The following is an ‘Ask The Mayor’ question submitted to TLS, and the Mayor’s response. Email your questions for the Mayor to [email protected].

Question:

You recently discussed the dangers of hitchhiking and mentioned how it was illegal for motorists to give rides to pedestrians at the side of the road. in passing you noted that the board of ed is working on getting more bus routes for our children.

As a parent of two high-school aged boys who by law should receive transportation but do not, i am in a real quandary. My children have no way to get home on Friday afternoon. I have one son in school 3.5 miles from my home and the other six miles from our home in the opposite direction. On Friday afternoons i am at work and my husband is busy transporting younger children. There is no physical way he can be in 3 or more places at the same time!

There is a shortage of buses on Friday afternoon as all the school get out at almost the same time. I believe its the boys who “don’t get a bus” whenever there is a shortage on the assumption that they are most able to “fend for themselves” (ie hitch).

If hitching is not an option, the choices my children have are biking to and from school on Fridays or walking. It takes one of my boys 45 minutes to bike the six miles from home to school and he has to give up his bus ride in the morning so he has his bike in school to use it to go home. Although i know he is very cautious and safety conscious and always wears a helmet (unfortunately i often see boys of similar age biking without) i am extremely concerned about the dangers on the street and of the stretches of road without sidewalk. And although he has rode a number of times and it is great exercise, as the weather gets colder it really is not a great solution.

The other choice is to walk the six miles in cold, rain and snow without accepting any offer for a ride.

I think neither solution is a very good one and I am wondering if you have a better one as the weather gets colder.

I am sure every parent in such a situation would be forever grateful to someone who was so kind and considerate as to carefully pull to the side of the road and give a young boy a ride – even if it is only a short distance – so they can get home just a little bit faster after a long week of school!

Thank you for your time.

Response from Mayor Coles:

Good morning,

If you feel your 2 sons are not getting the transportation they are entitled to, please reach out to my office and we will see if we can help.

I understand your reasoning about hitchhiking, and in a perfect world I would agree with you. Unfortunately I think the dangers far outweigh the benefits. It is impossible to know who is stopping to pick someone up. Even if 99.9% of rides are safe that .1% is something I cannot ignore. There is also the safety of the other drivers on the road. I can’t tell you how many close calls I have had when the car in front of me stops suddenly or swerves out of the lane to pick up a hitchhiker.

Maybe we can work with the schools to see if they can help set up a ride share program. It is my hope that the township will continue to grow the small public transportation system we have to benefit more of our residents.

Thanks again,

Ray

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Have a question for the Mayor? Send it to [email protected]