As a teacher, perhaps I can offer some help here. If you need any advice, please feel free to PM me.
If you think it is even a possibility you might want your son to attend a charter school, you should put his name on a waiting list right now. There are plenty of charter schools within the city that offer many different specializations, so you can find almost anything to match your specific values with what works for your son. I think I would personally let my child be in the public system for a while, because honestly, the public system is good enough for many kids. Once you see how he does in school, you might be able to make a more educated choice in this matter.
The CBE offers many different "traditional learning centres" within so-called regular schools that may also be an option to look at. One thing that I think many people miss when they consider charter schools is that they are exactly that - they write a charter for the school and send it to the government for it to be approved. Charter schools can be temporary - maybe the government decides they don't like the system anymore, or maybe something as simple as losing their facilities might come up (it almost did at the VERY successful charter school my friend teaches at in Edmonton) ... think about that as well. At least you know the CBE will always be there, and the TLC schools will always be offered.
Let me know if you need any other help with this - but I absolutely believe that the biggest issue with charter schools has nothing to do with their transportation-related difficulties but rather that many of them can be transient. My wife substitute teaches for a charter school system in the city, so I can get more info for you there as well (I teach for CBE).
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