Using public transport as a child

I was 11 when I travelled by bus and then changed to the underground as it was quicker. Had this journey to school and my parents couldn’t take me and it never occurred to me they would. From then I travelled all over London for various reasons meeting friends visiting art galleries, feeding pigeons in Trafalgar Square with feed purchased there. Yes we led dangerous lives in those days !!! But we didn’t know it.

Grammaretto - I also grew up in the London suburbs and had several unpleasant experiences mainly on trains if alone .
Men exposing themselves or worse was frequent . Being touched up was another .
I've also been followed .
You just learn to deal with it or you'd never go out .

Monica the indignity of being an unaccompanied minor. I can remember sitting under the stairs, I think it was Terminal 4 but it could have been 3, with my badge on. I was 11 for heavens sake and felt that I could manage on my own!
Actually it was trickier to use the bus than fly, I could have easily got on the wrong bus, not quite so simple to get on the wrong plane. There used to be about 4 stops between HR and HK in the ‘olden’ days.
I also used the buses in HK from about ten but I always had a friend with me. My DS and I were delighted when we went for a holiday about 15years ago to discover the buses still ran the same routes so got around really easily.
When I was with a different sister about 6 years ago I was amazed that her step DD had never been on a bus at 21. She does use the trains and tubes around London though.

What experiences we have had and lived to tell the tale. More by luck than design in some cases!
Esmay your scary stories reminded me of several of mine in London in the 1960s. Being followed across the common on a foggy evening was one plus several times being exposed to by men on trains.

My DGD was allowed to walk to school at 11 and she would meet her friend on the way. DGS at 16 has been allowed much more freedom than his cousin.

When I was 7, I walked after school to my music teacher's house and after the lesson, I had to cross the road (quiet and residential - hardly any cars in the 40s), walk over a railway bridge and wait at the bus stop, for the 15 minute ride home. My uncle owned one of the local bus companies, so many of the 'conductresses' knew me and kept an eye on me. In winter, this all took place in the dark. Now I look back, I wonder how I'd feel if one of my DGC had been doing the same in this decade.

We moved from outer London when I was nine and on the first day at my new school my mother crossed the road and took me to the bus stop to catch the bus. She actually took me to the school on the first day and it was literally a new school as the caretaker was still putting up wallpaper in the hall way just before we went in. My mother carried on crossing me over the road until I went on to grammar schools at 11 but by then it was probably more for the company of the other Mums she met at the bus stop.

When I changed schools I walked to the station for about 15 minutes, caught a train, crossed a main road and caught a trolley bus and then on to the school. Once when the trolley buses were on strike the nuns told all of us who usually caught them that we were allowed to thumb for lifts but only if there were two of us! Can you imagine that being allowed now?

From the age of about six to nine before we moved I caught a bus with my older sister nominally in charge. As I realise now that my sister was on the Autistic spectrum I’m not sure who was in charge of who.

Thank you for this thread biglouis, it has brought back a lot of memories and I also looked up one of the places that I used to play as a small child.
Near my grandmother’s house in Ashford was Fordbridge.By the small river Ford you could easily get down to the bank to play and pick flowers nearby. It has changed a bit now! But I don’t think my mother ever knew about the river escapades. She could remember walking back from Laleham to the river at Ashford bowling a hoop!

I'd also visit my Aunt who worked in a local department store...with a well known statue outside

That would be Lewis - nothing to do with John Lewis. The statue was a naked man with all his tackle showing. We girls used to go upstairs on the 500 bus to get a good look as it passed. You got a very different view from that on the ground.

I got an evening job working in a Greek chip shop when I was 14 going on 15. I worked there on and off for several years, even after I began full time in the civil service. I was quite well paid for the time and of course it was cash in hand. One thing I quickly learned was how to cope with folks who came in a bit merry from the pub. I used to upsell them all kinds of extra stuff. If they asked for fish and chips I would ask if they wanted a drink as well. Or some peas. I was good at selling even then.

The chip shop was only 5 minutes walk from where we lived so we had a fish and chip supper several times a week.

Another Inner-London child here, and I was buying "Red Rover" tickets at weekends from the age of 10 to travel all over London and beyond with my friend from primary school. We used to go to South Kensington to the big Museums, to the City and out to the "Country" in Chigwell to wander around Epping Forest. Happy days!

Starting from about the age of 11 and living in the north east I was regularly put on the overnight train to Kings Cross which arrived; in those days, before the underground opened. Probably a friendly guard was tasked to keep an eye on me. Memory is hazy but I think I probably had to wait around for my uncle to arrive to escort me to my final destination of Greenford. Glad I didn’t have to negotiate that bit alone!

Like Redhead56 , I lived on the outskirts of Liverpool near farmland and the same car factory . We used to play on the site of the factory before it was built when it was fields and ponds and we were about 6 years old . There were usually a gang of about 10 girls and boys and felt quite safe.
When we were about 10 we used to get the bus to Garston to the swimming baths , and from 11 I would get the bus on my own to my grammar school . This was also when my friend and I would get the bus into Liverpool occasionally.

