About TheRideHome.ca

TheRideHome.ca is a research project operated by a group of concerned parents & community members. We collect structured, anonymous reports from parents and caregivers about children's experiences of bullying, harassment, and assault on school buses in the North Bay, Nipissing, and Parry Sound region of Ontario.

What this is

We turn individual experiences into a de-identified evidence base — a picture of how often this happens, which boards and corridors it touches, and how often it goes unaddressed. The aim is to make a problem that's usually scattered and invisible something parents, schools, boards, and the public can actually see and act on.

What this is not

This is a research instrument, not a case-management service. We do not investigate individual reports, contact schools or boards on your behalf, or intervene in any situation. Submissions are not monitored in real time. Due to the de-identified nature of these reports, intervention of any kind is impossible on our end. The duty to report remains on parents, school administration, and the police.

If a child is in danger, this site cannot help. Contact the school, call police non-emergency line at 705-472-1234, or if an emergency at 911, or reach Kids Help Phone any time at 1-800-668-6868.

How we protect the people who report

• You're anonymous. You use an automatically generated handle — never your name — and the people reviewing reports only ever see that handle.
• We never ask for a child's name, exact age, or address, and we ask you not to include details that could identify any child. Incident reports including personally identifying information will be omitted from the dataset and could lead to account deactivation.
• Your sign-in details are stored only as a one-way hash. We cannot read your email address.
• Aggregate statistics hold back any group too small to be safe, so no individual can be singled out from the numbers.
• Your reports are yours. You can view or permanently delete any of them — or your whole account — at any time, and they leave the dataset immediately.

How your reports are used — now and in future research

Reports are combined into a de-identified dataset and used to study how often bullying, harassment, and assault happen on school buses in our region, where they cluster, and how often they go unaddressed. That work may take several forms over time: summary statistics, written reports, public-interest briefings, and academic or policy research carried out by us or by researchers and advocates we collaborate with. To best understand how we are using the data we collect, follow our News & Updates page for up-to-date news and research updates. If at any point you don't agree with our direction, users can remove their data/account at any point, no questions asked. It is and will always be YOUR data.

Whatever the project, the same commitments hold:

• Only aggregated, de-identified information is ever shared or published. We do not release individual reports, and aggregate figures hold back any group too small to be safe — so no single child or family can be singled out from the numbers.
• Your identity is never part of the research data. Reports are analyzed under your handle and the coded answers only — never your name, and never an email address, because sign-in details are stored only as a one-way hash we cannot reverse.
• We never sell your data or use it for advertising, and we never share identifiable information with schools, boards, or any other third party.
• Our research questions will grow and change. When the survey itself changes, each report is tagged with the version of the survey it was answered under — so older reports keep their exact original meaning and are never altered or quietly repurposed to fit a newer question.
• Your reports remain yours. If you delete a report or your account, it leaves the working dataset immediately. Findings already published in aggregate form can't be withdrawn, but they never identify you.

If we ever intend to use reports in a way that falls outside what's described here, we'll update this page & our News page, along with our Terms and Privacy notice first.

Why we built it the way we built it

Families often carry these experiences alone, with no straightforward way to record them or to see that others are going through the same thing. Gathered carefully and anonymously, those accounts become evidence — the kind that can support honest conversations with the people responsible for getting children safely to and from school.

Contact

Questions about the project, or about your data, are welcome at hello@bayfolk.ca.