Wake County mom says school bus is full, uses Uber

APEX, North Carolina (WTVD) -- Laura Main is unhappy with the response from Wake County Public Schools about why her children, Bryan and Jenna, don't have a seat on the bus to and from Middle Creek High School.

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Middle Creek students started school on Monday. That day, Main's children found another route to school. Bryan rode with a friend and Laura dropped Jenna off per her request.

Tuesday, both students missed the bus. Coming home from school Tuesday, Laura said there were too many kids on the bus, but the bus driver took students home, "and they were standing," she said.

Wednesday morning, Laura's children waited for their bus at the intersection of Lake Wheeler Road and Villawoods Circle. When the bus arrived, they noticed all the seats were full and there was not enough room on the bus.

Per WCPSS, all students must be seated while a bus is in motion and every student must have a seat.

"I was told (the bus driver) would not move them unless they were in a seat," said Laura. "But you're not giving them a seat. There is no seat. They're full! There are more students assigned to the bus than there are seats assigned to sit in."

Wednesday, her kids found alternative transportation.

According to WCPSS, this situation is not uncommon during the first two weeks of schools. A district spokesperson told ABC11 that children oftentimes will ride the bus with other friends to school, get on the wrong bus altogether, or ride the bus to school without having registered first. The representative also said they do not put buses on the road if there aren't enough seats for every student registered.

Thursday morning, again, her kids did not have a seat on the bus so Laura ordered an Uber to get her youngsters to school.

"Every morning I'm going to be concerned that they're not going to have a seat on the bus," Laura said.

She also said school officials have not offered her a resolution.

WCPSS told ABC11 that Main was offered the option to have the bus driver drop students off at school and return to Lake Wheeler and Villawoods to pick up Bryan and Jenna.

"I don't find that an acceptable answer," Main said. "And risk them being late?"

If it were an option, Main would take her kids to school regularly. However, she works near NC State and starts work at 7 a.m. Middle Creek begins class at 7:25 a.m. and is six miles from the family's house, and per district policy, students cannot be dropped off earlier than 30 minutes before class starts.