We joke about how our grandparents used to describe walking to school for miles, but it reflects the sad reality that it is unsafe and unfeasible for children to travel alone anymore thanks to car suburbia. If I ever have kids, I want to live somewhere where they have the option to walk to school or ride the bus on a cold day. I feel like being carted around by my parents as a child in cars made me less explorative and anti-social; I was always stuck in cars thanks to the stroad network in my city.
@@yaash4123 children are usually abducted by a close friend or family member. Maybe a car is involved but it’s not like criminals are just out there picking up random kids unless they’ve set up a meeting place online
Makes me so mad. They destroyed our infrastructure with their stroads and suburbs and have the nerve to talk about how they used to have free mobility on nice roads
@@Sparticulous don't get to blaming your grandparents now. unless they were the head of auto or oil conglomerates, they likely had very little to do with anything.
"school policy that forbids walking" Excuse me, what!? Why in the world would this be a thing? Even in my car dependent suburban town, this is a foreign concept.
Yeah, that sounded so strange to me as an overseas viewer. As if I'd let a school make that decision for me. I guess if the school is in the middle of the 'hood or something then it won't be a great idea for kids to walk, but that's a different problem entirely and one that the school should only advise not demand.
Probably one of those weird places where children are placed in leftover services if they walk to a park. Unimaginable. How do kids grow up in those places?
I went to school in a really walkable city in the northeast. Kids younger than 8 were not allowed to walk home alone. I don't know what the right age is but I don't think that most 4 year olds are ok on their own. I think their were exceptions for groups but I don't really remember.
@@mayam9575 I think that's fair. Schools have a caretaker function, and letting a 5 year old kid walk home from school sounds super dangerous no matter the infrastructure. But beyond a certain age, I think it should be the parents' choice whether their kid can go to school on his own.
It gets worse if you have narcissistic parents or ones that resent it. I can't describe how often my sister was called "little miss drive me around" and picked on by my parents for doing intensive sports in an attempt to get a scholarship for university.
Holy shit I know that feeling. I had to drop out of the Civil Air Patrol because my mother couldn't be arsed to participate in anything, pay for anything, come to any events, drive me anywhere... My grandmother had to do all of it. My mother likes to talk about all she's done for me but it's weird how today in my 30's she's the only family member I can't look back on and find good times to think of. Just her begrudgingly doing things because she got sick of me asking, or because they benefit her somehow, or she'd go to jail if she didn't do them. It's all negative. The little things don't amount to anything when they're overshadowed by all of the most massive failures. Narcissistic parents fuck up their kids for the rest of their life. But no one ever thinks they're a narcissistic parent. Try to politely protest your unfair treatment, and you'll get a lecture instead to basically shut up and respect them better because they birthed you.
@@SpadesNeil I have narcissistic parents too. My childhood was so lonely and isolated because I lived in a rural place where my closest neighbors were half a mile apart. I was emotionally neglected and constantly put down. I'm 23 now and I haven't talked to my mother in over a year. My father gets to talk to me once in a while if I'm feeling nice. Narcissists shouldn't have children because all they do is abuse them and fuck them up for the rest of their lives.
As a high schooler, this really resonates with me. My family is poor thus my mom only drives when necessary, which means I basically under house arrest most of the time because there aren't any viable alternatives to driving.
My kids are in middelbare school here in the Netherlands (basically, the equivalent of US middle school), and there is a base assumption that *all* children will go to and from school by themselves. To the point where it is not really socially appropriate to bring your child to school as a parent, because it's inhibiting their independence. Kids start this kind of schooling when they're 11 or 12. There are some US neighbourhoods that are better than others, but I don't think there's *any* place in the US where the *majority* of children have this kind of independence at 12. It's insane.
I grew up in NYC and was taking public transportation alone to school in both middle and high school. So were the majority of the other kids. That said, of course NYC is an outlier when it comes to the US/Canada. Once my family moved to suburbs during high school, I hated living there but could not explain why. A decade later I found your videos that pretty much summed up why i hated moving to the suburbs from the city.
I visited my sister in Den Haag / Voorburg in May, we went for a run at 8am and saw lots of teenagers in sports gear and carrying equipment like hockey sticks cycling alone to their activities. It was nice to see.
in la (or maybe it’s a california thing) you’re supposed to be 12 to go anywhere outside your property on your own. i’ve never broken that law and i can’t anymore because i’m 13, but it’s just sad that that’s true, even though west coast cities are much more walkable than the average american city because we’re so geographically limited by mountains so we have no choice but to build up
In Oregon we grew up riding bikes in the 90s to friend's homes or the store if they were within a few miles. 25-55 MPH traffic. Rode on the should when it was 55 MPH. It really depends on where in the US these days. Suburbs are usually full of paranoid helicopter parents where did get driven everywhere until they can drive (usually 16).
this is exactly why suburbia shows up in "liminal spaces" so much. it's not because of nostalgia, it's because in the traditional sense, liminal spaces are spaces we traverse, merely pass through. like waiting rooms, or the hallway of a mall, or hotel. GET THIS, a freaking residential area is designed like a place that is tantamount to an empty hallway of an old abandoned office building.
It is really terrifying when you think about it that way. Like as someone that doesn't drive im literally stuck at home cause anywhere worth going is MILES away
I never really thought of it that way, but always had a feeling it was something like this. But yeah, you and @Fennel Comeaux are absolutely correct, we're essentially being raised in the equivelant of a waiting room with how suburbia is designed here. That's a pretty scary thing now that I think about it more...
Something that mystifies me is how often you hear the argument that transport must be car first because cars are transport for everyone, while bicycles and buses are not. As your video excellently points out, practically the opposite is true. Infrastructure that supports walking, biking or transit is infrastructure that brings mobility to everyone. Infrastructure that supports driving only brings mobility to those lucky enough to have access to a car and permission to drive it.
Where I live there is a rich lobbying group who tried to halt the building/planning for a Rail Trail project. Part of their argument was: "trains are not equitable for disabled/elderly" and I was like ???? lol Thankfully people saw through their lies and their proposition failed miserably in the elections.
There’s even some people that might have the money to own a car but they can’t drive for various medical reasons not just the elderly. I know someone who was in a fire in a car which was not her fault she barely got out alive and she would be able to drive a car but she just can’t do that anymore. And then there’s someone else who is in an accident but it was not a fire and this one’s afraid to drive any more. Both would be OK with public transport but there’s really virtually none in the area.
@@johanna7254 that’s a stupid argument from the lobbying group, , that trains are not for the disabled or elderly. I noticed in some countries like Germany and I’m sure there’s others if you need helps boarding the train there is always a way to call or give someone notice with the Deutsche Bahn, German rail for a uniformed person to come and help if they needed it. Often they may not need it because the train when the doors are open there’s a layer that goes level with the platform.
@@enjoyslearningandtravel7957 you'd be very hard pressed to find non - accessible trains in Europe these days. It is part of the laws that public infrastructure MUST be accessible for disabled people.
There is also the paradox that the biggest danger to children walking or cycling to school is often the other parents driving their kids to the same school in a child killer SUV because it is “unsafe” to walk to school. In the UK a child is expected to walk 1 mile to an elementary school, 1.5 miles to a middle school and 3 miles to a secondary school. Buses will not be provided under that distance. Another issue is that children who do not walk or cycle become 17 year olds who lack the road sense to drive safely. Also get rid of the dangerous kill a pedestrian on red rule.
@@davidty2006 Jeez, in the district I live there's free busses for everyone 1 mile away from the school, and everyone within one mile just has to pay for it.
@@jeremyhillaryboob4248 In my town decent chunk of the council ran fleet are tail lifts for students in wheelchairs. That is quite reasonable use i'd say and i just realised i haven't seen such thing as a US school bus with a tail lift...
I knew one parent who accidentally hit their own child because they didn’t know their child was behind her SUV. The child was injured but not too badly at least because the parent was just backing up. That was before the , back up cameras were invented.
Yes this is true. I lived less than 3 miles from my school so was not entitled to a bus pass. Only ever walked it once though. Both my parents worked. My mum didn't drive and took the bus everyday, because we had a really good bus service, and I had to pay for the school bus everyday. Only people on benefits got a free bus pass, we had to pay for the bus to school. There was a closer school to me, but my parents wanted me to go to a better one. It was our choice, but it did work out for the better. It did mean though that I became independent at a lot younger age. Something that I am thankful for.
Finally, a video that perfectly describes my situation. My whole life I've lived in a suburb where the only way out was to drive; no safe side walks or bike paths and no public transportation. There was even a time when I could have walked to school on my own, but my parents were so paranoid about the unsafe roads or me getting lost that they would drive me anyways. My first (kind-of) independent transportation was in middle school when I first started taking the school bus, which only worked during normal school hours. Whenever I needed to go somewhere for school (or for anything) I would have to ask my parents, who would have the audacity to yell at me for it (I'm not the one who chose to live this far out of the way 20 years ago). As a result, I only ever asked when it was necessary, and I never had much of a social life, did many out-of-school activites, or was able to hold a regular job. (Side note: most jobs I see require driver's licences just for applying which I think is pretty wack and shows just how overly dependent cities are on cars) A lack of transportation has been a huge source of negativity in my life and I'm grateful that channels like this exist and bring to light the issues that I and many people face. Its especially comforting that you are also from Reno and that you can show places I know as examples of the problems you describe. It further cements that my issues are not an over reaction on my part and that there are real, physical reasons as to why I feel so stuck, and that its not necessarily my fault, as I was always led to believe.
Even though the shit happening, that's why I'm happy to live in Germany. Bike lanes EVERYWHERE(depends on Region but basically everywhere). Bus going every hour(more often in rush hour) from 5 am to 11pm on the main Street. 2 more bus lines which go every 2 hours and not so long plus some school buses. I live in a Village of 1600 people. I even went to the nearest train station by bike a few times(ofcourse hourly trains soon battery Instead of Diesel). To be fair my village has some tourism because the ocean is near. Also I have never been anywhere in Germany where there is not a atleast 2 hourly bus nearby(on weekdays). Ok maybe I flexed a bit to much
Yeah, same here. My parents chose to live on the edge of a suburb, on top of a hill with a 30 mph speed limit (that people regularly ignored) and /no/ infrastructure to make it safe to either walk or bike down. And because they did this, instead of living in the nearby town that actually has some decent (by suburban NA standards) transit and walkability, it meant that I was essentially isolated all of my life. I could get away with a club or two here and there, as long as I made it clear that I needed the ride back (and was willing to endure a potential argument), but beyond that? It was take the school bus or nothing. Getting a job was out of the question, going to see friends was out of the question, being able to just be a normal kid and teenager was out of the question. And because of my disability I never even got the 'freedom' of being able to drive at 16. I'm not going to pin all of the blame for the reason I ended up with massive social anxiety on that, but /it sure didn't help/. And then I look at other places and think about what my life could have been like, and I get so livid about how things are here when we know how to make them better.
My suburb did have safe sidewalks, but everything was so far away and getting there was so miserable that people mostly used them for walking their dogs. And even then, they'd usually do 1 or 2 laps around the block since there aren't any destinations to go to.
"Nobody should have to drive a car to raise a child." Oh my god this is so true. As a college age kid with two younger siblings who aren't moved out yet, my mom still spends hours every day driving the same routes over and over. If I ever have kids, I would raise them in a very walkable environment not only because I don't want to spend my days being a shuttle driver, but because it encourages them to meet people, become more street smart, discover local businesses, increases their fitness, actually know the city inside and out in a much more intimate way, and so much more.
I remember one particular day after a student council meeting in middle school, my phone had went dead so I couldn’t call my mom. I was already aware of how to get back home and since I had no way to contact my mom, I figured I’d walk home. I actually recently did a quick google search, and the distance from the school to my old house was 20 minutes. Very doable. I get home after cutting through the cemetery that was and still is behind the middle school and of course my older sister wasn’t happy and neither was my mother. Like what else was I supposed to do when I had no method of communication available.
A thing that I would like to note is that abusive parents can literally take advantage of our car-centric infrastructure to abuse their children and shelter them for the rest of their lives. If a parent refuses to teach their children driving skills or put them in a driver's ed course, the child will have no other option but to keep relying on their parents. It's absolutely cruel to what extent parents can do in these circumstances.
Whenever I see a line of cars down the street waiting for elementary school to end, I cringe. All that traffic just to pick up kids that don't live more than 3 miles away from the school, Unfortunately. But hey at least they have that huge grass yard space to "run around" on
and then they get bored of the same empty patch of grass they don't even share with friends because they live too far away and aren't driven to your house daily, and then your parents force you to mow that useless patch of fucking grass when you're a teen
I feel this. I live in a small exurban town of about 2,000 near Kansas City, and I cringe whenever I see a car line outside of our elementary school. Most of the students live in town and aren't more than a mile from the school, yet their parents congest our little main street every morning just so they can drive their kids to school. Heck, when I went there I was driven and I only lived half a mile from the school. It just seems so stupid to me now how everyone feels like they must drive their kids to school, when they could easily walk or bike. It is worth noting that every Friday when I went there, I would ride my bicycle to school. Those days were always the best and I remember loving the independence that I rarely ever got to experience.
A study in Australia found that yards have absolutely ZERO impact on any of the benefits they supposedly have, like exercise, green space, etc. They are usually just wasteful, especially in close suburbs.
My grandma's house had a backyard that was more like a jungle, it was very fun to play in. I can only imagine the boredom if it had been an anglo style lawn.
I’ve recently learned about Japan and children mobility. Most schools are close to the kid’s homes so they could walk. The schools and businesses in Japan aren’t zoned like in other places so they are able to exist in neighborhoods. Streets are narrower as well, compared to US roads where they were made for fire truck turn radius. Japan just made their fire trucks smaller. It was in a podcast episode that 99% Invisible did recently called First Errand.
@@anubizz3 in my experience there are not as many protected bike lanes as may be found in some European countries in the way that you suggest, but there are many pedestrian/cyclist only routes that make up for that. There is also a larger bike culture as compared to the US in general which creates a safer environment for cyclists
Korea is like this too, I live in a high rise which isn’t much space with 2 kids, but we have access to 6 playgrounds, half a dozen small stores/markets. Takwando, music and art schools. Shops, entertainment, bus taxi and subway stop20 min away
As someone who grew up in a small town outside a small-ish city in the east of the Netherlands (Glanerbrug, just outside Enschede, if anyone is curious) in the 90's, this video rings so true for me. As kids we were so much more independent, I could cycle to a friend's house, me and my 2 sisters walked to our primary school, then later when I started high school in the city, I cycled or took the bus there. At a relatively young age we could go to a local swimming pool or whatever with a small group of friends without parents having to taxi us back and forth, it was awesome. I didn't get my driver's license until I was 24, as a student I had a public transport card that gave me free access to public transport on weekdays, why would I need the financial burden of a car? I've had my license for 10 years now and still don't own a car. I've grown up taking all of that for granted.
