Hi everyone!
I have disappeared for awhile. I thought the forum was 'broken' and seriously just realized TODAY, that it was a browser issue.

Anyway,
Some of you may know I stopped daycare several years ago, and work a full time outside-the-home job, which I hate.

We have been through ups and downs with daycares. OMG. Don't even get me started. But anyway, I thought about so many different options to try to make a living, that don't involve a commute, and a job I hate. I don't know that I would really want to go back to daycare, unless I ONLY ever took kids ages 2-5, and we all know that most parents want a 'real' preschool and not an In-Home daycare/preschool setting.

So that's probably out.

I thought of a program I would call "Child Ride" and it would provide the following services:
1. Before/after school pickup from daycare or home and drop off at school, pick up from school and drop off at daycare or home.
2. Transportation for outside activities such as soccer practices or games (when parents can't be there), swim lessons, ballet, etc... (for a specific area)
3. Before/After or Holiday/Emergency drop-in care at a daily charge


Kinda Like Uber, but for kids who have insanely busy parents!
I would be fully insured/bonded/licensed.
Anyone ever do this before?
Good idea or bad idea?

Some of the daycares around here who have struggled with transportation have said they might be interested.

For those thinking "Do it" How much would I charge for each set of services?

For those thinking "Heck no", why?

Thanks for your feedback

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Interesting business idea. would you have a school bus or van? How many kids could you transport at once?

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Keep in mind the huge increase in your auto insurance.

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I think it is an interesting idea.

I know in my community the need is high for a service like this. There have actually been a couple of parents who have mentioned a service like this would be nice.

But, I wouldn't do it

I think the cost of insurance and the liability would make it not worth it. I live in an area were fatal accidents are the norm. When on the road, no matter how careful of a driver I may be, I cannot control the actions of other drivers. That thought alone would deter me from doing something like this.

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I think we used to have something like that in my town. "Kid Mobile" or something like that? It is basically bus service, but for daycare and all things, not just school transport. Not sure what happened with it, but it is a MUCH needed service in my town too. The main issue seems to be getting kids to and from school/preschool to daycare for most parents. I think it is a great idea, but as the others said, with insurance, fuel, cost of a van, ect., it may not be financially viable to do it. You would probably have to charge a premium. If you did do it, you could do contracted pick ups at $x rate (like 5 days a week) and random individual days at a must higher rate and only based on available space or something? I would definitely see what your insurance costs would be and what your overall cost of doing business would be and then see what you need to charge to break even and to make profit. If it seems worth it, then I think it would be a great asset to a community. It is a HUGE liability, but maybe you could speak with an attorney about any other measures to protect yourself or something? Not sure on that stuff, but it sounds like a great idea! Good luck!

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So, what happens if you pick up 2 children (around 3-4 years old) who go to different schools?
I'm assuming you'd need to walk them into their classrooms...would you park, get both kids out of their carseats, walk both in to child #1's classroom, get child #2 back in the car/carseat and go to their school?
Doing this (above) procedure for more than two kids sounds daunting to me.
Unless you have one driver and one adult to bring the child into school. But then that cuts your profits to pay a helper.

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We had something similar in our community. It was the husband of a child care provider. He didn't do it very long.

I think he quit because of all the issues you mentioned with needing to have the correct fitting car seats, having to hire staff so no one was ever left unattended on the bus while walking one child into the place they needed to be, insurance costs, maintenance issues and parents that scheduled times to pick ups and drop offs and then were late, thus causing everything to be late that day.

I agree, the idea sound fantastic!
But the headaches seem to be more than I'd want to deal with.

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Our small community has a Public Transportation Van that does this service. I think they charge 50 cents a ride.

The pre-school has a teacher/para meet the children at the door. DCPs watch for them to drop off/pick up.

My main peeve is that the children are NOT in car seats. Because it is "public transportation", the law doesn't require even seat belts, much less child restraints. But, that is another thread...

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For a short time I ran a business called Time Angel Lifestyle... it included being an on call Nanny & child transport... I dropped transporting all people/pets within 2 months; I only took up to 3 kids IF they all were in the same school/district and never transported carseat kids unless a parent was with them (Dr appointments etc). The insurance was a nightmare - over a two million dollar business policy & the 2 states I was working had no clue how to classify me... I was told I was a Taxi driver in one & to get the coordinating chauffeur license or just do delivery , errands and such. Wasn't worth it in the end. Being an on call nanny works better in touristy areas and offering ill child Nanny services is something I thought about if I stopped doing home childcare

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Keep in mind hiring an extra employee. While you are transporting young kids to say art lessons.. how are you going to get the 3 year old from the van inside the classroom safely? Who is going to stay with any other children on the van at that time?

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I'm just not sure- on one hand I could really see it as a valued/ needed service. On the other hand I'm sure it would be a logistical/ regulatory nightmare. I'm not sure how much you would have to charge to make it financially viable.

No help to offer but it is an interesting concept.

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