Should children be taught how to use public transport at school?

[MotCO]

Moderator note: split from

SWR cracking down on Vauxhall - Waterloo doughnuts/short fares

Get ready for a spate of posts! South Western Railway has launched a major enforcement operation targeting 'short faring'; specifically passengers traveling from further out who purchase cheap barcode tickets for the short Vauxhall-to-Waterloo leg simply to clear the barriers at Waterloo. SWR...

www.railforums.co.uk

I love the way people post their ideas about how much more complicated it should be to buy a ticket, as if they have never bought a ticket online.

I don't think there's as clear line between the two as you think. My point is that we get the most 'worried' people on here by nature that they've went to the effort to sign up. Whether that is clinical anxiety or not isn't my point. But I would strongly suspect for many people that are posting they are going to lose their job, their life is over and haven't slept is probably indicative of some underlying clinical anxiety (classic catastrophising).

I think that there is an element of anxiety for those travelling on a train for the first time. I know a 14 year old who moved house, and had to start catching the train to school, having never travelled by train by himself before.

Maybe there should be some educational angle, maybe at school on the correct way of boarding a train, knowing where the trains go to, finding your way, and perhaps most importantly, how to buy a correct ticket and the consequences of not having the right ticket.

Then people may not be so 'anxious' if they were caught without the correct ticket, because they should have known the consequences beforehand (Yes, there are notices posted, but who reads them!)

 

[Puffing Devil]

I think that there is an element of anxiety for those travelling on a train for the first time. I know a 14 year old who moved house, and had to start catching the train to school, having never travelled by train by himself before. Maybe there should be some educational angle, maybe at school on the correct way of boarding a train, knowing where the trains go to, finding your way, and perhaps most importantly, how to buy a correct ticket and the consequences of not having the right ticket. Then people may not be so 'anxious' if they were caught without the correct ticket, because they should have known the consequences beforehand (Yes, there are notices posted, but who reads them!)

Parents?

 

[yorkie]

Parents?

Most parents absolutely do not teach these skills to kids; they are more likely to drive kids around to places than teach them how to travel by train!

...Maybe there should be some educational angle, maybe at school on the correct way of boarding a train, knowing where the trains go to, finding your way, and perhaps most importantly, how to buy a correct ticket and the consequences of not having the right ticket...

Yes, agreed.

While I don't think it could be made compulsory, I do think schools should be encouraged to, and supported in, providing some teaching to children in relation to the use of public transport.

If this isn't done, then the sad reality is that many kids will never grow up to have experience of using public transport, and/or will not really know how to use it.

I understand some people are keen to say that schools shouldn't be obliged to teach skills that parents should be teaching, but if we take that view, many kids will simply miss out, through no fault of their own.

This will mean the current negative outlook that British society has towards public transport (when compared to more sensible countries such as Switzerland) will continue to be perpetuated.

 

[Puffing Devil]

Most parents absolutely do not teach these skills to kids

That was my point - they should be teaching their children. We should not be outsourcing parenting to educators.

 

[AlterEgo]

Learning how to use public transport is the preserve of basic parenting.

 

[Peter0124]

Absolutely agree, also etiquette should be taught - such as not playing stuff out loud without earphones

 

[Howardh]

In the days of printed timetables, I was taught (in maths) how to use one properly. I suppose that isn't strictly necessary these days, but what is would eb to learn about split ticketing. Geting a bit fed up of reading "My train cost £xxx between Manchester and London etc etc. and then there's a stream of replies how they could have done it for under £20-= by splitting, using Crewe and LNW and all the rest of it!! In fact the kids could take that valuable information home to their parents!

But yes, as for unsocial behaviour (music, continually shouting) that needs clamping down on, I'm sure kids just see what adults do and copy. Hence my agreement with the LibDems, make using speakerphones illegal on public transport with heavy fines etc. Most follow the "no vape" rules, so surely they can follow the "no excess noise" rules for everyone's comfort? Again, if kids are taught what's inappropriate on buses and trains...they may take that home with them to educate their parents (...that there's a big fine at the end!!!).

 

[75A]

Learning how to use public transport is the preserve of basic parenting.

Only if you have it.
No trains and only 1 Bus route round here, would be a pointless exercise, like so many others.

 

[AlterEgo]

Only if you have it.
No trains and only 1 Bus route round here, would be a pointless exercise, like so many others.

In 14 years you don't think a parent can teach a child how to buy a ticket and use a train? Goodness me, what low expectations.

