There's been talk about cutting bus services in our area, as well. I don't pay too much attention to it, though, since DS doesn't ride the bus. When we moved here, I was shocked to find out that if DS was going to ride the bus, we had to pay for it at the beginning of the year. I've heard from some other parents that they dropped one of the trips (morning or afternoon) for their kids because the prices had gone up mid-year. Things are definitely much different than they were way back when.