SJS,
Busing is mandated. In fact, busing is mandated for all school children in NYS. Municipalities that have populations greater than 100,000 can modify who would get busing based on distance.
The WSJ article specifically notes that busing is mandated. Not courtesy.
It is the anti-yeshiva crowd at the Urinal News that always tries to argue that he yeshiva students should not be eligible for busing because of sepration of Church and State.
of course that is an incorrect argument because busing is not religious services or instruction at all and is a separate mandate for students.