Children travelling alone - minimum age

[whole diary]

[grahame]

A story from Canada from The BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)

'Children under 10 too young to take bus to school alone'

A Canadian father is mounting a legal challenge after child safety officials told him his children aged 7-11 could no longer take the bus alone.

Adrian Crook said he taught his children to take the Vancouver city bus to school over a few months.

In a post on his blog "5 Kids 1 Condo", he wrote that he wanted to "raise capable, independent humans".

But the Ministry of Children and Family Development said it is illegal for children under 10 to be unsupervised.

[contnues]

[Bmblbzzz]

Beyond the obvious arse-covering aspect, there are two potential issues: something happening to the children (anything from missing the stop to abduction) or the children causing trouble on the bus and no one being responsible for them. It doesn't seem as if either of these issues have actually arisen.

[ChrisB]

Surely it is parental responsibility? As the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) recognises.

[TaplowGreen]

Surely it is parental responsibility? As the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) recognises.

Absolutely.

Myself and my pals used to get the bus to school from the age of 7 onwards (on the mean streets of Plymouth!), we managed to survive the dreadful dangers and hazards of sitting on a bus which clearly were overlooked at the time. May have had the occasional sing song but can't remember causing any trouble - we even used to offer our seats to old(er) ladies.

It's little wonder the World is now full of snowflakes.

[Bmblbzzz]

Yeah... but you could argue the parent isn't responsible for the children at that moment if they're not there.

I'm wondering if the mode of transport makes a difference here? Would people (you, reader!) have a different opinion if the kids were not travelling by bus but by train, taxi, plane, ferry, or just walking to school?

[grahame]

I'm wondering if the mode of transport makes a difference here? Would people (you, reader!) have a different opinion if the kids were not travelling by bus but by train, taxi, plane, ferry, or just walking to school?

I didn't put a vote on this one to find out reader views.

As a personal view, we live in a society that more and more "helicopters" its children.   I commuted to school by train - mile walk, train trip, half mile walk from age 7 to 11, then mile walk, different train trip, further mile walk to 16.  From leaving home in the morning till back later in the day, parents didn't know where I was.   And that was the norm in those days.

I am aware of at least one place which has a significant flow of school children by train, some not in their teens, unaccompanied, still.   Except that the school is just across the road from the station, and a teacher routinely goes across and make sure they leave safely; I suspect parents meet train at each intermediate stop to pick up their kids in the car.

[broadgage]

Yeah... but you could argue the parent isn't responsible for the children at that moment if they're not there.

I'm wondering if the mode of transport makes a difference here? Would people (you, reader!) have a different opinion if the kids were not travelling by bus but by train, taxi, plane, ferry, or just walking to school?

IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion), it depends on the degree of complexity that the child has to handle.
Train, arguably not much different from a bus, should be fine for a child.
Taxi, OK if pre booked and pre paid for by an adult, but I would be doubtful about a young child having to find or book a taxi and pay the fare on their own.
Plane, fine for a domestic flight, international travel adds more complexity than I would want a young child to handle.
Ferry, probably OK for a domestic journey, but again I would not want a young child to undertake a proper international journey alone.
Walking should be fine unless there is some local factor that renders it unusually risky.

[eightf48544]

The Brockenhurst school train was notorious in the sixties. Regularly wrecked at the end of term.

Also had problems on the Romney School train

[trainer]

As always these matters have so many variables that generalisations always find exceptions.  Nevertheless, in principle, it should be safer today for children who have, as the Canadian father suggests, been taught about awareness and possibly have a mobile phone to travel safely on a city transport system.

I suspect the Brockenhurst train problem was crowds of adolescents unsupervised and too dependent on close supervision to know how to behave when without it. Drunken adults can act the same way when inhibitions are removed.

I would not these days allow a 7yo to travel alone, but a group of siblings on a regular journey at a time of day when their are others about may be a different matter. I did travel with friends to school on a corporation bus in Birmingham when I was about 8 (1d fare) but there was a conductor back then. (No...there were no horses at the front!).

[JayMac]

I walked to school alone from aged 7. Just over ³/₄ mile away.

This was in the Lambrook/Halcon area of Taunton. Probably the least salubrious area of the town.

Never did me any harm.