Same here! I grew up in a suburb of Stockholm in Sweden and it has been super easy to get wherever I want on my own, especially since I lived a 10 minute walk from a train station. I still don’t have a drivers license at 32 years, cause why would I ever need to drive when I live in a city? I do want to get a license some time in the future, but I don’t see any reason to own a car unless I move somewhere rural.
That's so incomprehensible as an American. Getting a driver's license is basically mandatory in order to have a life in the suburbs since our public transportation is almost nonexistent, everything is very far away, and biking is very dangerous. Growing up, I didn't know where any of my friends lived so I spent my free time glued to the TV or playing video games (it goes without saying that I don't know how to swim either). I was lucky enough that the neighboring town had a train station that went to the city, but 1) it was several miles of stroads from my house so I had to drive there 2) the only available parking was quite far from the station so you either had to arrive early or be driven there by someone else 3) the train ride itself was an hour long and 4) the train tickets were pretty expensive For a while I literally drove a car to a parking lot, then walked to the train station, then took a train to the city, then took a bus to where I actually wanted to go. Nearly 2 hours both ways. It's pretty funny looking back on it
You know why? Because Netherlands is tiny country. Go to Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore, you see similar situation actually even bette because they have excellent public transport(not better bikeline) .
@@anubizz3 Being a large country is a poor excuse. If something works on a small scale, you can do it on a small scale many times in a large country too. The US has way higher population density than Sweden but still way worse public transport and bike infrastructure and waaay more dangerous roads. Over twice as many deaths per km driven and 5.6 times as many deaths per capita! The EU consists of multiple states and the US also consists of multiple states. Why would being a federation instead of a union magically make it more difficult to make good and safe infrastructure? If anything it should make it easier to coordinate between the constituents.
@@asdfghyter Sweden have higher population density than USA? You live in earth 335? Yeah murica public transport need to be upgraded not bike line, Tokyo hardly have protected bikeline, and they can move 10x the people than amsterdam . Singapore like amsterdam also flat and it's have more than doubled population density than amsterdam, Which perfect for bike line. Now we see, do it's most population commute by bike? Then why ist only made out less than 5%, just a it more than 2%. Please don't use public transport as an excuse to get you bikeline agenda. I commute 100% by bike from 11 years old until I graduate from high school. Do I wish I get protected bike line during that time? No I wish there is train station or even better subways.
As a kid, the bus was necessary for me. I lived 4-10 miles from the school depending on where I was living, but I was always confused by how the bus would stop for other students within a 5-10 minute walk to the school
I am amazed how car-dependence is called a freedom. What kind of freedom is when there are no options? I am grateful to enslaved by a great public transit system of Switzerland where kids either use public transit/bike or walk to school. Guess what are the obesity rates....
I guess when children walk or take public transportation or bicycle to school the obesity rate is practically none. I have seen children walk or ride the bicycle to school in Germany
@@enjoyslearningandtravel7957 actually america just sucks balls at everything this country is a mess but at least Seattle is better than the rest of the country
I live in Houston in the suburbs and watching these videos have opened my eyes a lot. You’ll be lucky to find a sidewalk that isn’t In a neighborhood here, without a car there is literally nothing you can do and I absolutely hate it.
I got really lucky in my childhood. Although I lived in an unwalkable area, I got a skateboard. This necessitated that I go out onto the street since it was smooth pavement, and because going up and down my street got boring, I'd go a little further afield sometimes. This taught me so much about a neighborhood I never learned anything about before. I learned it was super easy to go to the nearby park. There was a creek that was awesome for exploring. Eventually I got brave enough to cross the highway overpass and got access to fast food and a few other stores. It wasn't much, and could have been a lot better. But just like you said in the video, before that, my only experience was my front yard and the block I lived on. The furthest I would go is my friends house, all of whom were at most 4 houses down the road. It was a very small, confining world, and I only wish I learned there was way more to see and do earlier in life.
@@brokkrep Exactly. And it sucked, because I didn't figure any of this out til maybe 13-14? I can't imagine all the fun stuff I could have been doing between the ages of 9-12 if I knew it was even an option.
@@heychrisfox You really did get lucky! Even though I have a bike and Skateboard, I can't leave my street because there are literally no safe streets that lead anywhere. Every place worth going to is inaccessible because the roads are full of speeding cars, blind turns, and no sidewalks or shoulders on the side of the road. I'm trapped until I can get my driver's license and even then I'd have to wait for my parents to not be using their cars to be able to go anywhere.
This video made me cry. I've felt so lonely and hurt about the fact that I see all my friends and piers constantly hanging out, walking to school together, going shopping, etc; while I can only visit friends for like 3 hours once/twice a year if I'm lucky, because my parents are so exhausted from driving me and my siblings everywhere BUT ALSO don't trust I won't get assaulted or ran over and such. I feel robbed. I've gotten called ungrateful SO VERY often by adults when I've voiced my frustrations, which (reasonably) upsets me A LOT, because I's not as dumb as the typical "just do what the other kids do" I wanna live MY life, while the sadness of never ever being able to experience those things while seeing everybody else do it (and never get hurt or anything, might I add), just makes me dive deeper into the virtual world. I have zero social skills. My parents wont let me go to therapy. I have to watch as my teenage years slip by, slowly getting pushed to this ledge that is the real world and fending off for myself, which feels like being thrown off a plane without a parachute and being expected to fly. This sucks so much. Goddamit.. (sorry for the rant. I'm just so stuck and it's very unfair. I know I could have it way worse, but like, this will and has f*cked my life in many levels)
this resonates hard. my parents grew up just outside the city and got to walk/bike to school, friend's houses, etc. i grew up in rural hell and visited friends about once a year because everyone lived 30 miles away. i'm tempted to show this to them but they'd probably start spouting some bullshit about liberal conspiracies and excuses to be lazy and how the american dream is to raise kids in solitary confinement.
@@LakeofCrystalclan no just cheaper houses, bills... for example a house in Denver Colorado is the same price as 100 acres in Kentucky + to point you can even build a house on it, i live semi rural but not Kentucky, Kansas, mountain rural we pay just around $50 for garbage and sewage each bill
my childhood home was a block away from the school district and i was able to walk to school for the entirety of my k-12 education. i really appreciated this and i strongly opposed moving to a nicer house in a different part of town because that would mean no longer being able to walk to school, i would have to drive/be driven and i really did not want to lose that freedoml. i currently live in a walkable city and it is something i do not take for granted and i an very vocal about the benefits of living in a place where you aren't dependent on a car. i imagine i would not feel quite as strongly about the benefits of pedestrian/transit centered development if i wasn't able to experience the freedom of being able to walk to school/friends houses as a child.
I saw the title and immediately had flashbacks. I grew up where my neighborhood turned directly off a highway and I was never allowed to walk anywhere by myself, even if I could there was nothing really within walking distance of my house. My parents would hold their power over me as my only transport to get to friends/work/activities. Now looking back I had a very lonely teenage life because I couldn’t have the autonomy to hang out with any friends, and my parents wouldn’t drive me. I wasn’t allowed to ride in friends cars when I was older either. Just isolation. I graduated high school severely depressed and with no friends.
I work as a bus aide for a SoCal school district, the driver shortage is desperate even the boss has a route. They don’t even transport high school kids (unless they are special needs) but what the county transportation agency is doing is having kids 14 and up ride the city bus for free. There’s good and bad to this idea but the concept is good to me and the program is extended for this school year too. I think California wants to pass legislation to go above that and have individuals 25 and younger ride the bus for free statewide.
@@KyrieFortune I am a bus driver and it just isn't so simple. Recruitment efforts aren't yielding results and turnover is relatively bad. The first problem is pay, more people would start for more money But the second problem is parents and school administrators. Drivers can take a lot of crap from the kids but we get mad when they aren't disciplined by parents or schools. I had a fight on my bus, school policy says it's a suspension from bus privileges, but the parents and administrators just wave it and let the kids ride the next day. The third problem is transportation leadership, this may vary but bosses can suck here as well. Even though they drive as well. Last minute requests to drive trips/cover routes and good luck getting that vacation request through.
It's pretty normal in the UK for the public bus system to put on specific buses for schoolkids. Not that it is for school kids only, just that they happen to arrive outside of secondary schools like 15 minutes before the start time. It's still a public bus, but if your child qualifies for free school transport (ie the council deems it too far or dangerous to walk) then they will pay for the public bus fare.
This video just makes me appreciate being raised in nyc with free transportation being a given for nearly all students below college age. Plus since transport is so accessible there’s no need to go to any specified school (districts/ zones and whatnot). Hell I even commuted to a high school 7 miles away with a two hour two bus ride while there was another one 15 minutes walking distance
When I was a kid watching American cartoons, it always seemed weird to me how kids had to take a bus to school. I grew up in an old soviet apartment block and my school was just 300 metres away from it. A little stroll through a park. Twenty years later and I still don't have a license. Never needed one
I don't live in the United States but my country is car centric, so I can relate. I was 7 when I started swimming. And fell in love with the sport. And started competitive swimming at 8 by choice. And I was good at it. However, I stopped swimming all together after I turned 11 years old. Because, at the time. My family moved homes, and the new one it's more further to the swimming complex than the old house. And worse of all. It's at the outskirts of the city. And the neighborhood is near to a major highway that people use to get in and out of the city. And in recent years the city's economic prospects are getting better and it being a state capital. So, logically it's will bring in people living nearby towns and villages to the city to find work. So, car traffic significantly increased over the years. Which means traffic jams are even more longer. And since my training ends at the beginning of the rush hour, and with the combination of my mom's terrible driving at night. (As, she is not a good driver to begin with) So, I decided for the sake of my sanity, my mom health and for our safety. I stopped my swimming. And over the years, I gotten more isolated, more fatter and played more video games. Currently, 18. And patiently waiting for the time to get out of the house and study abroad.
Yes!!! I'm sure I'm not the only one that, despite growing up in a relatively safe neighborhood with access to good schools, felt a burning boredom from the inability to go anywhere interesting or useful without being driven around. It's interesting to look back now and see the kind of burden that imparted on our family and on everyone else in that town.
@@viccasaur that was all I did as a kid, because if I wanted to go anywhere else it was impossible to get there without a car In fact the reality of children being independent never dawned on me until I was much older and began seeing these urbanist videos... I had always just assumed you were stuck at home until 16, like I was.
@@Ferrichrome wow, really sad I guess I had a somewhat charmed childhood because I could play hide and go seek and tag with the other children in my neighborhood since it was allowed. Those were really fun times and whenever a new child moved in then we would meet them. But we couldn’t bike so far because then there was busy streets with no bike lanes.
I've heard so many kids say "what do I do walk around my suburb all day?" and they get ridiculed by people who can drive (supposedly about attention spans), but it's true, and in some countries it's quite recent that kids can no longer get around to anywhere.
I’ve always been peeved at my inability to drive (16, just got my license in June) because I’m a natural extrovert and love to talk, see, do, experience, etc. I’m a get up and go type of person, but my family are chronically burnt out introverts. I never left the house except for school until June. I never went to parties, had neighborhood friends, went places after switching from homeschool to public school. I was medicated for depressive symptoms starting age 10 because I was miserable, but I think I was just isolated and lonely. Makes me wonder how many teenage mental health problems are a result of social isolation
I used to live in Ukraine before moving to the US a couple of years back and it honestly took me by surprise how TRULY lonely transportation is here. I used to walk to school, knew kids that biked that lived farther away. The only times Id even *be* in a car would be to travel longer distances somewhere in the city, not even to the store. I don't know exactly how it is on other countries, but I am pretty sure that the US is basically the worst case of this, as the cities were built at a time where cars were already on the nose, basically making it impossible to LIVE in this country without a vehicle. I also noticed myself personally just becoming more antisocial and just shut off as life simply turned super boring. You spend your time in the house, get in the car, get where you need to, spend your time there, car, house, and that's the whole routine. Life like this has no sense of adventure and you simply aren't able to connect with people outside of school or work. I feel more present on my 4 minute walk to my house from the school bus stop then I do during the entire day. I do believe that countries in Europe don't have this problem be nearly as prevalent as in the US, but frankly, everywhere around the world, transportation is being prioritized over people actually using their bodies to get somewhere. Its depressing
I had never really thought about this, as a teenager, I actually am learning to drive and I’m 15. Im currently in a driving “school” where they teach you how to drive, what to look out for, what to do and not do, every sign and what they mean, and multiple sayings that help with remembering what to do and not to do I have never been allowed to go outside by myself til I was about 10 or 11 because they were scared that I would get stolen or harassed. My father still gets worried when me and my sister waits for the bus because they think someone will steal us. And yea, there have been times when I’ve seen cars drive slowly toward me but immediately speed up when the bus comes by. I don’t really know anything about my town either. I’ve kinda been cooped up in the house cuz of this, and it makes me pretty bad at social shit Doesn’t help that when I was in elementary I chose not to go to anyones house because my family would always tell me no in fear I would get molested… then in middle school I didn’t go to anyones house again cuz I assumed I would get a bunch of no, and I’ve still never been to a friends house and im in highschool They seemed to realize that made me super antisocial though, cuz they let my sister do all that stuff… Now I choose just not to go anywhere cuz I don’t know what to do… ive been to family houses but I’d usually end up just locking myself in a room cuz I don’t know what to do.
I've recently realized my poor cousins are stuck in an exurb where the only way of getting anywhere is by car. The closest destination to them is a 15 minute drive on narrow country roads with no sidewalks. I hate they're growing up thinking that's normal, not knowing how much better it could have been.
@@darklibertario5001 Poverty has to do with what you can afford and many barely scrape by in large part due to how expensive car ownership is. If I were to ditch my bike and buy a car I'd probably be in the negative even I didn't have to make car payments.
In rural areas people have been walking long distances and riding busses/or taking horse and buggy to school for years. It is part of the sacrifice to live in a rural area.
As a former school bus driver (and former public schools student) I very much agree with this. My skateboard got ran over on my very last day of high school when it rolled away from me into traffic on a road with cars going in excess of 50 mph that I had to cross every day. If I had tried to run after it, I might not be typing this.
