What would consider an acceptable age for your child to catch the bus?

[wingingitsendsnacks]

DS is starting secondary school next year and wants to catch the bus, it would be a public bus and when he starts he would be getting the bus on his own.
I would be able to drop him at the stop (on way to siblings school) and he would just have to get off at the stop outside school.
It would help with the drop off and getting to work logistics but he would still only be 11.
Is this too young or a good age for independence?

@Kelass I didn't realise there was a Zip card for younger kids.

Mine always just go through the Tube / train gates with me (we use the wider access gates)

Good to know though!!

Absolutely fine.

11 is fine, just do a few trial runs.

He may well find others from his school on that bus over time.

I got my children 5-10 zip cards for this reason. You can get the balance transferred to their 11 - 15 cards once they have them.

That will be fine, a few practice runs if necessary over the summer holidays.

OP, where do you live? I’m conscious that I (and others) have been talking about travel in London. But perhaps this isn’t relevant if you live somewhere that there is only one bus an hour.

My children started getting the bus by themselves at age 10/11 (year 6). I was okay with this because they were surrounded by other children and parents.

Once he is at secondary school I think it's fine. Many year 7s do it because there is no other way for them to get to school.
During the holidays do a trial run so he is familiar with the route and perhaps take him into school on his first day. .

Normal age

My DC started catching the bus in yr6 without even telling me. He regularly went to his friend’s house after school (15min walk away). He just happened to mention in passing that he’d been getting the bus there. I had no clue!

9 or 10 for a simple bus journey. DD is October birthday and got the bus a couple of times in yr 4, the head teacher didn't like it....

How long is the journey? Is your DS ok with the idea? I would make sure he has a phone OP.

Thanks for the replies. We live semi rurally and bus routes are sporadic. Id have to drop him as there are no stops closer to our house or he could walk but his trip to school would be over an hour. Alternative would be me driving in a mad rush between the schools to drop both kids off on time.

Id be fine if it was a dedicated school bus or he had a group of friends to go with but Im sure by next year he will seem more grown up!

Mine started in y7, just turned 11. Very normal here but we are walking distance if there was a problem with busses and they had to. We did practice the route a couple of times first.

A trip that takes over 1 hour is too long IMO. He needs to settle in. Is there no other school friends he could go with?

Can you take your youngest to breakfast club? Then drop DS half way?

I think DD was 10 when she took the bus to go to a friend. We use the same bus all the time so she knew exactly where to go, where to get out and how to read a bus app. She is a July child so was just over 11 when she started secondary.

By the time she was 12 she was without adults in London with friends but again, she knows how to navigate a map app and knows the tube network.

She could take a bus for secondary but it was faster to walk as it could be that the bus was already full to the brim by the time it arrived at our stop. But sometimes she took it after school if she needed to go into town.

Sorry I wasnt clear, his trip would be an hour if he also had to walk to the stop. Its just under half hour bus journey from the bus stop.

We’re not in London so I think less kids tend to get the bus (buses arent very frequent either), mostly parents dropping off or walking.

mine were year 7, in case of DS2, 11 and 2wks.

Most kids make their own way to high school. At 11 I went up to year 7, was given a bus pass and taken on the bus for my first day and that was that. Don't baby him

My kids went on public transport for 3 hours alone at that age. They were used to buses as we dont drive

I think this is fine. But please ensure he knows the route!
A few years back was sat with my son and someone knocked the door, by the time I opened this little girl was knocking next door. Poor thing had left school (first day year 7) and turned right at the end of the road instead of left and ended up knocking on people's doors because she got lost. She did not have a phone, in the end I drove her home, she didn't even know her address! Again luckily we managed to find it. I did report it to the school and had a word with her mother. She was in floods of tears.

I always thought I'd never let DS have a phone until he was older than 11, but he will get an old one with no Internet now.

Perhaps get him used to using buses as he reaches the end of Yr 6. Many children start to prepare in the summer term of Yr 6.

I did some bus journeys along the route to town through y6 and phased DS in to using the bus more gradually in the first term of y7, but there is autism in the equation that made it a bigger deal for adjusting than is typical, but he was catching it independently during the autumn term before he turned 12.

Bloody hell, DD was catching the train on her own in Yr 5.

Perfectly normal for year 7 11 year olds to catch a bus. Practise the journey in the summer term before they start.

Three hours?!? Presumably not to and from school.