How long is your child's commute to school?

[twerkit]

Does 8.5 miles and up to 40 mins in bad traffic seem too long?

Just over an hour on the bus each way. Leaves just after 7 and returns about 5.20 ish.

Ah so 8.5 miles really doesn't seem that bad!

5 miles, 15-20 minute depending on traffic (has been known to be over an hour). Is there public transport or school bus? Do you really want to commit to 7 years if driving to and fro especially if you have other dc or work to consider.

Local secondary, 25 minute walk but I will drive them if it is raining heavily.

Ds 18 (finishing year 13)- 7 miles by car 12-15 minutes, then 20 minutes on bus
Ds 14 (6 miles 30 minutes on bus, or 10 minutes by car)

And I should say mine are East and West, so I take the eldest down, and if I'm taking the youngest, get back home in time to pick him up and drop him in time for the start of registration. Then coming home, I pick up the youngest drop him home then go to meet the eldest off the bus.
Last couple of A-Level exams, and he's getting ready to sit his driving test (he has a car), so I'll no longer be needed!

That is my DDs exact commute.

She's at a rural state secondary. It's not our catchment school, but if we lived 0.3 miles in one direction, it would have been.

Perfectly commutable for us.

Depending on which school we choose (we have the possibility of 3), it will either be a 20 minute walk (around 1 mile), or a fifteen minute walk and twenty minute bus ride ( around 6 miles). Or a ten minute walk, fifteen minute train ride and twenty minute walk (again around 6 miles).

My own rural school commute was about 18 miles, around 50 minutes by bus on a good day. I managed it fine (no choice after all) but I am very keen for DC to attend our nearest school.

Just 5 miles but due to carp public transport he has to leave home at 7.15am to guarantee arriving at school by the 8.50am start, so a 1.5 hour total commute, but only 20 minutes of that is actually on buses. The main problem is stupid timetabling (hourly service) and a mile long walk at each end of the journey due to bus routing not going anywhere near home nor the school.

Ten min walk to station but it’s through a field so in bad weather a five min drive, then one hour twenty minutes bus journey. We live in a village on the edge of town and DDs school is on the opposite side of our nearest city. Often takes longer to get home because they get caught in the start of ‘rush hour’ traffic in the afternoon which seems to start about 4pm.

DD2 has a 17mile journey to school and it’s the nearest one.

She leaves at 7am and gets home at 4:30pm. She gets the train every day she has a full school day but I take her / pick her up when she has a short day.

45 minutes & that is a closest school, even though we live city centre. It's exhausting for her, especially as she has health problems☹️

50mins door to door each way (we live in a rural area and town is 10 miles away). Kids get the bus. Other kids do too, so that journey time is not unusual in our area....

DC goes to semi selective school. Kids travel from all over London. Some of them must be travelling for 3 hours a day. Way too much imo.

2 children at 2 different schools, both travel on the school buses which take between 30 and 40 minutes. DD doesn't mind as here is a coach, but DS is on a minibus and has to wrestle school bag, sports bag and cello some days, which he hates.

20 miles

10 minutes in car
Then 1 hour on bus

He talks to his friends on the bus so doesn't mind

I'll amend my earlier answer: 8 minutes walk if she gets her 1st choice, 15 minutes on the bus if she gets her 2nd choice.

30 min walk uphill most of the way

We actually moved my DS1 to a different high school recently partly because of the commute.

It was only 10 miles away but traffic made the journey take an age, there was no bus either so we had to drive him and I was forever worrying how he'd get to/home is we were unable to drive him (illness etc).

He's been at new school a few months and it's much better - 4.5miles/15 minutes and school bus takes him.

around a mile through central london, 20 minute walk or 20 minute walk + bus. We are teaching her the walk + bus as I don't really want her walking on her own through kings cross.

5 min walk across the village

40 mins is too long imo - that’s at least 1 hour 20 a day she could be doing /learning other things

It used to be 11 miles and about a 30-40 minute drive depending on traffic which was fine, it helped that my work is only a mile or so from the school and it was on my way. I’ve recently moved into the next street to her school so it’s a 5 minute walk to school and then if the weather is ok about another 20 minutes to walk to work which is great.

There's something that is really good about travelling to school and back with friends though - putting the world to rights as you go.
Is there a public transport option ?
My dc were able to go to a school that is only 1.5 miles away, so have walked, and that 40mins or so of exercise, fresh air, and chatting with mates is a real bonus.
I travelled by bus when I was at school, and, some 40+ yrs on from when we first met, we were only commenting recently, how people became firm friends with the people they travelled with.

I don't think that's a bad commute, but not sure if you mean driving or public transport? I wouldn't commit to driving my child that distance every day. Mine have been to 4 different schools with commutes ranging from 5 mins to about an hour. All were do-able and the longest one was just one long bus ride, no changes. I think a lot depends on whether they are travelling alone or in a group. A longish commute can be fine if it's also social time with friends, but same journey can be grim if it's alone, especially if it involves changing buses/trains. Also depends on the child and what they are like at getting up in the morning.