Also, I noticed now that I am an adult that often the parents that come to pick up their children with their gigantic SUVs are not just waiting on the school property and turn around for their children to come out but blocking all those streets around the school since there’s so many parents that need to pick up their children and this was before Covid that I noticed this. Not just because there’s no buses.
This is due to America's car dependant society. If we make more pedestrian friendly cities, kids can walk to school easier and less kids will need to take the bus or drive.
My parents loathed driving so much that they would guilt trip me everytime I needed a ride to an extracurricular or a friend in the suburbs. I don't blame them for hating to drive but it was really messed up that they would blame me for wanting to have a life, and go to public comment transit meetings to advocate AGAINST better transit in our neighborhood. Getting a bus card in high school made me feel so much freer. My city didn't have great service frequency, and I experienced lots of a violence and harassment on transit, so it certainly wasn't ideal but this idea that car = freedom is a joke
I’m 23 in my last years of teen hood ( 18 and 19 ) I walked to lunch across the street from my college. I don’t drive yet but I feel I have a stronger sense of street safety and awareness than my sister aged 24 who drives like a crazy lady.
Car dependency is one of the reasons why I hesitate to even visit my aunt who lives in the US let alone accept her offer of providing accommodation for me if I chose to get the foreign work experience I want in the US. I suffer from epilepsy and therefore I'm forbiden from owning a driving license. My main source of transportation are my legs. If I have the time and opportunity to chose walking before different kind of transport, I always do. I have no one who can drive me around, I'm dependent only on myself and public transport. Where I live public transport is nowhere near ideal, you have to adapt your schedule (work, shopping, free time... everything) around the bus' schedule. If you miss the bus, you have a problem as depending on the line it's 2-8 hours of waiting for another and if you miss the last one then good luck walking 29 kilometres (18 miles) home in the middle of the night on an unlit road, that is if you don't want to sleep on a train station waiting to 6AM for the first morning bus. But guess what, those buses still works better than those in the US as they still have a reasonable route and even the schedule is quite reasonable considering those are NOT city buses. Their purpose is to connect the city with nearby villages to provide a transportation to the elderly, children, disabled and poor people living in those villages. Those who can't drive or afford a car. And even those who have and can drive a car here often chose the bus if they can as it is cheaper, safer and less work than driving a car. US' hostility towards public transport and pedestrians will never fail to amaze and shock me as European.
All of this is made much, much worse with the fact that people are driving these massive trucks that are essentially mini-tanks. Car sizes are increasing with every generation and people are okay with that because it means they can drive in luxury... Ahh, true freedom! Adding on the fact that teens can drive these vehicles makes for a disgusting state of affairs for these pedestrian-hostile environments.
The bus driver shortage is not just about the hourly rate. It requires a much bigger explanation and is rooted in a lot of other problems unattended for decades and that Covid 19 helped to highlight.
I agree with the Not Just Bikes posting. In Helsinki, 7 year old kids ride the trams by themselves. Schools are never located in a place that would require crossing the few really busy intersections.
I’m so lucky to have grown up in a walkable suburb. I was able to walk to school, stores, restaurants, libraries, etc. and when i couldn’t, i was able to take public transportation easily. I loved it so much i moved back because i feel a greater sense of freedom not being constrained in a car
FINALLY SOMEONE TALKING ABOUYT THISS!!! i felt so much more independent as a 10 year old going to school choosing if i want to ride on a bike , walk, go on the bus, etc. in europe then as a highschooler in america.
Yes to the active care giver thing! After my dad taught my brother and me how to ride our bikes in, I loved going out for rides with him! And it really did help me to understand our neighborhood and navigate our town on my own. After that, I desperately wanted to ride my bike to school, but I nearly clipped by a car once practicing riding by myself and it totally made me go "nuh uh, no way. Multiply that by all the children that are driven to school? HARD PASS" because I had only been practicing during times not too many cars were around in the first place. And it wasn't even my fault, these people aren't paying attention to anything that isn't a car!! Which is wild to me because my parents and grandma were always so conscientious of pedestrians and cyclists when they drove me around, I had no idea that wasn't the norm. And of course, at 15 1/2 (because that when you can start learning in california) my parents wanted me to learn to drive, and I HATED IT! It's one of the most boring tasks ever, but it's also super dangerous, literally my worst nightmare. (Later found out I had ADHD, and people with ADHD often struggle with driving for various reasons, obviously) but I cannot believe everyone is just okay letting teenagers pilot 2 ton metal death machines that can go at incredible speeds? Even as a teenager I thought that was a horrendous idea and I did not trust myself at all. Still don't have my driver's license to this day (I'm 24), I hate driving so much but I can't put it off any longer. Hoping for a future where I don't have to drive at all though.
Excellent video!!! I also live in Reno, NV and I grew up here. I was raised in suburbia 🏘 in a single family home in stead. This video really resonates with me and I can also relate to this situation. I had to deal with the lack of transportation and being dependent on my parents to take me to school and other places. The RTC bus stop was 20 minutes from my house. I never had the chance to be independent during my childhood and adolescent years. My parents were very overprotective and anxious about me going to places on my own by taking the bus, cycling, walking, or driving to a place I wanted to go. I missed out on a lot of events, social activities, etc.. My parents drove me to school everyday because the middle and elementary schools that I went to didn’t have any school buses and I started taking the school bus during my freshman year of high school and throughout all of my years in high school, I had to take the school bus.
I live in Korea now, I almost don’t want to move my kids back to the US due to hindering them as independent people. They have so many options not including public transportation options (plentiful). I detest back home, you are basically a bus. And basically most parents both have to work! I was an essential worker!
Walkable planning doesn’t just benefit children but also neurodivergent people. For a lot of people on the spectrum (like moi), driving can either be a literal sensory hell or simply just impossible due to a variety of physical/mental issues. I started learning to drive super late for a variety of reasons and I’m on my second permit. But I have to say that even if I were to get my license, I would rather restrict my driving to a couple of areas rather than relying on it as a necessity to go everywhere simply because it is a lot for someone like me. I enjoy taking the bus as well but the problem is it takes an hour and a half to get to my college which is a 20 minute drive. Ofc, everyone on the spectrum is different but I bet I’m not the only one who feels this way about driving and would benefit from other options.
I was one of the lucky ones who was very close to my school and could walk there everyday to and from my house. I only took the bus in the very beginning years of education in another city until I had to move back to the city I was born in. The fact of the matter is that I learned all about the path I could take to and from school and I am grateful that I did because when I finally got a car I could drive, I could actually appreciate being able to go places that I wanted to when I was ready. I feel bad for other kids who don't have the same chances to go from place to place the way I had because I feel like they are missing out on one of the personal freedoms that they should have and that is being able to go where you want the way you want to.
(Living in the UK) As a kid, I had a bus pass to get me to and from school. The freedom this gave me and my friends was amazing. On weekends we could get the bus to another town which had a great library, or if we just wanted to see some different scenery, or if we just felt like going for a ride. It was really great.
This is the benefit of using the usual and local service provider instead of doing it inhouse, either through an edited route or a dedicated one. It gives children options for that ENTIRE service provider and it just during school times.
As someone who has lived in US suburbs my whole life, being able to ride to another town actually sounds incredible. Legitimately jaw dropping. In the US you would be interrogated by adults when you aren't at home on a weekend, then stopped at the bus about where your parents are, then arrested at the other town for not being with your parents, and then your parents would be slapped with a fine, or you could even be separated for "irresponsible parenting".
This is a great video and I this is a perfect argument to make people more open minded to many of the things urbaninsts are looking for. Whether we like it or not people care more about their kids than they do elderly people, disabled people, bicyclist, pedestrians, low income people, and really anyone outside of a car. More transit and pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure not only gives young people more mobility but it also makes public places safer by adding more "eyes on the street" and even frees up time for their parents who would no longer have to chofer their children around. "Think of the children" is such a solidly defensible stance that even conspiracy theorists have co opted it to legitimize their, frankly bonkers, ideas. Of course, helping young people gain more mobility and independence is worth fighting for in and of itself but it will also positively impact the lives of others.
I’m not elderly or disabled or low income but I am really strongly !!! for a more walkable and bikeable and public transit cities and towns when possible. I would like a choice instead of always having to drive.
@@veenorelation4008 True! Everybody can benefit from fitness and health or if they cannot walk or bicycle they can benefit from good transit infrastructure :)
A natural tendency to put the young over the weak and vulnerable in terms of concern might have come from an evolutionary reason of the young needing attention and help to grow into adults, it’s a massive investment and by another reason, a weak and vulnerable person is typically viewed as not worth helping when it comes to survival, while I understand that the notion “think of the children” has been overused and misused so much, it is evolutionarily speaking the best argument to make for our species, if not one of the top 5 for getting adults on board. It’s a attention grabber, not an argument.
As someone who grew up with a single mom who didn't drive, I feel this. I feel sometimes completely shut out from society due to the fact I myself can't drive and am often expected to shill out literally hundreds of dollars I don't have to pay someone to teach me to drive. At the very least, give us bike zones.
@@_Code_3 1. Jobs can turn you away if you don't have a source of transportation. 2. Not every city has a public transport system, and Ubers are expensive. 3. You can only walk so far. It is not energy efficient in comparison to riding a bike, and you can also travel farther biking than walking. 4. Even with all of this said, not every road or path has a sidewalk and not all sidewalks present run the entire stretch of the road, making some places completely inaccessible to people in wheelchairs, parents with strollers, and other such people.
I'm 14, and I'm in 8th grade. I had a bike, but it got stolen. I forgot to lock it up ONE time in my SCHOOL'S bike lock overnight. He refuses to buy me another bike so I "learn my lesson." I get it, I should've locked my bike up, and I should be more careful, but even when I had that bike, he never let me even go to the library around the corner by myself on it. I can't go farther than the park that's only a quarter mile away from me by myself. I don't blame him though. He's seen a lot of his friends and people get hit by cars, usually by the driver's incompetence. I don't get why neighborhoods are so "car-friendly," but not people-friendly. He always tells me stories about how his friends rode his bike everywhere, and how cool it was to just get on his bike in the morning and not come back until dinner was ready. That was the 80's. Now I don't see anyone outside when I go through my neighborhood, not even at the park.
when i was little i never wanted to go outside to play, utterly mystifying my parents. but there was nothing to do! no kids lived even close to me, the only playground nearby was a couple of swings in my subdivision, and i couldn’t walk anywhere more fun to meet other kids either! what was i supposed to do???
6:40 I’m 16 and am terrified of driving for these reasons. I don’t have my license yet, the thought of controlling a 7 ton death machine is terrifying and no laughing matter.
I don't think that most cars weigh 7 tons, most probably weight between .75 and 2.5, still terrifying though, we should replace them with safer methods of transport like bicycles or trains.
I also feel there is a component of overprotection paranoia on part of some parents that adds to a negative feedback loop making the problem worse. Some of my daughters peers lived inside the residential area close to the elementary school with no large streets to cross yet they still drove their kids. And in doing so just contributed to making it more dangerous by putting additional cars on the roads.
Yes! All of this is so true! Even before my 15th birthday, my mom was telling me to read the driver’s manual, to learn how to drive. And what you said about children not being able to familiarize themselves with their neighborhood if they are being driven is also so true! I have lived in the same town my whole life, and yet before I could drive I did not know how to get anywhere in my city! You just can’t process the directions while passively riding in a car. Before I could drive, if I wanted to see my friends, I had to plan a date usually a week or two in advance. I had no friends outside of school, because I wasn’t able to go anywhere outside of school. Even when I moved, and I lived 0.8 miles from my school (I went to the same private school my whole life, so being that close for me wasn’t as normal), I couldn’t walk to school. There was a busy road along the way to school that was too dangerous for pedestrians, so I ended up being driven every day when walking would have only taken 10-20 minutes. I wasn’t even allowed to venture outside of my cul-de-sac alone because the one sidewalk that ran along the road we were connected to was a fairly busy sidewalk, and my mother didn’t want me getting kidnapped. The only places I went regularly were school, church, and my house. When I went to visit my dad and step-mom in DC, they often would offer to let me walk out on my own, or to go to a store a few blocks away on my own. I would never go, however, because I wasn’t used to that kind of independence, and I didn’t feel safe. I wonder how different it would be if I had had some sort of independent mobility as a kid… It’s sad just how much more independent my childhood could’ve been, but wasn’t.
You addressed something that has been creeping at the back of my mind for a while, I can't thank you enough! I live in a private neighborhood sorrounded by roads with no sidewalks. I sometimes even dream of walking around in these roads and see the cars drive by, even though I've never walked there in real life before.
every time you mention bikes, I'm reminded of the fact that I never actually learned how to ride one. I mean, I kinda did, I know how to work an exercise bike, but actual, mobile bikes intimidate me, because I'm scared that if I stop, I'll fall over, crack my head on the sidewalk, and die. Purely because my bike got stolen, and my mom never replaced it, because she, too, was afraid that I'd fall over, crack my head on the sidewalk, and die. I'll never stop being ashamed and bitter about the fact that my development was stunted like this, or that it was all because of random, arbitrary happenstance and an overprotective mother. She also didn't let me use scissors until kindergarten, not even safety scissors, which meant I didn't know how to use them when I got to kindergarten. And when I reflect on my own experiences growing up, in the context of this video and many others centered around the intersections of childhood development and city planning, I can definitely see how, even though my parents are pretty good about respecting my personhood, we still live in a society that doesn't. Even now that I'm an adult, I don't have a driver's license yet, partly because I'm poor and can't afford lessons, and partly because I'm autistic and unsure if I can figure out something that complex. And society punishes me for that, punishes me for trying to be an independent adult without going through the whole rigamarole of getting a license. The message is clear: You either stop being a baby and do things our way, or you will constantly be pushed back into the role of the state's eternal child.
I have walked and biked to school since Kindergarten, and I still do so now that I’m in High School. And I probably still will in college. It gave me independence as a child, which I remember really liking. My neighborhood is safe, there are a few sidewalks on my paths, so obviously I’m a lot more privileged than some kids are/were. My elementary school route was using the alley behind my house, for middle school it was even shorter, just a 2 minute walk. And now for high school, my alternative program is located in a college campus building, so there are a lot of bike paths. Its about a half a mile walk. I just wish that other kids could do the same as I did/do.
