Transportation

[Dave]

Does your day camp provide transportation? My camp provides bussing to and from camp everyday for campers and staff. They stop at the nearest intersection to your house. The busses are provided by Safety Bus. We have about 42 school busses total (with about 38 being full-sized busses). Each bus has at least one bus counselor, who takes role and keeps order.

I have been on the same bus each year I've worked at this camp. So the bus driver knows me and drops me off/picks me up right at my house (even though the intersection is only a house away)! It's very nice. He's a nice guy too. On the last day of camp, everyone on the bus brought on food/drinks and we had a bus party! :P

[simdude]

i think the camp im gonna be working at provides transportation. im pretty sure it does

[CAMPFRIEND]

We have busses!! As a director it's one of my greatest fears.. I know that our drivers are safe, but it the other people on the road. At my old camp we had a bus that flipped. It was one of the worst days in camping that I have ever had. I got to deal with parents, hurt campers and the press. It hard to see campers who are hurt!!!
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[Dave]

Thankfully none of our busses have ever gotten into major accidents (at least not as long as I've been working there). I can't even imagine what would happen if one our busses flipped. It would definitely get me upset, especially if some of the kids from my bunk were on the bus. I know that.

[camper]

don't get me started on transportation issues. we're a sleepaway camp so we only have to deal with buses twice a summer (on the first day of camp and the last day) but its nervewracking nonetheless. we use coach buses, and most of the time it works out fine. but when you have 14 buses all coming or going to/from different places, there is bound to be at least one problem. sometimes the buses come late to the bus stops (or camp, if it's the end of the summer). sometimes they get lost, no matter how many times you tell them how to get to camp or to the bus stop. and my personal favorite, last summer the boys bus on the way to camp from new jersey broke down on the way. we had to stop the westchester girls bus (all of the buses from the same stops travel together) and the westchester boys bus, plus the new jersey girls bus, to distribute the nj boys onto different buses and change all of their stuff so we could get to camp on time. it was a nightmare. knock on wood but thats the worst thing thats happened to our buses.

[CAMPFRIEND]

We also run Field trip camps. We have busses running from 7:00am till 7:00pm. BUt the kids love the field trips.
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[Dave]

don't get me started on transportation issues. we're a sleepaway camp so we only have to deal with buses twice a summer (on the first day of camp and the last day) but its nervewracking nonetheless. we use coach buses, and most of the time it works out fine. but when you have 14 buses all coming or going to/from different places, there is bound to be at least one problem. sometimes the buses come late to the bus stops (or camp, if it's the end of the summer). sometimes they get lost, no matter how many times you tell them how to get to camp or to the bus stop. and my personal favorite, last summer the boys bus on the way to camp from new jersey broke down on the way. we had to stop the westchester girls bus (all of the buses from the same stops travel together) and the westchester boys bus, plus the new jersey girls bus, to distribute the nj boys onto different buses and change all of their stuff so we could get to camp on time. it was a nightmare. knock on wood but thats the worst thing thats happened to our buses.
How far do the busses have to travel? Because we have 42 busses and we usually don't have any problems. But I guess after the first couple days our bus drivers have their routes down so they shouldn't get lost.

[camper]

dave- it depends on where the bus is coming from...it takes the new jersey buses about 2 hours and 10 minutes to get to camp, the westchester buses 2 and a half hours, the long island buses about 3 and a half, and the philadelphia bus about 4. your buses probably aren't going very far to camp each day and know their routes. we only see most of our bus drivers once and they've never driven to our camp before. and that's if they get to the bus stop or camp on time. our directors hold their breath at the beginning of the summer until all of the buses are safely at camp and at the end until every child has been picked up at the bus stop.

[Dave]

Yeah I realized now that you may only see your bus drivers once or twice, so there's a greater chance of them getting lost. I'm not sure how long the average bus ride is for our busses, but mine's around an hour and a half. That's an hour and a half of headaches! :P

[countrygal]

this makes me realize how happy I am to work at an overnight camp with few campers(200) We have 2 busses comming from the city and I dont think anything has ever happend thank god. I do know for a fact though that the staff bus is sometimes questionalble, with 70 staff comming from the city (not counting the ones such as me who get rides to camp) I know the bus drivier is sometimes questionable and has gotten lost before, not to mention the speed this guy drives at in the middle of nowhere, were on a moutain very windy road with sharp curves and he takes them like they r nothing. I can say Im glad I dont take the bus up with the rest of my friends LOL.

