Children travelling alone on public transport

Haha I remember men like this, we soon learnt how to deal with them 🤣

Just remembered when I was 15 I went to Paris, travelling with a school friend by train to London, then with a small group by train and ferry. After the course I stayed with my penfriend. Her father collected me but at the end of my stay I made my way home alone, including a ferry, Dieppe to Newhaven.

All 3 of mine went to Uni open days on their own. They may well have met up with others they knew who were also going but no parental escorts. All Unis in major cities quite some distance away. I started travelling on buses on my own when 10 years old, basic journey from home to High Street. Think my parents gave me menial tasks just for the experience eg go to M & S for a fruit loaf, butcher for sausages, all safe stuff, and I knew where I was going in the High Street.

Never took my son on uni visits. I think he would have been mortified if I'd even suggested it to him.
I only started taking buses at age 11 to go to grammar school and remember checking my new purse so many times during the day to make sure I still had my bus fare home. Apart from this I was used to walking everywhere and so were my friends.

I went to school either on foot or bus 7 and at 9 I was in charge of my brother. My DDs flew to UK/ China at 8 tagged and by themselves once they were accepted not to be tagged by the airlines (12/14) and my DGD 10 tagged from Australia which there was a change of planes. My DDs 10, traveled by Parisian buses or trains to school. All without mobile phones.

I caught a local bus to my piano lessons when I was about 8 and it was a request stop which worrried me the first couple of times. Then from age 11 I caught a bus for the 3 mile journey to secondary school, as did other pupils and several of our teachers.

My two are in their late 30’s. They used the bus into town or city centre from high school age. We drove them to university open days, it was positive for all of us.
Their older boys are 8 and 9 years old and are driven or walked everywhere. It’s difficult to measure the kind of freedom our generation had, busses to the cinema or swimming pool from about age 9, with the tighter supervision mine had and very little freedom my grandchildren have.

Traffic is the main danger. Then, parents are blamed if things go wrong. Eg one summer we spent hours ‘fishing’ in a farmers pond. We’d all been warned by parents not to go there, I couldn’t swim so had v strict instructions. We were all very careful to keep our socks n shoes dry ‘your mum will kill you if you get wet, she’ll know you’ve been here’, the wise older kids said. This was in the days when you’d leave home after breakfast with a sandwich, apple, bottle water/pop and magically reappear at tea time

From aged nine I would get the bus to Belfast with 3 friends. We were going to the swimming baths. Only one girl was sure of the route. The rest of us just followed. In retrospect I think our mothers were crazy to let us do this.

biglouis I was 7 when I got the bus from Stanley Hospital Kirkdale to Billy Tunda(the rotunda) to meet my Mum at my Nana's. I don't often used to use my Scooter to get there.! X

I was 6, put on a greenline bus to Hemel Hempstead (think that's how it's spelled) and met at the other end by my Aunt. I'd stay a couple of days and then be sent back to my Grandmother the same way. I went to school on the bus from age 7 and tubetrain to senior school at 9/10. Always preferred the tube.

When I started school, age 5, the nearest one was about 4 miles away so I went by bus. My mother,and other new starts mothers, travelled with us for the first week then we were on out own. I remember the bus driver used to come into the school on the occasions he was running late to make sure we didn't get into trouble.

This thread is beginning to sound like a spin off from The Three Yorkshire Men sketch

Busses, luxury, we used do three shifts down’t’pit or int’mill then go t’school, then we’d play out ont’main road till tea time

Iam64

This thread is beginning to sound like a spin off from The Three Yorkshire Men sketch

Busses, luxury, we used do three shifts down’t’pit or int’mill then go t’school, then we’d play out ont’main road till tea time

😂 and then have to walk five miles for our hovis.

12 years old, when I got a Saturday job in a little hairdressers.
I remember feeling so grown up on the bus in my uniform for work.

So I had better not mention my friend, who at 6 was delivered into the care of the guard by her father to travel some distance to stay with her grandmother. She sent the whole journey in the guards van so that he could keep an eye on her and at her destination was handed over to her waiting grandmother.

