Catching train solo- age?

[sunlovingcriminal]

What age/school year would you let your kids get the train by themselves?

To put into context 10 min walk to station (if that), 10 min train journey, 10 min walk other end (but likely to be picked up at station).

Context- pair of kids same age. Both have mobiles.
Train journey would be regular. They are familiar with where they're going at both ends.

(And usual caveat, I know it depends massively on the children in question, but this is about when you'd be okay with your own kids making this journey as a twosome).

I went to school with almost identical journey from age 13/year 9.
But I'm fairly sure I caught the train to Birmingham with friends from a younger age than that! It's was a direct train and I'd have done it a couple of times prior with parents but the thought of my 11 and 12 year olds doing it is horrifying...BUT they've never been on public transport really, it's always a treat!

I would not do that before year 7 (senior schools).

I do, 31.

Edit: I should have read the OP, not just the title 😳

I used to go to school alone from year 5 - 11 years old (in my country)
Had to take an hour bus and 10ish minutes each end. It was fine (and I am 30 so it wasn’t in the “good old ages”)

If they take the train every day, do they not have a season ticket

He doesn’t take it every day. We decide based on when is most convenient.

9-11 YO

👍🏼

Very common in my Midlands city for Y7s to travel by train 30-60 minutes each way for school. Train companies apparently advise under 12s be accompanied but that's not always practical.

Just need to make sure they know what to do if the train is cancelled or there are issues. We have a parents WhatsApp for kids travelling on our line and that's our first port of call for things like this. We also have back up bus plans and finally we also made sure DS had a £20 note in his wallet in case he needed a taxi.

He's now a strapping sixth former and last time our trains were cancelled I arrived to collect him at the station they'd been turfed off at to find him standing next to a lady in a wheelchair phoning the rail company to insist that they sent a wheelchair accessible taxi for her as the she couldn't use the coaches. Was rather proud of him!

My twins started to get the train to school similar age. We did a couple of practice runs and also what to do/who to ring if the train was delayed or cancelled and where to wait. Also reminders of phones always needing to be charged. I also downloaded an app so I could see where they were in case the train was delayed and they forgot to message. All has been absolutely fine

My children commuted to school by train from year 7. They had to change train as part of the journey, which complicated matters, but there were usually a few children on the same train, so they tended to meet up on the platform and travel together.

13 but we don’t use the train regular and live quite rurally so my child would be quite unfamiliar with the process.

I can remember being horrified seeing a few young children getting on the train in Portsmouth years ago by themselves, first thing on a morning, in uniform, so off to school.

They looked primary age.

More train travel in the South though, as you still had railways, unlike in the North, where most local trains had disappeared.

I was doing surveys for a company on train travel for a week in the 1980’s

They got on, sat down, and appeared to get off on the correct stops, as they were there again the next day

I have twins. They are a quite mature. I think I would have trusted them to do this from Y6 beginning so 10 going on 11.

It's not about age. It's about maturity.
My 11 year old would be absolutely fine. His 14 year old cousin would probably end up 40 miles south of where he is meant to be, having lost his bag and forgotten his own name.

Mine did this daily from age 11 and once or twice when being met by grandparent aged 9 or 10.

This is why I would only do this if the child had a phone with them and I was contactable.

Secondary. both mine commuted by train (well DC2 still does as Y9) There's a fair crowd that do the trip. When DC2 first started, DC1 went with him but DC2 is far more confident than his brother so that didn't last.

The train journey is 15 minutes. There's a 20 minute walk at the other end.
I have a tracker on DC2 phone so I know where he is between school and station ,and keep an eye on the trains every day in case of cancellations etc.

I worry, but I don't think I worry more than I would with them getting a local bus, or biking it. I just worry because my babies are out in the wild!

There have been train issues. Last month they were stuck on the train without power for four hours. But as it was a large group of them it was more an adventure than anything else. Far more stressful for the parents with no information on when they would get home!

DD does this. She’s Yr6, age 10.

Secondary school age. So from 11 onwards. Plenty of kids that age have to take buses or trains to school.

As a parent it is a leap of faith at first, but get the odd dry run in beforehand if you can and you all just get used to it.

My dd used to get the train up to London and back again every Saturday on her own aged 13. I think I went with her to show her the way the first time, after that she went by herself. I did give her strict instructions on personal safety, and an emergency £20 in case she lost her ticket, but she was absolutely fine.

My 15 year old has been getting the train regularly on his own since he was 12. But that was him travelling from Gloucestershire to London. We now live back in London and he happily gets the train/tube, crosses London From one main station to another and has been doing that for the past 2 years. The first time he travelled across the country on his own, I made sure he had no changes and the conductor knew it was his first solo journey and they looked after him well and made it a really nice experience for him(upgraded him to first class and kept him topped up with free sweets and drinks) and I think that really helped with his confidence. (Well done GWR) He now regularly travels back to the west country from London to visit friends and has to get from St Pancras to Paddington or vice versa as we live on a different main line into town.
We've had one or two hiccups, notably, getting on the wrong train to come home at St Pancras and ending up in a town 20 miles from where we live and him not noticing until the train terminated 😂so we had a very cool calm phone call from him instructing one of us to pick him up and also transfer him 20 quid for a macdonalds whilst he waited! Another time he had a change at Birmingham but the train got cancelled and all others got cancelled too so he was stuck at a midway point between home and his friends in Wales but again, we got a cool calm phone call from him telling us what had happened and asking for us to ping money into his bank so he could get supplies!!!! We figured out a solution and he got home in the end.

So I guess what I'm saying is as long as the children in question have a cool calm head on and won't get upset or flustered when things go wrong (which they invariably will), and you're available to call then all should be good.

Just to note we have a tracking app on our sons phone which we use when he's travelling alone just to make sure he's where he supposed to be, and he always has one of my credit cards for an emergency. Plus obviously his own bank card.

We did draw a line at him carrying his laptop on the train as didn't want to make him an obvious target for theft. And he has a tendency to be a bit flaky and forgetful.

When I was at boarding school aged 13 we were put in a taxi from school in our uniform. I got on the train at Bristol Parkway. Got changed out of my uniform. Got into Paddington. Spent most of my taxi money on magazines. 30p tube ride to Liverpool Street and then train to Ipswich where either Dad or our gardener picked me up!!

Most 8 or 9 Yr olds could do that.
My 14year old has been done long solo train journeys (without a change) since he was 12.

It's very common in London. There are many children in my teen's school who travel up to an hour with multiple changes on tube and train. I'm assuming there will be others from their school getting that particular train too.