Edinburgh commutes to school

[Trio80]

My 6 year old will soon go to one of the independent schools in Edinburgh which will likely be 20 mins door to door in good traffic.
I wondered if many other people have a commute to school like this in Edinburgh and whether it impacts on things like playdates etc? Do most of the folk at the the independent schools live locally?

DS goes to Watsons and we live a bit further out than most parents who are in Morningside. I'd say at primary age it's more impacted by the DPs working patterns so if you're able to pick up and bring DCs back to the house after school then iy doesn't matter if you're a bit further out.
It's more tricky now DS is a teen. We end up having to give quite a few lifts as the bus trip needs a bit of a long walk at the end, and we want him to be able to see his pals.
There are pupils who live a lot further out who get the school bus and have to leave at 7 in the morning, so it's a mixture.

We've found most in the junior school lived within 5 or 6 miles of school. As mine have moved up the school children from further away (east and Midlothian and Fife) joined.

It's a fact of life in the private sector that their friends will be spread over a wide area and play dates are not as easy and need more organising, but most parents work hard to make sure they happen.
As PP mentioned they are often affected by parents working patterns and it helps if you can pick the friend up from school. We found more happened Friday after school or weekends. Just be prepared for years of running them around to places!

Thanks for the feedback :). I know that Edinburgh is its own unique case which is why I was interested to know local experiences.
We only have one so luckily not multiple lifts/runs to do and am resigned to being taxi for many years to come! I was wondering if we would be in the minority or whether a widespread intake was common across Edinburgh...