So Rasheda Browne, a freshman at the Bronx High School of Science, takes the city’s X32 bus at 6:33 every morning from her home in Jamaica, Queens. The trip takes an hour-and-a-half each way, and costs $5. For Rasheda, it is worth it. “Our teachers would tell us the school was really good, but it’s hard to get to,” said Rasheda, 14, between bites of a flatbread breakfast sandwich from Dunkin’ Donuts one recent morning. “I had to decide whether I really wanted to go there to get a better education.”

Until the 1960s, nearly 90 per cent of Bronx Science’s students lived in the Bronx. These days, though, Queens students are a majority of the student body, and because the city’s Education Department does not provide bus service for high schoolers, they have to find their own way to school and back.

About 50 to 70 riders take the X32 each day, most of them going to Bronx Science, according to New York City Transit, which operates the line. Transit officials said the X32 was the only public line that delivers students directly to one of the city’s nine specialised high schools. Three buses depart from Jamaica, Oakland Gardens and Bay Terrace each weekday, making one morning trip to the Bronx and one afternoon return. Two private companies also provide shuttle service to Bronx Science from Queens. The cost is greater—up to $2,400 a year in $200 monthly payments as opposed to a maximum of $1,800 at $5 a rid—-but more than 1,200 students choose the higher price. Although middle and high school students qualify for a free MetroCard if they live a mile and a half or more from school, it cannot be used on express buses.

As the bus left Rasheda’s stop, she called her friend Yeji Jung, waiting at the second stop of the morning, to tell her the X32 was on time. The two have perfected this routine since September. “We’re on our way,” said Rasheda, whose parents immigrated from St Vincent and the Grenadines in the Caribbean before Rasheda was born.

Like many X32 riders, Yeji, a 17-year-old senior, generally takes the subway home because it is cheaper and time is less of a worry. Also, the 3:40 pm departure time precludes taking part in after-school activities. But Yeji spends more than two hours on the afternoon commute— the No. 4 train to either the N or W, to the No. 7, and finally a local bus.

As she plopped into her seat, she said she was glad this was her last year at Bronx Science. Accepted early to New York University, she said, “I will live in the dorm where a commute won’t be a problem.”

On the return trip, Albert An, 17, a senior, was one of five riders. Reflecting on his experience at the school, he said, matter-of-factly, “This year has tempered my ambitions since my calculus score is not quite up to par.” In sweatpants and socks, Albert then slept the rest of the way, taking advantage of the reclining seat backs.

The first to get on the bus in the morning and the last to get off in the evening, Rasheda walked through her front door at 5:10 pm.