As a child I remember growing up in my English town and wondering why school buses were so common in American society, they were in every American film, and when I watched my favourite TH-camrs build cities in SimCity they always placed school bus stops all over the town so kids could catch a ride to school, it seemed so foreign to me that they’d drive when in the world I grew up in every morning mum would walk me and later on my two siblings to the primary school 5 minutes away, and we’d walk back at the end of the day. We rarely every drove since the distance was so short, and I couldn’t imagine that people would build towns without sidewalks, good foot paths, or schools and shops close by, it just seemed to strange, the only place I’d ever been without footpaths was in Portugal, where the small fishing villages we visited only had footpaths in the town’s central areas, we always just chalked this up to the recession they were having but in hindsight they’re probably lacking since in the less busy areas people just walk in the road and on the main roads the distances between villages were too long to warrant footpaths. Of course now I know the truth, in america they’re forced to use school buses or drive because the infrastructure is so poor and the suburban design is too low-density. It really makes me feel guilty for the amount of times I’ve been driven to school by mum, because we all have bad sleep schedules we’ve become more and more car reliant to get all of us to places on time, even if we woke up early getting to 3 different schools on foot would be difficult in time. I’m gonna be turning over a new leaf and walking to and from my college since I’m lucky enough to live in a neighbourhood like mine, and I’m hoping I can convince mum to let my siblings start walking by themselves soon.
@@anubizz3 Also because things were designed differently. Higher density places with good public transit can work well even in America, look at the old streetcar suburbs. Walkable, more dense but not quite city like neighborhoods, with good public transit. They wouldn’t need school buses traditionally as people could walk, cycle, or take the streetcars.
@@justanotheryoutubechannel High density place also have its downside, like crime , drug use, violence and so on. My city Cbd is full of protected bike lines some even sacrifice hybrid (bus lane/ parking). high school near my office, have protected bike line in front of it, and train station and trams 1 block away. Almost NO Student ride to that school. Contras that to my son school in suburb, yes there is one big road in front of it but all in the back is low density house, along high rise apartments 2 block away in suburbs center, NO protected bike line at all. Guest what alot of the students ride a bike to school. Protected bike lines never an answer, frequent public transport are and most importantly security( nothing to do with car) for student to walk or bike to school. Japan is an example for this, extremely low crime, good public transport. Even kids as little as 6 years old commute to schools by themselves, again no protected bike line necessary. I love the bike channel like this using public transport as a selling point for their agenda. Where in fact they actually hurt certain type of public transport.
@@anubizz3 Not a real argument. The problem is density, not size. England has a population of 56 million, up there with the most populous states of the US.
@@anubizz3 yeah my school wasn’t in another state, it was still relatively close, that’s not an argument. I just wasn’t allowed to walk because getting there involved crossing a main road. So instead of getting a crossing guard, we all had to be driven. I’ve visited England, and let me tell you, it’s a world of difference. Their public transportation is clean, safe, accessible, and London has wide sidewalks where you never feel like you’re about to fall into the road.
Watching this makes me feel so lucky that I was born in the UK and was able to easily walk to school (1 mile away). I also used to cycle, which was more difficult because we didn't really have bike lanes, but the paths were wide enough that I could mostly cycle on them until I was old enough to cycle on the road. Doing that was a bit scary at times, but not so scary it put me off completely. The main road to my school was 2 lanes, not that wide and had a 30mph speed limit, so not too bad.
we should also consider how the needs for transportation to school, and how they stagger timings of school buses, affect school start times. why can’t kids take normal transit buses that run regularly and have reasonable school start times, with extra school buses only for places not well served by existing routes?
Kids from age 7 use public transport on their own here. Have never heard about it being a problem. Parents make sure they know the route to school before they start first year, and where to change buses if that's needed. If they need help once they are on their own they simply ask other passengers or the driver.
I used transit buses for high school and got sexually harassed by adults frequently. I did like the fact that if I missed the first bus I could just take another. I don't know the solution for the harassment problem, and I doubt it would be cheap enough to be attractive. But we really need to make sure EVERYONE can feel alright on the train and the bus. The online urbanism space seems pretty male-dominated so I see this overlooked most of the time
Independent walking to school ended in the UK because we had a huge panic about 'stranger danger,' then the media fanning more panics over pedophiles. The common attitude here nos is that there's a sex offender hiding around every corner, and only the most negligent of parents would let any child under eighteen out of adult supervision for a moment. Walking to school is still common, but never independently. A child walking alone would attract immediate attention from well-meaning strangers calling police.
My son is 10 years old and has just realized that he can get home from school in 10 minutes if he walks home instead of the 35 mins on the school bus. He even runs home to beat his best time. He was in before and after care, but now we trust him to get to school by himself and home by himself. It's saving us $350 a month by him not going to before and after care. We were going to wait until he was 11, but he seems more than capable of doing this at 10 years old. He starts school at 9.00 and me and my wife are out of the house at 7.30. I personally believe the responsibility is a good thing. Although we live in a suburban setting, there are a ton of kids his age around us and he is always on his bike and out the house. He even plays street hockey with all the other kids, even when it's -15 degrees celsius. I believe there are alot of opportunities for kids, I think alot of the time it's the parents holding the kids back.
Great video and as a non-driver myself I couldn't agree more. More pedestrian and cyclist friendly infrastructure would also mean few cars not he roads so would make things better for car drivers too.
based on the title and thumbnail, i honestly thought this was gonna be about disability accessibility, and how for disabled students, it takes entirely too much time, and several adults to get them on and off school buses and into the building. plus other mobility accessibility stuff related to schools, but thats just what my first thought was. still VERY much a good video, and points that need to be talked about more when we talk about city/neighborhood design AND education
As a crossing guard during COVID, those cars are crazy. Also, my school didn't even have a side walks. I missed the bus and most of the way I didn't have side walk. I had to cross a bridge that didn't have a sidewalk.
Had a project in Kentucky earlier this year. Saw so many school buses on I-65 on the way to Louisville. Depressing to imagine daily childhood trips like that, with literally no other option besides the same endless stretches of roads, surrounded by cars and not even any interesting buildings. At least the bus is just one vehicle, instead of many cars carrying same number of kids. But it's still no way to make children explorative. Wish at least streetcar suburbs were still the norm, would help with environmental knowledge and alternatives to driving.
When I first moved to Edmonton, AB at age 26, from my very small car-dominated prairie city, it was my first experience living in a large city, and I drove everywhere (because I didn't know how transit worked yet). Each trip I made anywhere was a harrowing experience, as I'd never really experienced driving in such a big fast traffic system, and it didn't help that I was always lost and unable to find my way back (this was just two years before Google maps on smart phones). So, I would drive about 10KM from my house on the North end of the city down the Wayne Gretzky freeway to the Capilano mall to do all of my shopping, and to even just grab McDonalds or Tim Hortons, because it was the easiest most direct route to a shopping center that was directly off the main road and wouldn't get me lost in some strange neighborhood. Then, because I was only working part time, I had to pull the insurance on my car to save money, but luckily had a roommate with a car who would take me shopping. The first shopping trip we took was a 5 minute drive to the Northgate mall, which was about 2 blocks north of where we lived. It had a McDonalds and a Tim Hortons. 2 Blocks away. 2. Blocks. Away! 😫 After that, I was kind of forced into walking and using transit, which was great in the long run. I found entire neighborhoods and areas I had no idea existed and probably wouldn't have found if I was still driving. And here's the peculiar thing about it: after I got driving again (almost a year later), I was a way better driver. I was no longer always lost and panicking to find exits, or turning onto one way streets. I was just overall more aware, even behind the wheel, and I exclusively attribute this to getting to know the city as a pedestrian.
I see this stuff and I think about how in Japan streets are so safe to walk on there are reality shows based around the concept of four-year-olds running their first errands by themselves.
I let my 3 year old ride his balance bike infront of me while I walk or bike behind him, he stops at the roads, but there isn't a huge amount of traffic in the scheme, lot's of open space. He knows how to get to the park, the shops, nursery and has a map of important landmarks he expects to see along the way, you know this because he will point familliar objects out and direct us what route to take. It is nice that he can have enough freedom to explore his environment a little while we follow and keep an eye on him, especially when toddlers fight so hard to find little things they can do themselves and have to be told no constantly, leading us to the park or the local shop makes him feel important and involved, but only if he listens- really good for his development. It is also good to know that he already knows most of the area by foot and can navigate it himself, he will be able to get a lot more independence growing up because the neighbourhood is safe.
As a British student I've never understood school buses. We do have them for students who live far away from the school but the vast majority of us walk or cycle. Younger children are walked to school by their parents and school traffic does exist, although I doubt it's on the same scale as schools across the pond as to my knowledge, zoning law means schools in the US are larger and need to serve a significantly larger area than schools in most European countries.
School buses are common, but not in the way the US would think of them. Most the time, they are just a regular service that changes its route to go through the school. On the more popular lines, it may be a dedicated route for students but it will still be a usual service bus. And usually double-decker. And then you get the weird mix where the route only exists to serve the School, but doesn't only serve the School.
In the US, the school might not even be surrounded by sidewalks, and if it is those sidewalks will go through a parking lot bigger than the school. And the huge roads outside the school will literally be packed with cars for miles.
One thing about teen drivers, though age is a factor, no matter what experience needs to come from somewhere, so whatever age people start driving at will always be the most risky, and also safety is important but so is convenience and efficiency; sometimes eggs get broken, and that’s just part of life.
I met so many people who didn't even know what was 3 blocks away from their house because they never walk or go out without sitting in a tin can for 30 mins, stuck in traffic.
I never realized how foreign it was the idea of having kids walk or ride to school until i moved to the states and just realized this wasn’t a thing 😅😅. I used to walk to school when I was 5 -9 years old then we moved to the states.
wait till you move to rural small town to get to my highshcool in next town over it was 9 min (11.1 km), you basically need a car for everything. although i do see farmer kids usually drive
I'm not sure why I watched this. I was already in the "death to cars" camp. I did not need further evidence nor convincing. What I really got from this, was those maps those kids drew. I had not thought much about that aspect of it, despite me being a supporter of the argument. It got me thinking about how I imagined my school-route as a kid. Because of domestic issues, I basically had two homes (not the first thing you might think, but close enough) The first home, I could walk (about 2 km on the regular route). I had an accurate map in my head of all possible routes I would take (a winter-route would cut half a kilometer over a field on skis, yes, really). I probably could have drawn them all with fair accuracy But that other home? I was always driven there. Often by taxi paid by the municipality. I don't think I could describe half the turns. There is no way I could draw a map. And while I could freely walk in the neighborhood of my first home, I was sheltered in the second one. In fact, while I can find that first home on google maps today, even without looking at the address, I have no chance of finding the other one. So yeah. you're right. Cars ruin a child's navigation skills and understanding of their surroundings.
As I went to school in Germany I usually just walked the 0.62 miles on primarily side roads; Later on I also took the bike Many classmates took the public city bus, some also took the train and then the bus; Who thinks this is only sth which can work in a dense urban environment ... I went abroad to Norway for one year. The county I lived in had a population density of 17 / sq mi and I still didn't depend on my host parents driving me to school. I took the bus there as well
As someone who got hit by a car while walking in the correct lane and at the correct time, I completely agree that car based infrastructure is extremely undesirable
I live in a small city where it is illegal to ride your bike on the sidewalk (fair enough, the sidewalks are too small for bikes and walkers), however there are no bike lanes in town. There isn't a single bike lane. You HAVE to bike in the road. With cars that could not care less about you. Add to it that the residential speed limit is 35 and most people go 40... there is no safe way to bike here. It's a big problem...
I know this all too well. My son was put in a middle school that was way too far and dangerous to walk to. Then he wanted to stay with his friends and go to the far away HS. He could have walked to HS but there is were no sidewalks and not even a path to walk on to get there.
I go to school in an American (but relatively pedestrian-friendly) city after spending my entire life in the suburbs and honestly it’s fantastic. I get so much more exercise and I feel like I can go wherever I want, whenever i want.
I'm about halfway through and haven't seen you mention it yet, but a contributing factor to less people walking to school may be the American healthcare system. For people with certain chronic illnesses, regularly walking to school will actively worsen your health if you aren't treating them effectively - and with the healthcare system working the way it does, it's impossible to do that unless you're rich. I graduated from high school a full two years late because I have disabilities that are exacerbated by walking, and I live within the walk zone where bus transportation isn't normally provided by the district. My mom isn't a reliable source of transportation and I didn't have a license or car to drive myself. As a result I straight up failed most of my classes and was absent the majority of my first attempt at 12th grade. I couldn't pass the classes I needed to graduate until I got the district to provide bus transportation to and from school so I could attend classes without missing multiple days afterward due to the rebound from walking.
As someone who lives in the south where there are many backroads and roads that have no houses or anything for a mile, it is imo safer to be driven bc it is scary to go down those roads alone. Bc any creep can stop and grab you and no one would know. And in these areas half the school probably lives more than 5 miles away
I remember looking at shows and movies and seeing kids just going everywhere by themselves and doing things on their own and thinking how unrealistic that is. Then I started wondering why lol
Same. I didn’t wonder until I was older how come they could just go out to meet friends, hang, out and go to places. Did they ever have to ask their parents/guardian(s) to give them a ride? Now I know that the places the kids from some TV shows live in are probably safe to walk in and have adequate public transit like the American suburbs.
as an European "exchild" (just reached an age where I can drive legally) it is really sad to watch. I was always independent if it comes to school mobility, only first year of school was tough for my parents because they had to watch me, since I was a young child, not being able to move by myself for safety reasons.
If you're able to walk, cycle, skate, etc, around your community, your parents can't control (and thus restrict or utterly remove) your ability to experience that community. This is a feature, not a bug for more authoritarian and conservative parents, who, even if in favor of self-driving taxis, object to the idea of those under-18 being able to access them without parents signing off on every single booking. Want to go to a friend's place? No, I don't like their parents' politics. Want to go to an event? No, it's in that part of town I hate. Want to see your other parents? No, I won custody of you and I want them to suffer. Of course, there's also good old fear of your own neighbors... they'll be kidnapped (probably not, no), run over (probably, yes, because of car-centric infrastructure), or assaulted by undesirable "others" (probably not, no, but if there were more people walking in your neighborhood... good guys outnumber the bad!). For this same reason, they don't want their precious babies being able to go anywhere on their bike or scooter (or, y'know, legs) that doesn't require them to spend hours a week driving them around. This is a youth rights issue as much as anything else; you don't own your kids, you shouldn't be able to control their experiences around the community, and yes they're going to meet people and encounter ideas you don't like and you'll have to rely on others in society to keep them safe because you can't - and should not - hover around them 24/7 and be a permanent "minder" for their every waking moment. If you don't like it, don't have kids; they're not pets, they're human beings. Also, sorry, you were at 69 comments and I've gone and ruined it.
