The busses are not full. Many parents still choose to cart their kids, and many simply buy their babies cars. Also, the distance for high school bussing is 2 miles, so nobody within two miles of the school can bus, and no bus stop can be within 2 miles of another one.
So why can't the cost of student parking, which is used only by those who drive to school, be charged to those who drive?
And where does this 2 mile rule come from? Sure, that is a reasonable distance to walk or bike, but most people won't do it. And a 2-mile separation of stops is ludicrous. No wonder no one takes the bus if they have to walk a mile to get to a bus stop first. So now you add 20 minutes of walking to a 40 minute bus ride and it's no wonder the busses are half empty!
When I was in high school, I got picked up by the public school bus in front of my house (it stopped several times on my street) and took me to my private high school. And it was free! It was not, however, in California.
The problem isn't lack of parking. The problem is too many cars. Having less than 5% of students show up by school bus is a ridiculous waste of resources. Think of the wasted gas from all those cars, and the unnecessary pollution and traffic congestion. I reiterate: the city of Folsom should subsidize the bus system or provide concentrated Folsom Stage Lines service, instead of spending lots of money trying to increase our road capacity to accomodate all these students and parents driving to school.