Imagine a $10 million plan to renovate a local elementary school. With that money, you could fund dozens of new school buses and drivers, a state-of-the-art computer lab, and a sparkly new playground and still have a chunk of change left over.
There are dozens of student-enriching updates that $10 million could see through. Still, one school, Westside Elementary in Hernando County, Florida, has been gaining recent attention for a 2021 plan that suggested a different idea altogether.
To resolve slow student dropoff and pickup procedures, a $10 million plan was proposed to expand the school's capacity for cars. The plan, as covered a few years back by the local Suncoast News before it went viral on Reddit this August, features longer car lines that would increase the number of cars that can fit on the school's campus from 32 to 223.
While expanding the school's car capacity is undoubtedly an idea, there are plenty of cheaper and more sustainable options for solving issues around long student pickup lines.
Buses, as many users on the Reddit post suggested, would quickly solve traffic problems around the school. In comparison to cars, buses can move larger numbers of people while taking up less road space. For example, a graphic by Practice for Architecture and Urbanism shows that a single bus transporting 50 students uses only nine square feet per student, while 50 cars transporting 50 students use 55 square feet per student.
And since the school is an elementary school, there is not an issue with teenagers driving themselves to school and needing a bigger parking lot.
Less traffic also means less idling, and less idling means less pollution. When it comes to emissions, studies have shown buses are better than cars. According to the Federal Transit Administration, even with only 28% of their total seats occupied, buses produce an estimated 33% less emissions per passenger mile than the average car.
Electric school buses, which have been increasingly implemented in school districts across the United States, would be even better (with zero tailpipe emissions). Compared to the average diesel bus, electric buses generate 62% less emissions, meaning healthier students and a healthier planet.
Images of the proposed capacity expansion plan for the elementary school sparked outrage on Reddit.
"I wish this was satire," one user wrote.
"223 idling cars next to the school twice a day. The smog is great for the brain's ability to learn!" another said. "What ever happened to school buses??"
"Car line of 1 mile?! What? How about a bike rack," someone else wrote.
Join our free newsletter for easy tips to save more and waste less, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Cool Picks
