Children travelling alone on public transport

When I was 7 I used to get the bus to Brownies with a friend. At 8 I got the bus to school alone but soon started to cycle.

In the school holidays, at about age 7 or 8, I used to get a bus to a swimming pool about 3 miles away. I also took my sister, a year younger, with me. Anything nearby involved walking. We lived in a rural area and gangs of us kids tended to play unsupervised together. We'd go to the nearby river, or parks in Summer or the "Rolly, Polly field to sledge in Winter." No bullying and only minor accidents.

By age 11 I would travel 10 miles to a nearby city, to school, by either bus or train. Sometimes I would get a bus into the local town to the library.
By age 12 I could navigate the Paris Metro with my penfriend. (I do remember the gropers though and I presume some still have the scars).

By age 16 I could book myself a ferry or flight and get myself to my holiday job.

I really cannot believe how young people are treated like small children these days.

My youngest sister was going to let my niece have a few friends over for her birthday when she was twelve (about a decade ago). The idea was that the girls would go to the local cinema and then walk across town to a restaurant that my niece liked, where they would have a meal. My niece would pay and then they would walk back to my sister's house, about half a mile. In the end, as some of the invitees mothers were worried about their "babies", my sister agreed to shadow them (at a respectable distance).

I went to school by bus (public transport) by myself from about the age of eight or nine. Also used bus and train, or sometimes ferry, to go into Liverpool with friends from about 11. We did have a car but it was never used for short journeys. My father cycled into work.

My sons used buses and so on from an early age. They were very competent. I was really shocked when a friend of mine said that she was going to start teaching her 17-year-old son about buses!

I was only about 6 or 7 when I travelled home from school on the bus alone. It was a very easy journey of about 2 miles and the bus stop was just over the road from the school( lollipop lady). Lots of people from my school caught it and my mother met me at the other end about 3 stops away.

Some campus universities are out of town, and whilst accessible by public transport, it would add time to a train journey and may not be viable for a day visit. Parents like to see where their offspring might be going. I don’t think that correlates to how capable their children are of using public transport, though it might do.
I went to school on a school special bus, but if I stayed late for a rehearsal it was two buses to get home. From age 11 I caught the bus to go swimming too. My grandchildren started using buses at the same age.

pascal30

I think it's quite normal for parents to accompany their children for Uni Open days.. I certainly did with mine.. then they go off and do a tour with another student..

Having said that my own parents didn't accompany me when I went for Uni interviews.. many moons ago.

sorry wrong link

Hmmm, let me think.I remember getting buses from about the age of 8, just local ones that is.
It may be that parents who take their teenagers to Open Days at Uni are interested to see it, or it’s not all that accessible when you don’t know a city.If they decide to go/ are accepted then they’ll live there and soon get to know the way around.

I think it's quite normal for parents to accompany their children for Uni Open days.. I certainly did with mine.. then they go off and do a tour with another student..

Having said that my own parents didn't accompany me when I went for Uni interviews.. many moons ago.

We drove our teenagers to visit their preferred Universities.

Two months after my 11th birthday to get to my senior school, and also to meet parents in Selfridges, Oxford St. after school, probably every other Wednesday.

All my children started using buses at 12 years old as they went to secondary school out of catchment. These were not school buses, normal public transport. I used buses form 3rd year juniors, I would have been 9.

I did drive my daughter to all of her Uni visits, she had to be interviewed for her course so we combined viewing and interview on same day. Lots of other parents were there, we were interested.