Age 10 I used to travel into Soho from Hackney on bus and tube to meet my older sister or father for lunch. My mother sent me because she wanted me to know my way around. From 7 I walked to and from school through the estate on my own. DC walked home from primary school aged 10 and 7and both travelled to secondary school independently by bus and tube. Her’s the most shocking - aged 8 DD decided to go and visit her aunt in New York and travelled on her own. We took her to the airport and handed her over to a person who accompanied her to the plane.

My first school was in quite a rural village abd we lived a mile away. I either walked or rode my pink fairy cycle 2 wheeler on the pavement (or so my mother thought!) If I walked, we usually came home via the woods (my mother didn't know about that either) which was very scary.

At age 7, I used to go to my Nan's by bus. The bus stop was a mile away from us and a mile away from my Nan's at the other end. I used to take my 4 tear old brother with me sometimes.

essjay

aged 5 was walking to school without an adult, walked with friend 6 months older than me, travelled by bus at 7, a 20 minute journey followed by a 15-20 minute walk down a busy high street, couldn't see my grandchildren coping with this

Would you be happy with your 5 year old grandchild walking to school as you did? These days if a child was snatched in those circumstances those responsible for that child would be hung, drawn and quartered.

I walked to infant and Junior school, and cycled to grammar school. I was allowed to go on the bus to nearby towns at 10. I went to visit friends in SWales at the age of twelve. Train from Paddington and met at Cardiff, but the long journey on my own. At college we often hitched lifts to save money,.

I walked to my junior school and from the age of 11, caught the bus to and from my senior school or walked. I acquired a bicycle when I was thirteen and then the world was my oyster At weekends if we weren’t cycling, a group of us would catch a train at the local station (pre Beeching) and get off somewhere in the glorious Hope Valley to go hiking, or a bus if it was off the train route. We had an amazing amount of freedom in those days and there wasn’t the amount of traffic to contend with if you were cycling. The Peak District is stuffed to the gunwales with cars now summer and winter alike. I’d be terrified to ride a bike anywhere these days.

I will be absolutely honest and say unless you are in a large city, ensuring your children learn to drive when they are17 is much more likely to promote independence.

When I started school I was 4 and after a few years we moved to the other end of town 3 miles away I was 7 so I was put on the bus sat near the door and the bus conductor was asked to keep an eye on me My Nan who lived near my school picked me up at 4 o’clock gave me tea and Dad picked me up at 6pm when he finished work and put me on the bus while he cycled behind it and picked me up at the other end

Cont.
I walked to school from 4 years old. 5 minutes to the infant/junior school and 15 minutes to the secondary school.
I was allowed to use the bus by myself from age 13, as long as I was going to the city with friends or cousins.

I lived in a small market town surrounded by countryside and farm land. I was sent to the shops with my Mum's shopping list from the age of 7.
From about that age I was allowed to ride my bike and roller skate around the roads and footpaths of our estate. There was very little traffic as only a few people had a car so it was very safe.
I had a lovely free childhood.

I walked to school alone from the age of 4. It took me all of 10 seconds as I lived in the adjacent schoolhouse. Dad was the "dominie" of a very small isolated primary school in rural Scotland.

In winter I envied a boy who lived on a farm. When the snow was deep he rode to school bareback on a Clydesdale carthorse, which found its own way home!

After we moved to a village schoolhouse I cycled or walked everywhere from about the age of 8. School buses took us the 7 miles to secondary school so from the age of 11 I was happy to travel by regular buses on my own. I was tall for my age and always had a confrontation with the driver about being eligible for the child's fare.

I was horse mad as a child and we didn't have a car, so I would get two buses each way to the stables and back again. Once I got off the bus, I had to walk down a very long, steep and narrow road to the stables itself, and I did it at all times of the year and in all weathers, so sometimes it would be dark by the time I was coming home. I would probably be about 9 or 10 at the time.

I can't remember the age but it must have been young . My parents never had a car. I do remember going on holiday by train to Plymouth from Birmingham at the age of 9 by myself. I was met at the other end by my uncle .

A friend of mine, aged 6 was sent to visit her grandmother, who lived 100 miles away.

Her father took her ot the station with her suit case and a label on her saying where she was going. She was handed over to the guard, who kept her in the guards van with him for the whole journey to make sure she was safe and at the relevant station he handed her to her grandmother, who was waiting for her.

She said she had a lovely time and the guard was kind and gave her sweeties. She came to no harm at all.

I can remember walking the mile home from Brownies with a friend thought a dark churchyard on a dark, wet, winter's evening. It seemed a good idea at the time, as the route along pavements would have been longer. That was creepy though - I don't think we did it more than once!
To be fair, my dad would usually have collected me after dark, but he must have been unavailable that particular time.

I have it on good authority, my DF's diary, that I was put on the bus to school aged 5 but didn't get off at the right stop so was thought too young stupid to be allowed again. I was kept off school until the following term.

My own boys aged 10 and 8 went successfully from Edinburgh to East Suffolk by train with 2 changes to spend a few weeks with their DGP who ran a B&B..
They went each Summer for a few years and had plenty of adventures.