Morning Traffic vs. The School Bus

Rush Hour sucks, but it has become a way of life. Between certain hours of the morning and afternoon, depending on where you live, you are gonna get stuck in traffic. As much as I hate this and bitch about this, there isn't much I can do about it.

What I would like to know, however, is when the hell did school buses start stopping at every freaking driveway to pick up a kid? Growing up, the street I lived on was probably about 1/4 mile long, and all of the kids in the neighborhood gathered on ONE corner and when the bus came we all got on at that ONE stop. Today I had the misfortune of getting stuck behind one of the local school buses as it picked up kids. This damn thing stopped at every driveway to pick up ONE KID! And we aren't talking about the boonies here where each driveway is a mile apart. This was stop, go, stop, go, stop, go..........on and on and on.

When did we reach a point where kids couldn't gather in one spot and all get on the bus together? As bad as traffic is in some areas, wouldn't it make more sense to have the kids all gather in one spot rather than stop every 100 feet to pick up another one? Wouldn't that also save gas having it stop and start fewer times on each route? When I was a kid, I had to walk to the end of my driveway (about 500 yards) and then to the bus stop (about another 500 yards) and it didn't matter if it was raining or snowing. That was the bus stop. You didn't get to it in time, he wasn't gonna stop and pick you up along the road. He had his stops and you either got on there or you went back home and told your parents you missed the bus. I just don't get it.