 

[pdq]

Don't forget that most people on this forum are train-savvy, and are likely to pass that up-to-date knowledge to their children. However, it's quite feasible that many parents' last experience of a train was that it's always normal to be able to pay the conductor onboard. Passing that 'knowledge' to their children will cause more harm than good. Therefore, teaching in school is eminently sensible. It will only be one or two lesson's worth, and would fit with many other day-to-day life skills that schools are best placed to teach because they have contemporary experience of modern childhood, not like it was 'when I was a lad'.

 

[johntea]

Some schools do take children out for a trip by train, I imagine the reason it perhaps isn’t more common is trying to keep track of 100+ children and the health and safety / safeguarding ‘red tape’ is perhaps a bit too much effort to bother with!

Is swimming still part of the curriculum for primary school? That’s probably how I got used to coach trips with a weekly coach to the local baths and back

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Someone needs to teach them!

Now the Government has granted free travel throughout August. An opportunity to be taught / learn themselves.

Last night I had to suffer a giggle/gaggle of early teenage girls group dancing and singing in the wheelchair / pram area whilst the bus was moving, this mixed in with a game of 'we aren't allowed to hold onto anything' whilst going round corners / roundabouts.

Oh I forget, that followed having to listen to an 18 year-old young woman’s entitled whine to her parents (on her mobile, separate calls) about how abominable rail staff were challenging her invalid ticket because she could catch any train she liked, even wrong route. Ticket: Preston to Birmingham on Avanti, actual travel: Manchester to Birmingham on Cross-Country.

 

[3rd rail land]

How would schools go about teaching kids how to use trains? A period a week where they teach general life skills perhaps or do they actually take the kids on a field trip to experience trains? Do you think parents would agree to sign the permission form for such an activity?

I was never taught how to use public transport at school and my parents drove everywhere, despite living in London, so I had to work out how it worked as I went along. Yes, I made some mistakes such as taking a bus in the wrong direction or buying a return ticket when I was heading home afterwards to a different station than I started at. Not sure I would have avoided those errors had I been taught how to use public transport. For things like ticketing its so complicated that I wouldn't expect parents or teachers to know how it worked anyway.

Things such as using headphones, holding on if standing and the vehicle is moving etc is just common sense and really shouldn't need to to be taught. I suspect kids know these things, even without being taught them, and just choose not to do them

 

[Sorcerer]

I'm not a parent so don't feel quite so qualified to answer, but I do think teaching them to use public transport is an essential part of everyday life. Looking at a few videos and posts in transit-orientated forums, subreddits and YouTube channels I've heard it's also good for establishing early independence for children, though good luck convincing people in this country to let their child go to primary school alone these days.

 

[75A]

In 14 years you don't think a parent can teach a child how to buy a ticket and use a train? Goodness me, what low expectations.

What's the point of teaching people how to use trains when you're in an area where
there are no trains?
Seems rather pointless.

 

[deltic]

In London where school children travel free on public transport, it is very common to see school groups out and about from a relatively young age using the network. Perhaps its time all school children were allowed free travel when on local school trips.

 

[Acathater]

Most of the kids I know are better able to discover timetables, and select and buy rail tickets online than their parents are.

 

[Trackman]

Re: Buses: I picked it up not from not my parents but Aunties and Uncles.
As for the tube, I had the fear of god put in me as I was told the doors would only open for five seconds as they were on timer.

 

[Farigiraf]

What's the point of teaching people how to use trains when you're in an area where
there are no trains?
Seems rather pointless.

In your case (rural Ireland), I'd expect most kids living in your area to visit Dublin at some point, if not move there for work. Knowing how to properly use (and behave on) public transport when in larger cities is an important skill to learn, particularly for those not growing up in one (where it's not naturally learned). Not to mention that knowing how to safely use a bus, even if there's just the one route, is useful anywhere - kids won't be driving until 16 anyway, in most cases later than that, so being able to get around as a teenager without using the parents' personal taxi is a good life skill.

Now whether the school system (in any country) is in a position to take on more responsibilities, when in so many places they struggle to keep afloat while providing the bare minimum, is another question.

 

[AlterEgo]

What's the point of teaching people how to use trains when you're in an area where
there are no trains?
Seems rather pointless.

Because children might one day go somewhere there are trains. No different to teaching my kid safety at the beach despite me hating beaches and living 150 miles from one. That is a useful thing to teach a child. Parenthood is about giving children the tools to be able to make their own choices and to have agency when they are old enough.

 

[75A]

What you say makes a lot of sense.
Kids barely in their teens regularly drive Tractors both on the fields and roads.

