Travel time

Looking for some advice on acceptable travel times for secondary school children. Our first choice school is accessible by train + bus with a door to door travel time of 1h (not sure about an 11y/o on the train) or car + school bus 1hr 40min. This seems like a very long day for an 11 y/o, leaving the house at 6:45 and getting home around 5:15, doesn't leave many options for after school activities without doing a pickup by car which would not be that convenient. Not sure if I am overthinking it because its not what I experienced at high school, I had a 15 minute bus ride. I have spoke to other people who traveled 45min to an hour to school that think that was long enough and that 1hr 40 is crazy but others that think its fine, they will have friends on the bus and the journey would be fun. I am concerned about the impact the travel would have on their studies because they would be tired all the time. Any advice on your experiences of this would be greatly appreciated.

Hi

Our three secondary age kids do about 1 hr travel to school on the bus which is probably the limit of their endurance. I think they would not be at all happy with 1hr 40 mins. They use the travel time in the evening to do some of their homework which does not require access to a computer/too much space. Our daughter's extra curricular activities so far have been in the morning before school so just an early start for me, dropping her off on the way to work. The boys, so far, have managed to confine their activities to lunch hour clubs (chess, Dr Who club) as they are not particularly sporty.

When we lived in Townsville the bus left at 07;45 then he had a 20 minute walk, coming home about an hour. Now we have a ten minute drive to the bus route and then the school bus is 30 minutes. There are a lot who catch the bus who live over an hour away.

To be honest I also think an 1hr 40m is a long journey. We looked at something similar ourselves and then realised it wasn't fair on him or us. Our concerns were what if they wanted to do after school activities, either at school or where we lived. What if they want to play with their school friends after school or even close to where we were living. It's ok if say a neighbours child was at the same school and they were both really good friends but even then I think it would interfere with school work. My son falls asleep on the journey home some days.

'If your child wasn't getting home until after 5pm by the time they have had dinner and done homework there wouldn't be any free time.

Is there an option of you moving closer to the school. Do the school have a private bus that would be more direct? You could do what a few parents do and keep them at a closer school until Year 10 then move them to the better school.

My grandson used to travel from Warragul to Traralgon for school every weekday for 6 years. That is around 62 km each way. He got used to it and coped ok. He did very well at school and will now be studying at Monash Clayton which is nearly as bad in the other direction. If you find a good school it is worth it. My daughter used to catch a train and a bus every morning( just under an hour) and she loved chatting to people on the way- refused lifts.

I think that 1 hr and 40 mins is too much. As an adult I would balk at that length of commute to work. My husband does 1 hr 20 mins and finds it a bit of an effort. To expect a child to do this is unreasonable, particularly because we then expect our kids to participate in family life, do chores, homework and activities. I would look for somewhere closer or consider moving.

I think it's a bit much as well. When my son goes to high school he'll be training it in to the city - it's a 5 minute run to the station, so say 10 mins including wriggle room. Train takes 40 mins. School is 15 mins walk from there. So 1hr 10 all in. I think that's too much at 12-13 and I'd like it to be lesser, but the real hit in the journey is the distance from the station in central Sydney to the school, so even moving closer wouldn't solve it, just shave it a bit. Unless we moved to the Eastern Suburbs, which we wouldn't want to, can't afford, and we'd just be replacing the journey with a PITA one by car.

I wouldn't do it so I wouldn't expect my child to. But people seem prepeared to commute longer and longer these days so maybe it is good preparation for the real world!

One thing I would say is to consider a route they can do independently once old enough. Being driven by an adult all the time does not help them to develop independent travelling skills and become Street wise.

Seriously some parents molly coddle kids and do everything for them, then expect them to know how to look after themselves once turned 18. No wonder in the UK kids don't cope well at Uni and first time away from home.

Thanks for all the replies and for sharing your experiences, I am concerned about the lack of time for other interests in the evenings and family time as pointed out. The bus is a school bus its just not that direct and we wouldn't be the first pickup / last drop off so some kids would be travelling even longer. Moving closer isn't an option as the housing is too expensive, we could move closer to other schools but that would increase travel time to work but still not as long as the children would be travelling to school. I like the idea of Children making their own way to school to gain independence and become somewhat street wise its just the distance that's the issue. We have 3 children that are 3 and 3.5 years apart so our decision will affect us for the next 13 years unless we change School along the way but that's not something we would ideally like to do.