Arlington Public Schools celebrated Love the Bus Week, February 8-12, 2016, with plenty of love to share! Photos of students showing their appreciation for the hard-working bus drivers filled Twitter and warmed hearts across Arlington. It was a successful week, and thankfully, blizzard-free.
This year, Arlington Transportation Partners decided to support Love the Bus Week and recognize APS employees who ride the bus or carpool. This was a new initiative, part of the unique partnership between APS and ATP. Focusing on staff commutes, ATP continually seeks ways to engage APS employees and encourage them to try different ways to get to work. Love the Bus Week was no different. ATP created a registration page and encouraged employees to register if they were to take the bus or carpool during Love the Bus Week. Helping identify schools with large numbers of staff bus riders and carpoolers was just as important as recognizing them for doing so. Arlington Traditional Elementary School had the most staff register, with Taylor Elementary and Williamsburg Middle Schools close behind. Congratulations to all APS employees who participated!
APS employees who ride the bus have different reasons for doing so – for some it is less expensive than driving, while some appreciate the time alone to read or catch up on the news. Dedicated bus rider Robert Dudek, a technology teacher at Williamsburg Middle School, shared his reasons: “I take the METRO and ART bus usually 3 days a week. I like to leave the frustration of driving to others, help the environment, and increase my physical exercise.” Using the non-driving time productively to do one of many things listed in our recent blog post, helps APS employees get more out of their day and help with work-life balance.
APS staff will soon have the opportunity to participate in our annual walking event. National Walking Day is April 6, 2016 – APS staff can organize walking groups to promote health and wellness. Details will be finalized soon, but team leaders can register their teams now and planning your walk.