Regardless of how one may feel about cars, parents absolutely have the right to tell their children where they can or can't go, or who they can or can't associate with, for any reason.
"for any reason"...no, i disagree. i think very specific reasons are acceptable: if the person/place in question poses a real physical or psychological danger for the child, and if the child is not old enough to handle the situation on their own, those are acceptable reasons for a parent to interfere and set hard boundaries. like if your teenage kid is hanging out with people that pressure them to drink underage, or wants to go to a concert late at night all by themselves, those are reasons for the parent to get involved. even then, i feel that the best kind of involvement is talking to your kid and reasoning with them. if it's a situation where they're too young to be reasoned with (toddler age) then you'd let them express how they feel and talk them through their frustration. but this whole "because i said so" approach...it generally just makes kids afraid. and when people are afraid, they stop listening and thinking
My parents are way overly fearful of homeless people pulling a knife on me or something, so as a young child I never was allowed to go anywhere by myself. Learning to drive is the only way I can take myself anywhere even still.
I feel sorry for all these kids. I have walked to school by myself since I was 10. A ~30 minute walk each way through the quiet streets of my neighbourhood. I can go almost everywhere I want to easily. I live 5 minutes walk from a metro station, there's 4 bus lines within a 15 minutes walk of my house. In a 20 minutes walk I can get to a tram stop, another metro station, a mainline train station with fast trains into the city centre, and 6 more bus lines. And this is in the suburbs, I live 10km from the city centre as the crow flies. In my city buses are free for under 18s and trains and metro are half price of the adult fare. It must be like prison having to be driven everywhere by your parents
My highschool is about 30 minutes away bike, but i have never and probably won't ever try that. Why? Because for me that 30 minute ride would 1. Be illegal since I would ride on the sidewalk instead of the road, 2. The roads would either be a death trap of fast SUVs or backed up bumper to bumper with tired parents, crossing and even being near that would be unhealthy and annoying.
In Bielefeld, Germany where I live we have a campaign running "Tschüss Eltern-Taxi, hallo SchülerCard" (goodbye parental taxi, hello student card) As student cards have been extended to non school times encouraging the use of public transport. I regularly see children from Kindergarten age upwards being taken by their teachers and assistants on trams and buses to visit museums and events. Normalising public transport is vital for making livable cities.
I am a very paranoid person, extremely so especially since the youngest (7 years old currently) was nearl kidnapped once. That being said I kind if thought this video would be shaming overly worried parents bc statistically its true that the average parents never has to worry about their kid being kidnapped ect. But I do actually fully agree with this video. Also for those who are paranoid such as myself we now have a lot of options anything from clickers trackers ect (with the childs known and explaining stranger danger) that most schools will approve so long as you let them know in advance. This will help facilitate independent thinking and a sense of self security that will be so infinitely helpful to their development
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We joke about how our grandparents used to describe walking to school for miles, but it reflects the sad reality that it is unsafe and unfeasible for children to travel alone anymore thanks to car suburbia. If I ever have kids, I want to live somewhere where they have the option to walk to school or ride the bus on a cold day. I feel like being carted around by my parents as a child in cars made me less explorative and anti-social; I was always stuck in cars thanks to the stroad network in my city.
Children are usually abducted with a car right?
@@yaash4123 children are usually abducted by a close friend or family member. Maybe a car is involved but it’s not like criminals are just out there picking up random kids unless they’ve set up a meeting place online
@@yaash4123 it's substantially easier to perform kidnapping with self propelled vehicles (excluding motorcycles) due to geometry and physics
Makes me so mad. They destroyed our infrastructure with their stroads and suburbs and have the nerve to talk about how they used to have free mobility on nice roads
@@Sparticulous don't get to blaming your grandparents now. unless they were the head of auto or oil conglomerates, they likely had very little to do with anything.
"school policy that forbids walking" Excuse me, what!? Why in the world would this be a thing? Even in my car dependent suburban town, this is a foreign concept.
Some districts obviously.
Yeah, that sounded so strange to me as an overseas viewer. As if I'd let a school make that decision for me. I guess if the school is in the middle of the 'hood or something then it won't be a great idea for kids to walk, but that's a different problem entirely and one that the school should only advise not demand.
Probably one of those weird places where children are placed in leftover services if they walk to a park. Unimaginable. How do kids grow up in those places?
I went to school in a really walkable city in the northeast. Kids younger than 8 were not allowed to walk home alone. I don't know what the right age is but I don't think that most 4 year olds are ok on their own. I think their were exceptions for groups but I don't really remember.
@@mayam9575 I think that's fair. Schools have a caretaker function, and letting a 5 year old kid walk home from school sounds super dangerous no matter the infrastructure. But beyond a certain age, I think it should be the parents' choice whether their kid can go to school on his own.
"Yes, my teenage son spends all his free time in his room and I drive him everywhere. How could you tell?"
It gets worse if you have narcissistic parents or ones that resent it. I can't describe how often my sister was called "little miss drive me around" and picked on by my parents for doing intensive sports in an attempt to get a scholarship for university.
that is impressively messed up.
Holy shit I know that feeling.
I had to drop out of the Civil Air Patrol because my mother couldn't be arsed to participate in anything, pay for anything, come to any events, drive me anywhere... My grandmother had to do all of it. My mother likes to talk about all she's done for me but it's weird how today in my 30's she's the only family member I can't look back on and find good times to think of. Just her begrudgingly doing things because she got sick of me asking, or because they benefit her somehow, or she'd go to jail if she didn't do them. It's all negative. The little things don't amount to anything when they're overshadowed by all of the most massive failures.
Narcissistic parents fuck up their kids for the rest of their life. But no one ever thinks they're a narcissistic parent. Try to politely protest your unfair treatment, and you'll get a lecture instead to basically shut up and respect them better because they birthed you.
@@SpadesNeil I have narcissistic parents too. My childhood was so lonely and isolated because I lived in a rural place where my closest neighbors were half a mile apart. I was emotionally neglected and constantly put down. I'm 23 now and I haven't talked to my mother in over a year. My father gets to talk to me once in a while if I'm feeling nice. Narcissists shouldn't have children because all they do is abuse them and fuck them up for the rest of their lives.
She could have had good grades instead to get the same scholarship instead? If she didn't want to be an athlete that is.
Get a license then, how lazy are you people
As a high schooler, this really resonates with me. My family is poor thus my mom only drives when necessary, which means I basically under house arrest most of the time because there aren't any viable alternatives to driving.
Same
@PlasmaStorm73 [N5EVV]
There's no more crime against children now than there was then. Folks are just phobic about it now.
@PlasmaStorm73 [N5EVV] I'm from Australia, sorry about your country
same case here, used to only leave the house like once a month during the summer
@PlasmaStorm73 [N5EVV] You use bikes? We use mountain bikes and hovercrafts LOL
My kids are in middelbare school here in the Netherlands (basically, the equivalent of US middle school), and there is a base assumption that *all* children will go to and from school by themselves. To the point where it is not really socially appropriate to bring your child to school as a parent, because it's inhibiting their independence.
Kids start this kind of schooling when they're 11 or 12.
There are some US neighbourhoods that are better than others, but I don't think there's *any* place in the US where the *majority* of children have this kind of independence at 12. It's insane.
I grew up in NYC and was taking public transportation alone to school in both middle and high school. So were the majority of the other kids. That said, of course NYC is an outlier when it comes to the US/Canada.
Once my family moved to suburbs during high school, I hated living there but could not explain why. A decade later I found your videos that pretty much summed up why i hated moving to the suburbs from the city.
I visited my sister in Den Haag / Voorburg in May, we went for a run at 8am and saw lots of teenagers in sports gear and carrying equipment like hockey sticks cycling alone to their activities. It was nice to see.
in la (or maybe it’s a california thing) you’re supposed to be 12 to go anywhere outside your property on your own. i’ve never broken that law and i can’t anymore because i’m 13, but it’s just sad that that’s true, even though west coast cities are much more walkable than the average american city because we’re so geographically limited by mountains so we have no choice but to build up
In Oregon we grew up riding bikes in the 90s to friend's homes or the store if they were within a few miles. 25-55 MPH traffic. Rode on the should when it was 55 MPH. It really depends on where in the US these days. Suburbs are usually full of paranoid helicopter parents where did get driven everywhere until they can drive (usually 16).
@@deebte__ in Ontario it's 16... The same age you're allowed to drive.
this is exactly why suburbia shows up in "liminal spaces" so much. it's not because of nostalgia, it's because in the traditional sense, liminal spaces are spaces we traverse, merely pass through. like waiting rooms, or the hallway of a mall, or hotel. GET THIS, a freaking residential area is designed like a place that is tantamount to an empty hallway of an old abandoned office building.
I just realized how horrifying that is, like... Shit. We're basically being raised in waiting rooms
It is really terrifying when you think about it that way. Like as someone that doesn't drive im literally stuck at home cause anywhere worth going is MILES away
I never really thought of it that way, but always had a feeling it was something like this. But yeah, you and @Fennel Comeaux are absolutely correct, we're essentially being raised in the equivelant of a waiting room with how suburbia is designed here. That's a pretty scary thing now that I think about it more...
"kids, be thankful for your freedom, now get in the car."
Something that mystifies me is how often you hear the argument that transport must be car first because cars are transport for everyone, while bicycles and buses are not.
As your video excellently points out, practically the opposite is true. Infrastructure that supports walking, biking or transit is infrastructure that brings mobility to everyone. Infrastructure that supports driving only brings mobility to those lucky enough to have access to a car and permission to drive it.
Where I live there is a rich lobbying group who tried to halt the building/planning for a Rail Trail project. Part of their argument was: "trains are not equitable for disabled/elderly" and I was like ???? lol Thankfully people saw through their lies and their proposition failed miserably in the elections.
There’s even some people that might have the money to own a car but they can’t drive for various medical reasons not just the elderly.
I know someone who was in a fire in a car which was not her fault she barely got out alive and she would be able to drive a car but she just can’t do that anymore. And then there’s someone else who is in an accident but it was not a fire and this one’s afraid to drive any more. Both would be OK with public transport but there’s really virtually none in the area.
@@johanna7254 that’s a stupid argument from the lobbying group, , that trains are not for the disabled or elderly.
I noticed in some countries like Germany and I’m sure there’s others if you need helps boarding the train there is always a way to call or give someone notice with the Deutsche Bahn, German rail for a uniformed person to come and help if they needed it. Often they may not need it because the train when the doors are open there’s a layer that goes level with the platform.
It's so many double standards, the normalised status quo
@@enjoyslearningandtravel7957 you'd be very hard pressed to find non - accessible trains in Europe these days. It is part of the laws that public infrastructure MUST be accessible for disabled people.
There is also the paradox that the biggest danger to children walking or cycling to school is often the other parents driving their kids to the same school in a child killer SUV because it is “unsafe” to walk to school.
In the UK a child is expected to walk 1 mile to an elementary school, 1.5 miles to a middle school and 3 miles to a secondary school. Buses will not be provided under that distance.
Another issue is that children who do not walk or cycle become 17 year olds who lack the road sense to drive safely.
Also get rid of the dangerous kill a pedestrian on red rule.
In my town the council does provide busses for 3 mile distance or under.
Don't ask why they just do.
@@davidty2006 Jeez, in the district I live there's free busses for everyone 1 mile away from the school, and everyone within one mile just has to pay for it.
@@jeremyhillaryboob4248 In my town decent chunk of the council ran fleet are tail lifts for students in wheelchairs.
That is quite reasonable use i'd say and i just realised i haven't seen such thing as a US school bus with a tail lift...
I knew one parent who accidentally hit their own child because they didn’t know their child was behind her SUV. The child was injured but not too badly at least because the parent was just backing up. That was before the , back up cameras were invented.
Yes this is true. I lived less than 3 miles from my school so was not entitled to a bus pass. Only ever walked it once though. Both my parents worked. My mum didn't drive and took the bus everyday, because we had a really good bus service, and I had to pay for the school bus everyday. Only people on benefits got a free bus pass, we had to pay for the bus to school.
There was a closer school to me, but my parents wanted me to go to a better one.
It was our choice, but it did work out for the better.
It did mean though that I became independent at a lot younger age. Something that I am thankful for.
Finally, a video that perfectly describes my situation. My whole life I've lived in a suburb where the only way out was to drive; no safe side walks or bike paths and no public transportation. There was even a time when I could have walked to school on my own, but my parents were so paranoid about the unsafe roads or me getting lost that they would drive me anyways. My first (kind-of) independent transportation was in middle school when I first started taking the school bus, which only worked during normal school hours. Whenever I needed to go somewhere for school (or for anything) I would have to ask my parents, who would have the audacity to yell at me for it (I'm not the one who chose to live this far out of the way 20 years ago). As a result, I only ever asked when it was necessary, and I never had much of a social life, did many out-of-school activites, or was able to hold a regular job. (Side note: most jobs I see require driver's licences just for applying which I think is pretty wack and shows just how overly dependent cities are on cars)
A lack of transportation has been a huge source of negativity in my life and I'm grateful that channels like this exist and bring to light the issues that I and many people face. Its especially comforting that you are also from Reno and that you can show places I know as examples of the problems you describe. It further cements that my issues are not an over reaction on my part and that there are real, physical reasons as to why I feel so stuck, and that its not necessarily my fault, as I was always led to believe.
Even though the shit happening, that's why I'm happy to live in Germany. Bike lanes EVERYWHERE(depends on Region but basically everywhere). Bus going every hour(more often in rush hour) from 5 am to 11pm on the main Street. 2 more bus lines which go every 2 hours and not so long plus some school buses. I live in a Village of 1600 people. I even went to the nearest train station by bike a few times(ofcourse hourly trains soon battery Instead of Diesel). To be fair my village has some tourism because the ocean is near. Also I have never been anywhere in Germany where there is not a atleast 2 hourly bus nearby(on weekdays). Ok maybe I flexed a bit to much
Yeah, same here. My parents chose to live on the edge of a suburb, on top of a hill with a 30 mph speed limit (that people regularly ignored) and /no/ infrastructure to make it safe to either walk or bike down. And because they did this, instead of living in the nearby town that actually has some decent (by suburban NA standards) transit and walkability, it meant that I was essentially isolated all of my life. I could get away with a club or two here and there, as long as I made it clear that I needed the ride back (and was willing to endure a potential argument), but beyond that? It was take the school bus or nothing. Getting a job was out of the question, going to see friends was out of the question, being able to just be a normal kid and teenager was out of the question. And because of my disability I never even got the 'freedom' of being able to drive at 16. I'm not going to pin all of the blame for the reason I ended up with massive social anxiety on that, but /it sure didn't help/. And then I look at other places and think about what my life could have been like, and I get so livid about how things are here when we know how to make them better.
