Having children use it — which covers the whole range of society in every demographic except age — might help keep it safer. It in parents' interest to keep it safe and useful.

I commute to work most days on the bus in Washington, DC, and depending on the hour of the morning will see unaccompanied school children, admittedly more from middle-school age up.

Safer than, say, Baltimore, which uses the same system?

Ah yes, Baltimore, the epitome of public transportation infrastructure

Way to shoot down an argument nobody was making. OP referred to safe, which Baltimore isn't, and yet kids take the public buses as the primary transit to and from school all over the city for the past several decades.

You know, now that I think about it. I bet the school buses aren't very safe in Baltimore either.

Baltimore does not have public school buses. That's what I've been saying. Students take the city bus system.

GP doesn't have any idea what he's talking about; he's clearly just fallen for the right-wing propaganda that puts Baltimore at the center of American ills, a la Chicago. Baltimore's public transit is quite decent, between busses and light rail, and (particularly downtown) its identity as a colonial city makes it hell for driving - which, consequently, makes it that much more pleasant to walk/bike. It could become even better, now that we no longer have a certain gubernatorial impediment. The only thing he has close to correct is the safety issue, but it's not like the entire city is a warzone. Rather, it varies block-by-block, and even then, I caution againt exaggeration. Certain people feel accosted by the ever-present window washers, while I can't remember ever feeling unsafe the dozens of times I was set loose as a kid for school trips or visited for Otakon.