Where they were picked up by the bus driver, on Fletcher and 42nd, is right across the street from the northern border of USF, which is on the barely civilized fringe of “Suitcase City”. Also there is a city bus stop where the kids usually wait to get picked up by the school bus on that corner, I’ve driven by it too many times coming back from my ex-girlfriends place at six am.
Also, I’m not really suprised that the bus driver didn’t catch them initially. Especially since people usually don’t live in that part of town for more than a couple of years, and there are a lot of people who are Central Asian/Middle Eastern near the college. Just for readers reference, Suitcase City’s a rough section of Tampa. So what does suprise me is that a freaked out parent didn’t jump them while they waited at the bus stop. So the guys must have looked pretty young.
It sounds like the school board needs to make some changes based on this incident -- at least in that area -- for the safety of the kids. Bus passes (school ID) might be a start.
These two Saudis certainly exposed a glaring weakness, and considering they were allowed to continue on what appears to be a 30-minute bus ride, I suspect "fear of profiling" is also in play here.