[Fleur]

Our camp has between 60-70 buses. Most are small buses that stop at each camper's house (staff get picked up/dropped off at a location on the route near their house). We have a few larger buses though that have stops at specific locations (like schools or community centres) in areas outside of the city, or in the downtown area. There are a couple of large buses as well that are just staff buses.

On each camper bus there is one or two staff designated as bus captains who are the main people in charge of supervision, plus have to take attendance and plan bus activities. If there are other staff on the bus, they help with supervision.

The length of the bus ride varies depending on the area. Some parts of the city have large concentrations of campers, where bus routes are only one or two streets. My route is a lot more stretched out and can take up to 2 hours. We've got a reputation of being the slowest bus at camp :)

[Dave]

Your bus system sounds a lot like mine, Fleur. The only difference is most of our busses are full-sized school busses. Other than that, everything's the same: we have "bus captains" and any other staff on the bus help out, some bus rides can take hours, etc. My bus ride typically lasts about 1 and a half hours.

[Flukie]

We have busses for all our day camps that run daily. Generally, there aren't any issues with these buses. However... The resident camp busses are another story! We run busses as long as we have 10 or more campers (ridiculous to have 10 girls and 2 staff on a coach, but that's another story!). The bus company always gives their drivers "better" directions than we do including to take the bus on Storrow Drive in Boston - except Storrow is closed to busses. So the drivers ask the counselors where to go - they have no idea! Then, the bus can't enter camp because they arrive in the middle of check-in. So, we have to take the vans out with the truck, move all the lugagge and haul the girls in - this stops check-in for about 15 minutes while cars pile up on the main road. Then, the bus wants to turn around - we squashed that REALLY fast. We make them drive straight on down the street - it's twice as long, but it hits the main drive and they can pick up the highway there. Cape back roads are NOT made for busses at all!!

[CAMPFRIEND]

I am happy with 5 busses over the summer. 60-70 is crazy!
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[who_stole_my_loofa]

Our transportation director is AMAZING!!!!! She handles all the campers and American and international staff. If you ask her she will even help you look on websites to find a cheaper fair or call the airlines looking for deals for you. She's on a first name basis with like everyone at the main 4 airports we deal with.

We provide all transportation to and from the airports- otherwise it is the responsibility of the parents to pay for it. About 1/3 of our kids drive but the rest fly. We have usually 2 chartered planes from south Florida and we try to get all the Dallas kids on one flight and all the Houston kids on one flight. There are also usually a couple of charter busses from Atlanta and kids from surrounding cities like Birmingham and Savanah take that. Otherwise they are just picked up and dropped off at the airport as they arrive and depart. Our camp also requires that all of our campers that travel by plane fly as an unaccompanied minor so someone who works for the airline takes them to their gates. We just want to make sure our kids get where they are supposed to be when they are supposed to be there. When camper arrive at camp we also call their parents to confirm their arrival. It's a painstaking day-

loofa

[CAMPFRIEND]

I have fun with the busses. That must be her full time job over the summer! I am not sure if I could do it.

[Dave]

Our transportation director is AMAZING!!!!! She handles all the campers and American and international staff. If you ask her she will even help you look on websites to find a cheaper fair or call the airlines looking for deals for you. She's on a first name basis with like everyone at the main 4 airports we deal with.

We provide all transportation to and from the airports- otherwise it is the responsibility of the parents to pay for it. About 1/3 of our kids drive but the rest fly. We have usually 2 chartered planes from south Florida and we try to get all the Dallas kids on one flight and all the Houston kids on one flight. There are also usually a couple of charter busses from Atlanta and kids from surrounding cities like Birmingham and Savanah take that. Otherwise they are just picked up and dropped off at the airport as they arrive and depart. Our camp also requires that all of our campers that travel by plane fly as an unaccompanied minor so someone who works for the airline takes them to their gates. We just want to make sure our kids get where they are supposed to be when they are supposed to be there. When camper arrive at camp we also call their parents to confirm their arrival. It's a painstaking day-

loofa
That's quite a transportation system you have at your camp. It must be hard coordinating it all...