus driver that found her very nicely went out of her way and brought her home. Another time the bus driver just forgot to stop and went all the way through her route and then saw three little girls left (Who for some unknown reason had been quite all the way) She also brought them home. And then a third time the youngest fell asleep and her sisters got off the bus and just left her there. She was dropped off down the road at a friends house who had woken her up.
@limosonia1 (1559)
• United States
24 Jan 07
The worse that has happened to me is that the school bus has forgotten to stop at my house. Where I live he is the only one that gets off the bus so the new bus drivers tend to forget and have to turn around. I get worried everytime they do this but I have learned to stay calm for a few minutes and the bus always comes back.
• United States
24 Jan 07
No this has never happened to me. You must have panicked when you did not see your son get off the bus. My sister used to be a school bus driver. She had an attendant who rode the bus route with her, to make sure the kids behaved on the bus and to make sure they all got off at the school and at their stops in the afternoon. Well, one morning a little boy fell asleep on the bus, and neither my sister nor her attendant noticed, so they finished the route and went back to the bus barn. The boy's teacher noticed he was not in school and notified the office that his parents had not called reporting his absence. The school called his mother, and she said she had put him on the bus that morning. They checked the bus, and sure enough found him sound asleep. Well, needless to say both my sister and the attendant were fired.
• Australia
24 Jan 07
Yes my son has gotten off the bus without my knowing. I have to drive 5 mintues down my driveway to get to my bus stop, I dont have any mobile coverage there. I waited over an hour for the bus, it never arrived, I thought something must have happened so I drove home, rang the bus driver to be told, "Oh I thought it was okay for Troy to get dropped off at Roy's place, the boys said you'd okay'd it". I was not impressed. I rang Roy's house, no answer, so I drove the hour long trip to go belt some bum. I was fumming. The same time I pulled into the driveway (at 8pm) Roy's parents turned up, they'd been out on their farm working so had no idea what had been going on. We were not impressed, and the boys found this out when we caught them.
• United States
24 Jan 07
Yes!! My daughter, when 5, decided to get off the bus at a friends house. I could not believe that the bus driver didn't notice this! Thankfully, the other mom called the bus garage to let them know she had an additional child. The busdriver picked her back up and took her back to the bus garage. (I think she should have brought her home). I just remember being so freaked-out! This was 10 yrs ago, by the way...and I still remember that day like it was yesterday!