My suburb did have safe sidewalks, but everything was so far away and getting there was so miserable that people mostly used them for walking their dogs. And even then, they'd usually do 1 or 2 laps around the block since there aren't any destinations to go to.
"Nobody should have to drive a car to raise a child." Oh my god this is so true. As a college age kid with two younger siblings who aren't moved out yet, my mom still spends hours every day driving the same routes over and over. If I ever have kids, I would raise them in a very walkable environment not only because I don't want to spend my days being a shuttle driver, but because it encourages them to meet people, become more street smart, discover local businesses, increases their fitness, actually know the city inside and out in a much more intimate way, and so much more.
I couldn't have said it better. It's kind of sad how much time parents spend driving their kids around. (I say this as a high school student).
I remember one particular day after a student council meeting in middle school, my phone had went dead so I couldn’t call my mom. I was already aware of how to get back home and since I had no way to contact my mom, I figured I’d walk home. I actually recently did a quick google search, and the distance from the school to my old house was 20 minutes. Very doable. I get home after cutting through the cemetery that was and still is behind the middle school and of course my older sister wasn’t happy and neither was my mother. Like what else was I supposed to do when I had no method of communication available.
A thing that I would like to note is that abusive parents can literally take advantage of our car-centric infrastructure to abuse their children and shelter them for the rest of their lives. If a parent refuses to teach their children driving skills or put them in a driver's ed course, the child will have no other option but to keep relying on their parents. It's absolutely cruel to what extent parents can do in these circumstances.
yes I've seen this before
Whenever I see a line of cars down the street waiting for elementary school to end, I cringe. All that traffic just to pick up kids that don't live more than 3 miles away from the school, Unfortunately. But hey at least they have that huge grass yard space to "run around" on
and then they get bored of the same empty patch of grass they don't even share with friends because they live too far away and aren't driven to your house daily, and then your parents force you to mow that useless patch of fucking grass when you're a teen
I feel this. I live in a small exurban town of about 2,000 near Kansas City, and I cringe whenever I see a car line outside of our elementary school. Most of the students live in town and aren't more than a mile from the school, yet their parents congest our little main street every morning just so they can drive their kids to school. Heck, when I went there I was driven and I only lived half a mile from the school. It just seems so stupid to me now how everyone feels like they must drive their kids to school, when they could easily walk or bike. It is worth noting that every Friday when I went there, I would ride my bicycle to school. Those days were always the best and I remember loving the independence that I rarely ever got to experience.
A study in Australia found that yards have absolutely ZERO impact on any of the benefits they supposedly have, like exercise, green space, etc.
They are usually just wasteful, especially in close suburbs.
And of course most of the cars are still running while those people wait 30 minutes or more.
My grandma's house had a backyard that was more like a jungle, it was very fun to play in. I can only imagine the boredom if it had been an anglo style lawn.
This is a great point to use when discussing car-dependency with people. People love to “think of the children”.
Until it actually requires action or mildly inconveniences them, of course
@@j.c.2240 Couldn't've said it better
@@j.c.2240 think of the children, don't take care of them!
@J C idk I’d imagine driving your child everywhere would be hella inconvenient.
I’ve recently learned about Japan and children mobility. Most schools are close to the kid’s homes so they could walk. The schools and businesses in Japan aren’t zoned like in other places so they are able to exist in neighborhoods. Streets are narrower as well, compared to US roads where they were made for fire truck turn radius. Japan just made their fire trucks smaller. It was in a podcast episode that 99% Invisible did recently called First Errand.
Did they have protected bike line like this video suggest?
@@anubizz3 in my experience there are not as many protected bike lanes as may be found in some European countries in the way that you suggest, but there are many pedestrian/cyclist only routes that make up for that. There is also a larger bike culture as compared to the US in general which creates a safer environment for cyclists
Korea is like this too, I live in a high rise which isn’t much space with 2 kids, but we have access to 6 playgrounds, half a dozen small stores/markets. Takwando, music and art schools. Shops, entertainment, bus taxi and subway stop20 min away
@@jasminewilliams1673 any protected bike line in every street?
@@anubizz3 yes on most streets
As someone who grew up in a small town outside a small-ish city in the east of the Netherlands (Glanerbrug, just outside Enschede, if anyone is curious) in the 90's, this video rings so true for me.
As kids we were so much more independent, I could cycle to a friend's house, me and my 2 sisters walked to our primary school, then later when I started high school in the city, I cycled or took the bus there.
At a relatively young age we could go to a local swimming pool or whatever with a small group of friends without parents having to taxi us back and forth, it was awesome.
I didn't get my driver's license until I was 24, as a student I had a public transport card that gave me free access to public transport on weekdays, why would I need the financial burden of a car? I've had my license for 10 years now and still don't own a car.
I've grown up taking all of that for granted.
Same here! I grew up in a suburb of Stockholm in Sweden and it has been super easy to get wherever I want on my own, especially since I lived a 10 minute walk from a train station. I still don’t have a drivers license at 32 years, cause why would I ever need to drive when I live in a city?
I do want to get a license some time in the future, but I don’t see any reason to own a car unless I move somewhere rural.
That's so incomprehensible as an American. Getting a driver's license is basically mandatory in order to have a life in the suburbs since our public transportation is almost nonexistent, everything is very far away, and biking is very dangerous. Growing up, I didn't know where any of my friends lived so I spent my free time glued to the TV or playing video games (it goes without saying that I don't know how to swim either).
I was lucky enough that the neighboring town had a train station that went to the city, but 1) it was several miles of stroads from my house so I had to drive there 2) the only available parking was quite far from the station so you either had to arrive early or be driven there by someone else 3) the train ride itself was an hour long and 4) the train tickets were pretty expensive
For a while I literally drove a car to a parking lot, then walked to the train station, then took a train to the city, then took a bus to where I actually wanted to go. Nearly 2 hours both ways. It's pretty funny looking back on it
You know why? Because Netherlands is tiny country. Go to Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore, you see similar situation actually even bette because they have excellent public transport(not better bikeline) .
@@anubizz3 Being a large country is a poor excuse. If something works on a small scale, you can do it on a small scale many times in a large country too.
The US has way higher population density than Sweden but still way worse public transport and bike infrastructure and waaay more dangerous roads. Over twice as many deaths per km driven and 5.6 times as many deaths per capita!
The EU consists of multiple states and the US also consists of multiple states. Why would being a federation instead of a union magically make it more difficult to make good and safe infrastructure? If anything it should make it easier to coordinate between the constituents.
@@asdfghyter Sweden have higher population density than USA? You live in earth 335? Yeah murica public transport need to be upgraded not bike line, Tokyo hardly have protected bikeline, and they can move 10x the people than amsterdam . Singapore like amsterdam also flat and it's have more than doubled population density than amsterdam, Which perfect for bike line. Now we see, do it's most population commute by bike? Then why ist only made out less than 5%, just a it more than 2%.
Please don't use public transport as an excuse to get you bikeline agenda. I commute 100% by bike from 11 years old until I graduate from high school. Do I wish I get protected bike line during that time? No I wish there is train station or even better subways.
As a kid, the bus was necessary for me. I lived 4-10 miles from the school depending on where I was living, but I was always confused by how the bus would stop for other students within a 5-10 minute walk to the school
I always walk to school and I definitely understand why people will prefer a bus for 10 mins although mines 20
I am amazed how car-dependence is called a freedom. What kind of freedom is when there are no options? I am grateful to enslaved by a great public transit system of Switzerland where kids either use public transit/bike or walk to school. Guess what are the obesity rates....
Ahhh Switzerland...
Shame those Unitrac's are so expensive...
I guess when children walk or take public transportation or bicycle to school the obesity rate is practically none. I have seen children walk or ride the bicycle to school in Germany
@@enjoyslearningandtravel7957 Exactly and the same is in Netherlands. Children mobility is good for them, suburbs are bad.
@@davidty2006 Unfortunately they are
@@enjoyslearningandtravel7957 actually america just sucks balls at everything this country is a mess but at least Seattle is better than the rest of the country
cycling also allows parents and children a chance to share an activity and interact with their community
I love biking with my 6 year old daughter.
What a shame that a toyota corolla can kill you if you’re riding a bike.
I live in Houston in the suburbs and watching these videos have opened my eyes a lot. You’ll be lucky to find a sidewalk that isn’t In a neighborhood here, without a car there is literally nothing you can do and I absolutely hate it.
I got really lucky in my childhood. Although I lived in an unwalkable area, I got a skateboard. This necessitated that I go out onto the street since it was smooth pavement, and because going up and down my street got boring, I'd go a little further afield sometimes. This taught me so much about a neighborhood I never learned anything about before. I learned it was super easy to go to the nearby park. There was a creek that was awesome for exploring. Eventually I got brave enough to cross the highway overpass and got access to fast food and a few other stores. It wasn't much, and could have been a lot better.
But just like you said in the video, before that, my only experience was my front yard and the block I lived on. The furthest I would go is my friends house, all of whom were at most 4 houses down the road. It was a very small, confining world, and I only wish I learned there was way more to see and do earlier in life.
Like waking up and realizing you slept all your life.
@@brokkrep Exactly. And it sucked, because I didn't figure any of this out til maybe 13-14? I can't imagine all the fun stuff I could have been doing between the ages of 9-12 if I knew it was even an option.
@@heychrisfox You really did get lucky! Even though I have a bike and Skateboard, I can't leave my street because there are literally no safe streets that lead anywhere. Every place worth going to is inaccessible because the roads are full of speeding cars, blind turns, and no sidewalks or shoulders on the side of the road. I'm trapped until I can get my driver's license and even then I'd have to wait for my parents to not be using their cars to be able to go anywhere.
This video made me cry.
I've felt so lonely and hurt about the fact that I see all my friends and piers constantly hanging out, walking to school together, going shopping, etc; while I can only visit friends for like 3 hours once/twice a year if I'm lucky, because my parents are so exhausted from driving me and my siblings everywhere BUT ALSO don't trust I won't get assaulted or ran over and such. I feel robbed.
I've gotten called ungrateful SO VERY often by adults when I've voiced my frustrations, which (reasonably) upsets me A LOT, because I's not as dumb as the typical "just do what the other kids do" I wanna live MY life, while the sadness of never ever being able to experience those things while seeing everybody else do it (and never get hurt or anything, might I add), just makes me dive deeper into the virtual world.
I have zero social skills.
My parents wont let me go to therapy.
I have to watch as my teenage years slip by, slowly getting pushed to this ledge that is the real world and fending off for myself, which feels like being thrown off a plane without a parachute and being expected to fly.
This sucks so much.
Goddamit.. (sorry for the rant. I'm just so stuck and it's very unfair. I know I could have it way worse, but like, this will and has f*cked my life in many levels)
this hit a little too close to home for me as well
this resonates hard. my parents grew up just outside the city and got to walk/bike to school, friend's houses, etc. i grew up in rural hell and visited friends about once a year because everyone lived 30 miles away. i'm tempted to show this to them but they'd probably start spouting some bullshit about liberal conspiracies and excuses to be lazy and how the american dream is to raise kids in solitary confinement.
Mad because you didn't grow up in a concrete hellhole
Might be too political but I’m wondering if there’s any political brainwashing involved.
@@LakeofCrystalclan no just cheaper houses, bills...
for example a house in Denver Colorado is the same price as 100 acres in Kentucky + to point you can even build a house on it, i live semi rural but not Kentucky, Kansas, mountain rural
we pay just around $50 for garbage and sewage each bill
1. Get new friends
Big problem in us is that everything is so far apart.its a 30 minute DRIVE to school for me, and i live in a suburban area.
my childhood home was a block away from the school district and i was able to walk to school for the entirety of my k-12 education. i really appreciated this and i strongly opposed moving to a nicer house in a different part of town because that would mean no longer being able to walk to school, i would have to drive/be driven and i really did not want to lose that freedoml. i currently live in a walkable city and it is something i do not take for granted and i an very vocal about the benefits of living in a place where you aren't dependent on a car. i imagine i would not feel quite as strongly about the benefits of pedestrian/transit centered development if i wasn't able to experience the freedom of being able to walk to school/friends houses as a child.
I saw the title and immediately had flashbacks. I grew up where my neighborhood turned directly off a highway and I was never allowed to walk anywhere by myself, even if I could there was nothing really within walking distance of my house. My parents would hold their power over me as my only transport to get to friends/work/activities. Now looking back I had a very lonely teenage life because I couldn’t have the autonomy to hang out with any friends, and my parents wouldn’t drive me. I wasn’t allowed to ride in friends cars when I was older either. Just isolation. I graduated high school severely depressed and with no friends.
i had the same depressing experience as well
I work as a bus aide for a SoCal school district, the driver shortage is desperate even the boss has a route. They don’t even transport high school kids (unless they are special needs) but what the county transportation agency is doing is having kids 14 and up ride the city bus for free. There’s good and bad to this idea but the concept is good to me and the program is extended for this school year too. I think California wants to pass legislation to go above that and have individuals 25 and younger ride the bus for free statewide.
This is a great idea. City busses work even if the student is late for whatever reason or if one bus doesn't run, there is a next one.
Shouldn't the bus company... hire new drivers instead?
@@KyrieFortune I am a bus driver and it just isn't so simple. Recruitment efforts aren't yielding results and turnover is relatively bad.
The first problem is pay, more people would start for more money
But the second problem is parents and school administrators. Drivers can take a lot of crap from the kids but we get mad when they aren't disciplined by parents or schools. I had a fight on my bus, school policy says it's a suspension from bus privileges, but the parents and administrators just wave it and let the kids ride the next day.
The third problem is transportation leadership, this may vary but bosses can suck here as well. Even though they drive as well. Last minute requests to drive trips/cover routes and good luck getting that vacation request through.
I grew up in Germany so schools were serviced by public transport anyways but that sounds like something worthy to expand
It's pretty normal in the UK for the public bus system to put on specific buses for schoolkids. Not that it is for school kids only, just that they happen to arrive outside of secondary schools like 15 minutes before the start time. It's still a public bus, but if your child qualifies for free school transport (ie the council deems it too far or dangerous to walk) then they will pay for the public bus fare.
This video just makes me appreciate being raised in nyc with free transportation being a given for nearly all students below college age. Plus since transport is so accessible there’s no need to go to any specified school (districts/ zones and whatnot). Hell I even commuted to a high school 7 miles away with a two hour two bus ride while there was another one 15 minutes walking distance
When I was a kid watching American cartoons, it always seemed weird to me how kids had to take a bus to school. I grew up in an old soviet apartment block and my school was just 300 metres away from it. A little stroll through a park.
