How long does it take your DC to get to School/College?

I think it is totally fine at that age.

My 11 year old has started a school that takes about 45 mins for her to get to/home from including getting a bus (public not school) then a walk, and she is managing fine. Her primary school was literately a block away so it's been a big change.

dd (just going in to Yr9) walks and sets off an hour before she needs to be in for registration, and arrives home anywhere between 50mins and an hour and a half after school finishes. She could do it in quite a lot less if she wanted, but I think the strolling along with your friends, putting the world to rights is quite an important part of the day.
I certainly wouldn't have a problem with an hour's bus journey, as long as the buses were frequent enough / timed well to be able to get the next one if she misses the first one IYSWIM. Particularly so at 6th form level - that could, after all, easily be a commute to work. I'm surprised that lessons go on so late at a 6th form college though.

They go by dedicated school bus which takes about 50 minutes but if we drive straight to the school it only takes about 15.
Eldest goes to college and has a 10 minute walk to the bus stop and then a 35 minute bus ride. The bus drops off right at college.
In the evening the younger ones get home about 4.45 and the eldest gets home about 6 depending on her timetable.

My kids (12 and 14) go to a school which is about an hour away by public bus _ waiting for bus/walking. They do this maybe 2x a week though. Sometimes they get a school bus, which takes about 25 min (plus a bit of waiting time), and a couple of times a week they get a lift home.

They had the option of a closer school but weren't bothered about the distance, and they don't seem to be bothered now.

It can be a pain when there are extra-curricular things that finish late, parents evenings etc., but maybe there's not so much of that at 6th form?

*does

I think the 1hr journey dos not automatically rule it out. But it depends how regular the buses are, and how far she has to walk at either end as well.

At the end of the day chilling out on the bus, can be quite a good way to de- stress. 6pm home time does limit opportunities for part-time jobs though.

Personally IF it was a much better 6th form it would be fine - I mean that there were very good reasons for wanting to move -
I traveled about that for 6th form and it was no problem - I got in about 5.15 though - does mean though that any out of school things will be more difficult and if she make friends in the next town she will be want to see them at weekends as well

My 11 yr old ds currently has a ten minute journey which will increase to one hour each way come next week. I know of dc who will be doing 1hr 20 mins each way for Grammars. From my experience you'll get 2 type of responses based on peoples values.

Some people are very community geared and think it's outrageous to travel outside of their communities for their kids education. And there are others who are more results driven and the schools previous results take priority, making distance in getting there their least priority.

You have to decide what camp you're in.

I personally travelled an hour to get to my school and feel I benefited confidence wise from meeting new people outside of the area, which is why I guess, I have no qualms in my ds travelling for the same amount of time. Equally my nephew has travelled for an hour for all of his secondary school life and is now looking for something more local 6th form wise, whereas I would still encourage him to travel to the best college he is eligible for. Indeed, great results can be achieved in even poor preforming establishments, my aim however is to increase the probability of decent grades based on the school/college's previous results.