transportaion to go to Japanese International School ( English section)

[korisu]

Hi,

I am planning to send my son to Japanese International School reception class
( Tai Po ) this summer. Can anyone kindly advice me what means you are using to go to school ? I live in Tung Chung and there is no school bus service. I know some does a taxi pool which is not ideal for us for the safety reason. Any information would be grateful!!

[howardcoombs]

What is exactly wrong with the Taxi pooling option? Taxis are licensed, insured and have proper seatbelts. Find a nice driver and you are all set.

Your other options are:
- buy a car and drive yourself
- public transport
- find someone else with a car who is going there and share the ride, but you probably will have the same safety issue.

[elle]

What is exactly wrong with the Taxi pooling option? Taxis are licensed, insured and have proper seatbelts. Find a nice driver and you are all set.

If the child is still of the size that requires (in other countries who take child safety in vehicles more seriously) a car or booster seat a taxi can be a big issue (hard to install, nowhere to put it at the destination, cab driver who generally does not like to wait for said child restraint to be properly installed, etc.). We do not use taxis with our little one and drive instead now that the kid is too big for the portable car seat that could be snapped into a pram.

I've been in three relatively minor cab accidents in HK over the last several years and would not be willing to risk a similar incident with my child, unrestrained or not properly restrained, in a cab. At least in my own car I know the little one is as safe as possible and in a proper child seat.

For the OP:

If your taxi pooling concern is that there are no car seats, consider speaking to the taxi pooling families and jointly hiring a man with van type driver to do the run daily who can have the child seats in the car - we know several people who do this (not in your area or to the Japanese school though). Otherwise, your options are pretty much limited to what howardcoombs lists above.

[howardcoombs]

...a car or booster seat a taxi can be a big issue (hard to install, nowhere to put it at the destination, cab driver who generally does not like to wait for said child restraint to be properly installed, etc.)....

When the OP mentioned taxi pooling I assumed that this would be a scheduled and dedicated taxi and driver (the same car and person every day) as many parents do this regularly. With such arrangements, any seat requirements can be explained and negotiated up front with the driver. Furthermore, you will have the opportunity to interview and get to know the driver before trusting them before taking off with the LOs; this is identical to the man-w-van setup you are mentioning and the logical choice.