Twenty years later and I still don't have a license. Never needed one
I don't live in the United States but my country is car centric, so I can relate.
I was 7 when I started swimming. And fell in love with the sport. And started competitive swimming at 8 by choice. And I was good at it. However, I stopped swimming all together after I turned 11 years old.
Because, at the time. My family moved homes, and the new one it's more further to the swimming complex than the old house. And worse of all. It's at the outskirts of the city. And the neighborhood is near to a major highway that people use to get in and out of the city. And in recent years the city's economic prospects are getting better and it being a state capital. So, logically it's will bring in people living nearby towns and villages to the city to find work. So, car traffic significantly increased over the years. Which means traffic jams are even more longer. And since my training ends at the beginning of the rush hour, and with the combination of my mom's terrible driving at night. (As, she is not a good driver to begin with)
So, I decided for the sake of my sanity, my mom health and for our safety. I stopped my swimming. And over the years, I gotten more isolated, more fatter and played more video games.
Currently, 18. And patiently waiting for the time to get out of the house and study abroad.
Seems typical of all children in suburban hell. House arrest until you're 18, perhaps 22
My pool is at least walking distance but my mom NEVER WALKS so I have to carpool
what's your country?
@@humanleader184 Malaysia
Yes!!! I'm sure I'm not the only one that, despite growing up in a relatively safe neighborhood with access to good schools, felt a burning boredom from the inability to go anywhere interesting or useful without being driven around. It's interesting to look back now and see the kind of burden that imparted on our family and on everyone else in that town.
Absolutely, and it makes perfect sense why kids play so much video games, they have literally nothing better to do!
@@viccasaur that was all I did as a kid, because if I wanted to go anywhere else it was impossible to get there without a car
In fact the reality of children being independent never dawned on me until I was much older and began seeing these urbanist videos... I had always just assumed you were stuck at home until 16, like I was.
@@Ferrichrome wow, really sad I guess I had a somewhat charmed childhood because I could play hide and go seek and tag with the other children in my neighborhood since it was allowed. Those were really fun times and whenever a new child moved in then we would meet them. But we couldn’t bike so far because then there was busy streets with no bike lanes.
I've heard so many kids say "what do I do walk around my suburb all day?" and they get ridiculed by people who can drive (supposedly about attention spans), but it's true, and in some countries it's quite recent that kids can no longer get around to anywhere.
I’ve always been peeved at my inability to drive (16, just got my license in June) because I’m a natural extrovert and love to talk, see, do, experience, etc. I’m a get up and go type of person, but my family are chronically burnt out introverts. I never left the house except for school until June. I never went to parties, had neighborhood friends, went places after switching from homeschool to public school. I was medicated for depressive symptoms starting age 10 because I was miserable, but I think I was just isolated and lonely. Makes me wonder how many teenage mental health problems are a result of social isolation
I used to live in Ukraine before moving to the US a couple of years back and it honestly took me by surprise how TRULY lonely transportation is here. I used to walk to school, knew kids that biked that lived farther away. The only times Id even *be* in a car would be to travel longer distances somewhere in the city, not even to the store.
I don't know exactly how it is on other countries, but I am pretty sure that the US is basically the worst case of this, as the cities were built at a time where cars were already on the nose, basically making it impossible to LIVE in this country without a vehicle.
I also noticed myself personally just becoming more antisocial and just shut off as life simply turned super boring. You spend your time in the house, get in the car, get where you need to, spend your time there, car, house, and that's the whole routine. Life like this has no sense of adventure and you simply aren't able to connect with people outside of school or work.
I feel more present on my 4 minute walk to my house from the school bus stop then I do during the entire day.
I do believe that countries in Europe don't have this problem be nearly as prevalent as in the US, but frankly, everywhere around the world, transportation is being prioritized over people actually using their bodies to get somewhere. Its depressing
Experienced by atleast 200 Million Americans during their lifetimes!
I had never really thought about this, as a teenager, I actually am learning to drive and I’m 15.
Im currently in a driving “school” where they teach you how to drive, what to look out for, what to do and not do, every sign and what they mean, and multiple sayings that help with remembering what to do and not to do
I have never been allowed to go outside by myself til I was about 10 or 11 because they were scared that I would get stolen or harassed. My father still gets worried when me and my sister waits for the bus because they think someone will steal us. And yea, there have been times when I’ve seen cars drive slowly toward me but immediately speed up when the bus comes by.
I don’t really know anything about my town either. I’ve kinda been cooped up in the house cuz of this, and it makes me pretty bad at social shit
Doesn’t help that when I was in elementary I chose not to go to anyones house because my family would always tell me no in fear I would get molested… then in middle school I didn’t go to anyones house again cuz I assumed I would get a bunch of no, and I’ve still never been to a friends house and im in highschool
They seemed to realize that made me super antisocial though, cuz they let my sister do all that stuff…
Now I choose just not to go anywhere cuz I don’t know what to do… ive been to family houses but I’d usually end up just locking myself in a room cuz I don’t know what to do.
I've recently realized my poor cousins are stuck in an exurb where the only way of getting anywhere is by car. The closest destination to them is a 15 minute drive on narrow country roads with no sidewalks. I hate they're growing up thinking that's normal, not knowing how much better it could have been.
@@darklibertario5001 Poverty has to do with what you can afford and many barely scrape by in large part due to how expensive car ownership is. If I were to ditch my bike and buy a car I'd probably be in the negative even I didn't have to make car payments.
@@darklibertario5001 I'm realizing you may have interpreted "poor cousins" as meaning they're strapped for cash when they aren't.
In rural areas people have been walking long distances and riding busses/or taking horse and buggy to school for years. It is part of the sacrifice to live in a rural area.
But they get the benefit on not growing up in a concrete hellhole
@@AlabamaBoiz Ah yes the two forms of development: shitty exurb and concrete hellhole. There is certainly no middle ground, none at all.
As a former school bus driver (and former public schools student) I very much agree with this. My skateboard got ran over on my very last day of high school when it rolled away from me into traffic on a road with cars going in excess of 50 mph that I had to cross every day. If I had tried to run after it, I might not be typing this.
Also, I noticed now that I am an adult that often the parents that come to pick up their children with their gigantic SUVs are not just waiting on the school property and turn around for their children to come out but blocking all those streets around the school since there’s so many parents that need to pick up their children and this was before Covid that I noticed this. Not just because there’s no buses.
This is due to America's car dependant society. If we make more pedestrian friendly cities, kids can walk to school easier and less kids will need to take the bus or drive.
My parents loathed driving so much that they would guilt trip me everytime I needed a ride to an extracurricular or a friend in the suburbs. I don't blame them for hating to drive but it was really messed up that they would blame me for wanting to have a life, and go to public comment transit meetings to advocate AGAINST better transit in our neighborhood. Getting a bus card in high school made me feel so much freer. My city didn't have great service frequency, and I experienced lots of a violence and harassment on transit, so it certainly wasn't ideal but this idea that car = freedom is a joke
I’m 23 in my last years of teen hood ( 18 and 19 ) I walked to lunch across the street from my college. I don’t drive yet but I feel I have a stronger sense of street safety and awareness than my sister aged 24 who drives like a crazy lady.
Car dependency is one of the reasons why I hesitate to even visit my aunt who lives in the US let alone accept her offer of providing accommodation for me if I chose to get the foreign work experience I want in the US. I suffer from epilepsy and therefore I'm forbiden from owning a driving license. My main source of transportation are my legs. If I have the time and opportunity to chose walking before different kind of transport, I always do. I have no one who can drive me around, I'm dependent only on myself and public transport. Where I live public transport is nowhere near ideal, you have to adapt your schedule (work, shopping, free time... everything) around the bus' schedule. If you miss the bus, you have a problem as depending on the line it's 2-8 hours of waiting for another and if you miss the last one then good luck walking 29 kilometres (18 miles) home in the middle of the night on an unlit road, that is if you don't want to sleep on a train station waiting to 6AM for the first morning bus. But guess what, those buses still works better than those in the US as they still have a reasonable route and even the schedule is quite reasonable considering those are NOT city buses. Their purpose is to connect the city with nearby villages to provide a transportation to the elderly, children, disabled and poor people living in those villages. Those who can't drive or afford a car. And even those who have and can drive a car here often chose the bus if they can as it is cheaper, safer and less work than driving a car. US' hostility towards public transport and pedestrians will never fail to amaze and shock me as European.
All of this is made much, much worse with the fact that people are driving these massive trucks that are essentially mini-tanks. Car sizes are increasing with every generation and people are okay with that because it means they can drive in luxury... Ahh, true freedom!
Adding on the fact that teens can drive these vehicles makes for a disgusting state of affairs for these pedestrian-hostile environments.
The bus driver shortage is not just about the hourly rate. It requires a much bigger explanation and is rooted in a lot of other problems unattended for decades and that Covid 19 helped to highlight.
I agree with the Not Just Bikes posting. In Helsinki, 7 year old kids ride the trams by themselves. Schools are never located in a place that would require crossing the few really busy intersections.
I’m so lucky to have grown up in a walkable suburb. I was able to walk to school, stores, restaurants, libraries, etc. and when i couldn’t, i was able to take public transportation easily. I loved it so much i moved back because i feel a greater sense of freedom not being constrained in a car
FINALLY SOMEONE TALKING ABOUYT THISS!!! i felt so much more independent as a 10 year old going to school choosing if i want to ride on a bike , walk, go on the bus, etc. in europe then as a highschooler in america.
lol helpless
Yes to the active care giver thing! After my dad taught my brother and me how to ride our bikes in, I loved going out for rides with him! And it really did help me to understand our neighborhood and navigate our town on my own. After that, I desperately wanted to ride my bike to school, but I nearly clipped by a car once practicing riding by myself and it totally made me go "nuh uh, no way. Multiply that by all the children that are driven to school? HARD PASS" because I had only been practicing during times not too many cars were around in the first place. And it wasn't even my fault, these people aren't paying attention to anything that isn't a car!! Which is wild to me because my parents and grandma were always so conscientious of pedestrians and cyclists when they drove me around, I had no idea that wasn't the norm.
And of course, at 15 1/2 (because that when you can start learning in california) my parents wanted me to learn to drive, and I HATED IT! It's one of the most boring tasks ever, but it's also super dangerous, literally my worst nightmare. (Later found out I had ADHD, and people with ADHD often struggle with driving for various reasons, obviously) but I cannot believe everyone is just okay letting teenagers pilot 2 ton metal death machines that can go at incredible speeds? Even as a teenager I thought that was a horrendous idea and I did not trust myself at all. Still don't have my driver's license to this day (I'm 24), I hate driving so much but I can't put it off any longer. Hoping for a future where I don't have to drive at all though.
Excellent video!!! I also live in Reno, NV and I grew up here. I was raised in suburbia 🏘 in a single family home in stead. This video really resonates with me and I can also relate to this situation. I had to deal with the lack of transportation and being dependent on my parents to take me to school and other places. The RTC bus stop was 20 minutes from my house. I never had the chance to be independent during my childhood and adolescent years. My parents were very overprotective and anxious about me going to places on my own by taking the bus, cycling, walking, or driving to a place I wanted to go. I missed out on a lot of events, social activities, etc.. My parents drove me to school everyday because the middle and elementary schools that I went to didn’t have any school buses and I started taking the school bus during my freshman year of high school and throughout all of my years in high school, I had to take the school bus.
I live in Korea now, I almost don’t want to move my kids back to the US due to hindering them as independent people. They have so many options not including public transportation options (plentiful). I detest back home, you are basically a bus. And basically most parents both have to work! I was an essential worker!
everyone, not just children, deserves more independent, inexpensive, public transportation
Walkable planning doesn’t just benefit children but also neurodivergent people. For a lot of people on the spectrum (like moi), driving can either be a literal sensory hell or simply just impossible due to a variety of physical/mental issues. I started learning to drive super late for a variety of reasons and I’m on my second permit. But I have to say that even if I were to get my license, I would rather restrict my driving to a couple of areas rather than relying on it as a necessity to go everywhere simply because it is a lot for someone like me. I enjoy taking the bus as well but the problem is it takes an hour and a half to get to my college which is a 20 minute drive. Ofc, everyone on the spectrum is different but I bet I’m not the only one who feels this way about driving and would benefit from other options.
I was one of the lucky ones who was very close to my school and could walk there everyday to and from my house. I only took the bus in the very beginning years of education in another city until I had to move back to the city I was born in. The fact of the matter is that I learned all about the path I could take to and from school and I am grateful that I did because when I finally got a car I could drive, I could actually appreciate being able to go places that I wanted to when I was ready. I feel bad for other kids who don't have the same chances to go from place to place the way I had because I feel like they are missing out on one of the personal freedoms that they should have and that is being able to go where you want the way you want to.
(Living in the UK) As a kid, I had a bus pass to get me to and from school. The freedom this gave me and my friends was amazing. On weekends we could get the bus to another town which had a great library, or if we just wanted to see some different scenery, or if we just felt like going for a ride. It was really great.
This is the benefit of using the usual and local service provider instead of doing it inhouse, either through an edited route or a dedicated one. It gives children options for that ENTIRE service provider and it just during school times.
As someone who has lived in US suburbs my whole life, being able to ride to another town actually sounds incredible. Legitimately jaw dropping. In the US you would be interrogated by adults when you aren't at home on a weekend, then stopped at the bus about where your parents are, then arrested at the other town for not being with your parents, and then your parents would be slapped with a fine, or you could even be separated for "irresponsible parenting".
This is a great video and I this is a perfect argument to make people more open minded to many of the things urbaninsts are looking for. Whether we like it or not people care more about their kids than they do elderly people, disabled people, bicyclist, pedestrians, low income people, and really anyone outside of a car. More transit and pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure not only gives young people more mobility but it also makes public places safer by adding more "eyes on the street" and even frees up time for their parents who would no longer have to chofer their children around. "Think of the children" is such a solidly defensible stance that even conspiracy theorists have co opted it to legitimize their, frankly bonkers, ideas. Of course, helping young people gain more mobility and independence is worth fighting for in and of itself but it will also positively impact the lives of others.
I’m not elderly or disabled or low income but I am really strongly !!! for a more walkable and bikeable and public transit cities and towns when possible. I would like a choice instead of always having to drive.
