Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, August 16, 1993                   TAG: 9308160047
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BURKE                                LENGTH: Medium

BUSY PARENTS HAVE KIDS CABBING IT

Or, better yet, a helping car.

The "Kids Express" service debuted in Burke earlier this year and shuttles children directly from their homes to various activities.

Another service, "Kids Kabs," will soon debut in Fairfax County and in Montgomery and Howard counties in Maryland.

Those counties are among jurisdictions that have the highest proportion of working two-parent families or single working mothers. They also are among the richest counties in the nation.

Kids Express founder Deborah Wax said her alternative to having parents carry their children to and fro fills a basic need for working families.

"I was going nuts going back and forth," said Wax, who quit her job as an accountant earlier this year, "I said to my husband, `There's got to be other people having this same problem.' "

Wax, who charges $5.30 for the service, said she previously had to use her lunch hours to ferry her 6-year-old daughter to gymnastics classes.

The Kids Kabs concept was started two years ago in the Detroit suburbs by Pamela Henderson, who works full time and has three children.

"I couldn't get them everywhere they wanted to go," said Henderson.

She, like Wax, distributed fliers throughout her neighborhood asking parents whether they would support such a service. There were 600 positive responses within three days.

Kids Kabs, which Henderson has expanded to 12 states, requires children to carry photo identification cards.

Unlike the Kids Express, which charges a flat fee, Kids Kabs trips will cost between $5 to $8.