 

[Sun Chariot]

PIcking up your points, @AlterEgo and @75A -

I am firmly in the camp of parents having a responsibility for introducing (and therefore teaching) their children to all the various "life skills" interactions:
- Using public transport (tickets, route-maps, timetables and courtesy whilst travelling in a bus / a train),
- The child's road safety awareness,
- Their personal hygeine,
- Their safe internet awareness,
- Safe and responsible usage of the vehicles relevant to their situation*,
- Preparing and eating the right foods (i.e. healthy).

* My parents taught me to cycle safely and legally; and, when I was 15, they taught me to safely drive a tractor (off a public road).
My parents taught me how to buy rail tickets (when it was far simpler, admittedly) and how to safely board / alight from the slam-door stock of the 1970s.

 

[75A]

PIcking up your points, @AlterEgo and @75A -

I am firmly in the camp of parents having a responsibility for introducing (and therefore teaching) their children to all the various "life skills" interactions:
- Using public transport (tickets, route-maps, timetables and courtesy whilst travelling in a bus / a train),
- The child's road safety awareness,
- Their personal hygeine,
- Their safe internet awareness,
- Safe and responsible usage of the vehicles relevant to their situation*,
- Preparing and eating the right foods (i.e. healthy).

* My parents taught me to cycle safely and legally; and, when I was 15, they taught me to safely drive a tractor (off public roads). My parents taught me how to purchase rail tickets (admittedly when t was far simpler) and how to safely board and alight from the slam-door stock of the 1970s.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 8 Aug 2026 ==

I'd say the Parents round here are pretty good safety wise. Parents and Kids walking the single track roads all seem to wear High Viz all the time & everyone on Horses but never on Quads wear a Helmet.
Our nearest neighbours little girl was on the back of a Horse before she could walk and now aged 4 & half is out on her Mare most days.

 

[JohnofWessex]

I'd add how to handle a boat

Oh and NOBODY!! Iwork with can do a cold start on a triple expansion engined steamship or even have a clue about how it works

 

[bahnause]

The ‘public transport’ lesson was a given for us. As our school trips always involved public transport, we took the opportunity to let the class plan the journey themselves under the teacher’s supervision. Back then, of course, we still used the printed timetable. I can remember how the whole class (having given the ticket clerk a heads-up) rushed to the ticket counter at the station, where we were then told about all the options available.

 

[Harpo]

Doesn’t seem to be the kids who need the education. Many parents are driving kids to school, often in huge and seriously ugly vehicles (SUV for short), and parking in all manner of unsuitable places around school approaches causing congestion and extra risks for all pedestrians.

 

[gswindale]

Back when my older sister started secondary school, I remember my Dad driving us into the village where the school was and dropping her at the bus stop with 30p to get the bus back home to our town.

I was just told to remember where the stop and what bus it was for when I started a couple of years later.

 

[Falcon1200]

Where I live, children go to their secondary school by train, so from the age of about 11, because that is by far the fastest way to get there. And this is unaccompanied by anyone, parent or teacher! I don't know about others but my kids had much previous experience of train travel so it was not a problem for them.

 

[GarethC]

Speaking as a secondary school teacher, I agree with the other posters who have said that accessing and using public transport is a key part of parenting, not something to be taught in schools. Where schools can help, this can be through experiences rather than through explicit lessons. For example, demonstrating how to safely get on and off a coach, to tidy up after yourself and to say thank you to the driver. I remember learning how to do all those things from my Grandma who would take me on the bus, not my parents (I don't think I've ever been on a bus with my parents). Many of the children at my school haven't had those experiences so school can facilitate them informally.

The other area to consider, which has changed over time is media/entertainment. I grew up in the 1980s/90s and Children's TV would regularly include people experiencing the world around them, how to use a payphone, how to use the bus, how to cross the road etc. Things like Playdays and Come Outside spring to mind, but also some of the dramas aimed at older children. I imagine those types of things still exist on CBBC/CBeebies however, lots of children will be accessing a lot of content that may demonstrate a completely different part of the world where things are very different, or have no real life or learning element. The same with literature, it is quite easily to order non-UK versions of books (in English) where the story might be the same, however the language and terminology can be completely different (store/sidewalk etc or different currency).

There are an increasing number of children growing up having had limited interaction with their local world outside of school. So their understanding of the local public transport system is going to be completely off the radar.

Gareth

 

[JohnofWessex]

Back when my older sister started secondary school, I remember my Dad driving us into the village where the school was and dropping her at the bus stop with 30p to get the bus back home to our town.

I was just told to remember where the stop and what bus it was for when I started a couple of years later.

Same here