Looking at it now the safeguarding dangers and all the rest make one's hair stand on end. She says she really enjoyed herself, sitting with the luggage and watching the guard loading and unloading packages at each station.

Bus to primary school and back around age 7. Secondary schools was in Moss Side (the rough end of Manchester) so a 2-mile walk to the station, 40 mins on the train, 2 buses at the other end. My mother was concerned I wouldn't manage it but it didn't faze me at all. I learnt alternative routes both walking and on the bus/train and knew Manchester like the back of my hand. I still love the city.

My school was HUGE (to me) and there were girls of all nationalities, many very rich, but to me they were just girls and I made loads of friends.

I still believe the independence gave me the courage to seek a professional career rather than the shop assistant my parents imagined I would be.

We were so fortunate to have freedom, to be trusted to look after ourselves. Safeguarding unknown as shown by the interesting journey MOnica’s friend enjoyed. Generally, adults were seen as helpful rather than dangerous. It made life easier for parents and children. Currently, if harm befalls a child, the first response is to parent/teacher blame which makes us all low level anxious

I certainly rode my bike to meet the service bus at 7 yrs old as did many others, secondary school was 7 miles away, we biked 2 miles to catch the school bus.

My younger nieces and nephews certainly did the same 10yrs ago

Children don’t cycle to school here any more. 20 years ago, they rode ponies and bikes through our village. Traffic makes that impossible now

There is a garden in Menton, owned by (if he's still alive) an elderly gentleman, William Waterfield. When he was young he used to travel by train (there was an halt nearby) from Menton to Eton unaccompanied from age 11. Quite a long way.

Interestingly it seems to be the boys that are accompanied by parents. I recall when my friend's children were young. it was always the boys who need to be fetched in the early hours when they'd gone for a sleepover. The girls were much braver I think.

I was seven. I took the bus to go to my granny’s after school. The bus stop was directly opposite the school. It cost 1d. I had a road to cross when I got off the bus, but in those days, 1955, there was little traffic. DD now lives on the same road as my granny did, and it’s so busy, that I cross at a nearby pedestrian crossing.

I walked to school alone from the age of 7. It was 2 miles and there was no bus.

I lived on a very large council estate in Essex. For primary school, we were 'bussed' into the closest town. For secondary schools we were more scattered. My Grammar school had few there from the estate, and involved a long walk and then either a bus or a train. Obviously done totally by myself both my parents were working and never had their own car.
I encouraged my children to uses buses when they were still in primary school. The socialist GLC brough in an extra cheap fae for children,, much cheaper than using the car. Although I would admit the first time my 9-year old son went tothe local swimming pool on the bus, I actually followed it in the car and made sure he got off at the correct stop!!!

Back when my children were going off to Uni, it never occured to us to accompany them. They were now 18 years of age and adults. They all managed to get to uni's by public transport for interviews and viewings.

When I was helping out with one of my g.children, I would take her to her orchestra on the bus, talking through where we were, et. By the age of 11 she was able to do this by herself, just getting collected by car for going home.

In London bus travel for for youngsters is easy and free. This encourages teenagers, etc to use this form of getting about. Other areas need to provide free public transport for under-18's

M0nica - I also spent a journey in the guards van!
Can't remember where I was going exactly but believe it was Manchester to London.

I first travelled by public transport when I was about 10 and I’d get the bus to a local outdoor swimming pool . At 11 I’d get the bus to school , a normal bus not a school bus .
My AC used buses and trains to get to secondary school , so would have been 11 also and obviously used public transport to see friends.
We did take our AC to uni open days as we were interested in where they wanted to go. Plus they found it helpful to have feedback on courses, the uni and the town /city . Especially when trying to make decisions about their choices . All of their friends had their parents with them .
I enjoyed going on open days, it was lovely to have separate time with each child and I enjoyed seeing cities I’d never been to .
By the time of uni open days both my AC were used to public transport and had experienced their first holidays with friends getting coaches to Cornwall (DS) and flying to Spain (DD).