I live in St. Albert and I am a school bus driver. These two things are not a great combination.
I drive a school bus because I want to be the one to raise my children but I also need some income. I enjoy children and can even bring my own along. Perfect, right? Yes, the job is great. Being with my children is great. What is not great is the $100 parking ticket I received today. St. Albert has a bylaw against parking school buses on residential streets.
Because I can no longer park in front of my house, I will be required to take eight trips between St. Albert and the bus yard daily — four in my own vehicle and four in the bus. For a community with an anti-idling bylaw, which indicates some level of ecological responsibility, I would assume that all of this unnecessary driving would also be undesirable. In addition, keeping the bus at home between morning and afternoon runs keeps costs lower as far less fuel is consumed and less wear and tear on the bus. One would only assume that if costs to the bus contractor should increase, they would have to pass on that increase to the consumer. In this case, you the citizens are the consumer, as we all pay for public schools in our property taxes.
I won’t even get into the fact that I did not receive any warning before being ticketed. The ticket was $80 if paid within seven days and $100 if paid in seven to 14 days. If I came by $100 easily, I wouldn’t be driving a school bus.
As I stated before, I drive a school bus because I think it is important that I raise my own children. I want to be there to enjoy them and make sure they are learning proper values, morals and social responsibility. You must understand this is a compromise. Every school day my children have to be awoken at 6 a.m., fed and rushed out of the house. They spend an hour and 45 minutes on the bus in the morning and an additional hour and 40 minutes in the afternoon. This is a compromise we were able to make to spend our days together and earn income. Taking away the ability to keep our bus on our street during the day for four-and-a-half hours adds an additional hour onto the time they spend buckled into their seats every day. It also means that my infant cannot have a nap she isn’t awoken from during the week. Not only does this cause us great inconvenience, but it also has monetary setbacks as well. It will increase my monthly fuel cost, put unnecessary mileage on my vehicle and increase the frequency with which I will have to pay for oil changes and other vehicle maintenance.
In addition, the St. Albert traffic bylaw states that a recreational vehicle can be parked on the street in a residential neighbourhood for up to 24 consecutive hours. Many recreational vehicles are the same size and in some cases larger than a school bus. So why would a school bus, which is providing an essential community service, be subject to more restrictive parking bylaws than a recreational vehicle that is only serving the desires of one citizen or family?
So I ask you St. Albertans, does this seem reasonable to you? Is a school bus really that unsightly?
Courtenay Baxter, St. Albert
