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The Wi-Fi On the Bus

Posted by kdawson on from the opiate-of-the-masses dept.

theodp writes "For students who endure hundreds of hours on a school bus each year in a desert exurb of Tucson, the Wi-Fi on the bus improves the ride. Last fall, school officials mounted a $200 mobile Internet router from Autonet Mobile to bus No. 92's sheet-metal frame, enabling students to surf the Web. What began as a hi-tech experiment has had an unexpected result — Wi-Fi has transformed the formerly boisterous bus rides into a rolling study hall, and behavioral problems have virtually disappeared. 'Boys aren't hitting each other, girls are busy, and there's not so much jumping around,' said J. J. Johnson, the Internet Bus driver."

3 of 241 comments (clear)

  1. Been done before by barberousse · · Score: 2, Informative

    I occasionally take the Montreal-Magog bus in Quebec. This is a 90 minutes ride, mostly highway. Still, the bus has access to the Internet through free wifi. It's especially good considering most of the ride is through rural areas.

  2. From free-WiFi-all-over-the-place courtry. by zoom-ping · · Score: 2, Informative

    Most Estonian railway and bus companies have been offering free WiFi via Kõu (thunder) on longer rides for some years now. Loving it.

  3. Re:And the zombification of our children continues by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    I don't think it's unreasonable to leave a 12 year old alone for 3 or 4 hours after school if it's a responsible kid.

    You don't think so, but you don't get to make that decision. I'm not in Illinois, but the law is worded very similarly here. I have a child neglect conviction for allowing my then 12 year old to walk home alone. The school principal found out my daughter was walking for 15 minutes along a quiet suburban street. Child Protection here "recommend" that children under the age of 14 are never left unsupervised, and failure to comply with Child Protection recommendations is considered child neglect or child abuse, unless proven otherwise.

    Oh, and in response to all the people who'll say they walked home from school from age whatever, I tried telling them that I walked home alone from age 9. I was told "This shows how abused children grow into abusive parents, and we're here to break the cycle of abuse." Sorry, anyone who disagrees with Child Protection is a child abuser, by definition.