2Fifth-grader Dominic — or Nic,as his friends call him — and the group of friends he’s walking with are from Oyster-Adams Bilingual School in Northwest Washington. Together on a “walking school bus,” these kids walk every day to get to school.
“I love walking with my friends to school,” Lizey says. “This way, we have half an hour to hang out before school,and I feel good.”
The walking school bus is an idea to encourage kids to walk to school. So what is a walking school bus, exactly?
“It’s like a car pool (汽车共乘),except we walk,” says 10-year-old Stanton, who “rides” with Nic and Lizey. “There are different little stops, and the group just keeps getting bigger and bigger with more and more kids the closer we get to school.,’
“Walking school buses have many merits,” says Lizey s mom,
Meri, who started the “bus” that travels 1.3 miles each morning from Woodley Park to Oyster- -Adams Bilingual School. The
“bus” runs every day unless it’s colder than 25 degrees outside or it rains heavily. Meri says the effort put in setting up what she calls “walk pool” helps parents save time because they take turns checking the walk. It also saves energy and cuts down on neighborhood traffic. Having fewer cars on the road means better air quality. It also provides kids with a chance to exercise and have fun.
But there are rules, such as being on time, staying on the sidewalk and crossing only at green lights and within crosswalks. Nic says another rule is that “your feet should move way faster than your lips.,,
“But that doesn’ t usually happen,” Ruthie points out,“because Nic’s usually singing.”