@@enjoyslearningandtravel7957 Exactly. You don't have to be any of those things to benefit from more walkink, bikeing, and transit infrastructure. 🙂
@@veenorelation4008 True! Everybody can benefit from fitness and health or if they cannot walk or bicycle they can benefit from good transit infrastructure :)
A natural tendency to put the young over the weak and vulnerable in terms of concern might have come from an evolutionary reason of the young needing attention and help to grow into adults, it’s a massive investment and by another reason, a weak and vulnerable person is typically viewed as not worth helping when it comes to survival, while I understand that the notion “think of the children” has been overused and misused so much, it is evolutionarily speaking the best argument to make for our species, if not one of the top 5 for getting adults on board. It’s a attention grabber, not an argument.
As someone who grew up with a single mom who didn't drive, I feel this. I feel sometimes completely shut out from society due to the fact I myself can't drive and am often expected to shill out literally hundreds of dollars I don't have to pay someone to teach me to drive. At the very least, give us bike zones.
walk
@@_Code_3 1. Jobs can turn you away if you don't have a source of transportation.
2. Not every city has a public transport system, and Ubers are expensive.
3. You can only walk so far. It is not energy efficient in comparison to riding a bike, and you can also travel farther biking than walking.
4. Even with all of this said, not every road or path has a sidewalk and not all sidewalks present run the entire stretch of the road, making some places completely inaccessible to people in wheelchairs, parents with strollers, and other such people.
@@persephonehades7547 idc I have a car
@@_Code_3 Child with a car, maybe.
@@persephonehades7547 I’m 47
I'm 14, and I'm in 8th grade. I had a bike, but it got stolen. I forgot to lock it up ONE time in my SCHOOL'S bike lock overnight. He refuses to buy me another bike so I "learn my lesson." I get it, I should've locked my bike up, and I should be more careful, but even when I had that bike, he never let me even go to the library around the corner by myself on it. I can't go farther than the park that's only a quarter mile away from me by myself. I don't blame him though. He's seen a lot of his friends and people get hit by cars, usually by the driver's incompetence. I don't get why neighborhoods are so "car-friendly," but not people-friendly. He always tells me stories about how his friends rode his bike everywhere, and how cool it was to just get on his bike in the morning and not come back until dinner was ready. That was the 80's. Now I don't see anyone outside when I go through my neighborhood, not even at the park.
when i was little i never wanted to go outside to play, utterly mystifying my parents. but there was nothing to do! no kids lived even close to me, the only playground nearby was a couple of swings in my subdivision, and i couldn’t walk anywhere more fun to meet other kids either!
what was i supposed to do???
6:40 I’m 16 and am terrified of driving for these reasons. I don’t have my license yet, the thought of controlling a 7 ton death machine is terrifying and no laughing matter.
I don't think that most cars weigh 7 tons, most probably weight between .75 and 2.5, still terrifying though, we should replace them with safer methods of transport like bicycles or trains.
I also feel there is a component of overprotection paranoia on part of some parents that adds to a negative feedback loop making the problem worse. Some of my daughters peers lived inside the residential area close to the elementary school with no large streets to cross yet they still drove their kids. And in doing so just contributed to making it more dangerous by putting additional cars on the roads.
Yes! All of this is so true!
Even before my 15th birthday, my mom was telling me to read the driver’s manual, to learn how to drive. And what you said about children not being able to familiarize themselves with their neighborhood if they are being driven is also so true! I have lived in the same town my whole life, and yet before I could drive I did not know how to get anywhere in my city! You just can’t process the directions while passively riding in a car.
Before I could drive, if I wanted to see my friends, I had to plan a date usually a week or two in advance. I had no friends outside of school, because I wasn’t able to go anywhere outside of school. Even when I moved, and I lived 0.8 miles from my school (I went to the same private school my whole life, so being that close for me wasn’t as normal), I couldn’t walk to school. There was a busy road along the way to school that was too dangerous for pedestrians, so I ended up being driven every day when walking would have only taken 10-20 minutes. I wasn’t even allowed to venture outside of my cul-de-sac alone because the one sidewalk that ran along the road we were connected to was a fairly busy sidewalk, and my mother didn’t want me getting kidnapped. The only places I went regularly were school, church, and my house.
When I went to visit my dad and step-mom in DC, they often would offer to let me walk out on my own, or to go to a store a few blocks away on my own. I would never go, however, because I wasn’t used to that kind of independence, and I didn’t feel safe. I wonder how different it would be if I had had some sort of independent mobility as a kid…
It’s sad just how much more independent my childhood could’ve been, but wasn’t.
You addressed something that has been creeping at the back of my mind for a while, I can't thank you enough! I live in a private neighborhood sorrounded by roads with no sidewalks. I sometimes even dream of walking around in these roads and see the cars drive by, even though I've never walked there in real life before.
We were punished if we walked to school and the security guards directing traffic caught us. Grades 7-9th (2007-2009)
every time you mention bikes, I'm reminded of the fact that I never actually learned how to ride one. I mean, I kinda did, I know how to work an exercise bike, but actual, mobile bikes intimidate me, because I'm scared that if I stop, I'll fall over, crack my head on the sidewalk, and die. Purely because my bike got stolen, and my mom never replaced it, because she, too, was afraid that I'd fall over, crack my head on the sidewalk, and die.
I'll never stop being ashamed and bitter about the fact that my development was stunted like this, or that it was all because of random, arbitrary happenstance and an overprotective mother. She also didn't let me use scissors until kindergarten, not even safety scissors, which meant I didn't know how to use them when I got to kindergarten.
And when I reflect on my own experiences growing up, in the context of this video and many others centered around the intersections of childhood development and city planning, I can definitely see how, even though my parents are pretty good about respecting my personhood, we still live in a society that doesn't.
Even now that I'm an adult, I don't have a driver's license yet, partly because I'm poor and can't afford lessons, and partly because I'm autistic and unsure if I can figure out something that complex. And society punishes me for that, punishes me for trying to be an independent adult without going through the whole rigamarole of getting a license. The message is clear: You either stop being a baby and do things our way, or you will constantly be pushed back into the role of the state's eternal child.
I have walked and biked to school since Kindergarten, and I still do so now that I’m in High School. And I probably still will in college. It gave me independence as a child, which I remember really liking. My neighborhood is safe, there are a few sidewalks on my paths, so obviously I’m a lot more privileged than some kids are/were. My elementary school route was using the alley behind my house, for middle school it was even shorter, just a 2 minute walk. And now for high school, my alternative program is located in a college campus building, so there are a lot of bike paths. Its about a half a mile walk. I just wish that other kids could do the same as I did/do.
As a child I remember growing up in my English town and wondering why school buses were so common in American society, they were in every American film, and when I watched my favourite TH-camrs build cities in SimCity they always placed school bus stops all over the town so kids could catch a ride to school, it seemed so foreign to me that they’d drive when in the world I grew up in every morning mum would walk me and later on my two siblings to the primary school 5 minutes away, and we’d walk back at the end of the day. We rarely every drove since the distance was so short, and I couldn’t imagine that people would build towns without sidewalks, good foot paths, or schools and shops close by, it just seemed to strange, the only place I’d ever been without footpaths was in Portugal, where the small fishing villages we visited only had footpaths in the town’s central areas, we always just chalked this up to the recession they were having but in hindsight they’re probably lacking since in the less busy areas people just walk in the road and on the main roads the distances between villages were too long to warrant footpaths.
Of course now I know the truth, in america they’re forced to use school buses or drive because the infrastructure is so poor and the suburban design is too low-density. It really makes me feel guilty for the amount of times I’ve been driven to school by mum, because we all have bad sleep schedules we’ve become more and more car reliant to get all of us to places on time, even if we woke up early getting to 3 different schools on foot would be difficult in time. I’m gonna be turning over a new leaf and walking to and from my college since I’m lucky enough to live in a neighbourhood like mine, and I’m hoping I can convince mum to let my siblings start walking by themselves soon.
You know why? England is tiny it even smaller that 1 of murica states.
@@anubizz3 Also because things were designed differently. Higher density places with good public transit can work well even in America, look at the old streetcar suburbs. Walkable, more dense but not quite city like neighborhoods, with good public transit. They wouldn’t need school buses traditionally as people could walk, cycle, or take the streetcars.
@@justanotheryoutubechannel High density place also have its downside, like crime , drug use, violence and so on.
My city Cbd is full of protected bike lines some even sacrifice hybrid (bus lane/ parking). high school near my office, have protected bike line in front of it, and train station and trams 1 block away. Almost NO Student ride to that school.
Contras that to my son school in suburb, yes there is one big road in front of it but all in the back is low density house, along high rise apartments 2 block away in suburbs center, NO protected bike line at all. Guest what alot of the students ride a bike to school.
Protected bike lines never an answer, frequent public transport are and most importantly security( nothing to do with car) for student to walk or bike to school.
Japan is an example for this, extremely low crime, good public transport. Even kids as little as 6 years old commute to schools by themselves, again no protected bike line necessary.
I love the bike channel like this using public transport as a selling point for their agenda. Where in fact they actually hurt certain type of public transport.
@@anubizz3 Not a real argument. The problem is density, not size. England has a population of 56 million, up there with the most populous states of the US.
@@anubizz3 yeah my school wasn’t in another state, it was still relatively close, that’s not an argument. I just wasn’t allowed to walk because getting there involved crossing a main road. So instead of getting a crossing guard, we all had to be driven.
I’ve visited England, and let me tell you, it’s a world of difference. Their public transportation is clean, safe, accessible, and London has wide sidewalks where you never feel like you’re about to fall into the road.
Biking as a kid was terrifying. I did it because I wanted mobility but my life shouldn't have so regularly been put in danger.
Watching this makes me feel so lucky that I was born in the UK and was able to easily walk to school (1 mile away). I also used to cycle, which was more difficult because we didn't really have bike lanes, but the paths were wide enough that I could mostly cycle on them until I was old enough to cycle on the road. Doing that was a bit scary at times, but not so scary it put me off completely. The main road to my school was 2 lanes, not that wide and had a 30mph speed limit, so not too bad.
Thats the case for a majority of UK schools.
Also theres improptu crossings set up as well to help people walking cross the super busy school roads.
Germany was reassuring around me
we should also consider how the needs for transportation to school, and how they stagger timings of school buses, affect school start times. why can’t kids take normal transit buses that run regularly and have reasonable school start times, with extra school buses only for places not well served by existing routes?
idk what the typical stats are about minimum age for solo bus riding and who gives students free bus passes
Kids from age 7 use public transport on their own here. Have never heard about it being a problem. Parents make sure they know the route to school before they start first year, and where to change buses if that's needed. If they need help once they are on their own they simply ask other passengers or the driver.
I used transit buses for high school and got sexually harassed by adults frequently. I did like the fact that if I missed the first bus I could just take another. I don't know the solution for the harassment problem, and I doubt it would be cheap enough to be attractive. But we really need to make sure EVERYONE can feel alright on the train and the bus. The online urbanism space seems pretty male-dominated so I see this overlooked most of the time
Some towns aren't big enough for a transit system
I live in a town of around 10,000 people. The city is small enough to need maybe 5 busses at best.
I don't even ride public transport as an adult because of the inevitable homeless guy who starts accosting people.
Independent walking to school ended in the UK because we had a huge panic about 'stranger danger,' then the media fanning more panics over pedophiles. The common attitude here nos is that there's a sex offender hiding around every corner, and only the most negligent of parents would let any child under eighteen out of adult supervision for a moment. Walking to school is still common, but never independently. A child walking alone would attract immediate attention from well-meaning strangers calling police.
My son is 10 years old and has just realized that he can get home from school in 10 minutes if he walks home instead of the 35 mins on the school bus.
He even runs home to beat his best time.
He was in before and after care, but now we trust him to get to school by himself and home by himself.
It's saving us $350 a month by him not going to before and after care.
We were going to wait until he was 11, but he seems more than capable of doing this at 10 years old.
He starts school at 9.00 and me and my wife are out of the house at 7.30.
I personally believe the responsibility is a good thing.
Although we live in a suburban setting, there are a ton of kids his age around us and he is always on his bike and out the house. He even plays street hockey with all the other kids, even when it's -15 degrees celsius.
I believe there are alot of opportunities for kids, I think alot of the time it's the parents holding the kids back.
Great video and as a non-driver myself I couldn't agree more. More pedestrian and cyclist friendly infrastructure would also mean few cars not he roads so would make things better for car drivers too.
based on the title and thumbnail, i honestly thought this was gonna be about disability accessibility, and how for disabled students, it takes entirely too much time, and several adults to get them on and off school buses and into the building.
plus other mobility accessibility stuff related to schools, but thats just what my first thought was. still VERY much a good video, and points that need to be talked about more when we talk about city/neighborhood design AND education
As a crossing guard during COVID, those cars are crazy.
Also, my school didn't even have a side walks. I missed the bus and most of the way I didn't have side walk. I had to cross a bridge that didn't have a sidewalk.
Had a project in Kentucky earlier this year. Saw so many school buses on I-65 on the way to Louisville. Depressing to imagine daily childhood trips like that, with literally no other option besides the same endless stretches of roads, surrounded by cars and not even any interesting buildings. At least the bus is just one vehicle, instead of many cars carrying same number of kids. But it's still no way to make children explorative. Wish at least streetcar suburbs were still the norm, would help with environmental knowledge and alternatives to driving.
When I first moved to Edmonton, AB at age 26, from my very small car-dominated prairie city, it was my first experience living in a large city, and I drove everywhere (because I didn't know how transit worked yet). Each trip I made anywhere was a harrowing experience, as I'd never really experienced driving in such a big fast traffic system, and it didn't help that I was always lost and unable to find my way back (this was just two years before Google maps on smart phones). So, I would drive about 10KM from my house on the North end of the city down the Wayne Gretzky freeway to the Capilano mall to do all of my shopping, and to even just grab McDonalds or Tim Hortons, because it was the easiest most direct route to a shopping center that was directly off the main road and wouldn't get me lost in some strange neighborhood.
Then, because I was only working part time, I had to pull the insurance on my car to save money, but luckily had a roommate with a car who would take me shopping. The first shopping trip we took was a 5 minute drive to the Northgate mall, which was about 2 blocks north of where we lived. It had a McDonalds and a Tim Hortons. 2 Blocks away.
2. Blocks. Away! 😫
After that, I was kind of forced into walking and using transit, which was great in the long run. I found entire neighborhoods and areas I had no idea existed and probably wouldn't have found if I was still driving. And here's the peculiar thing about it: after I got driving again (almost a year later), I was a way better driver. I was no longer always lost and panicking to find exits, or turning onto one way streets. I was just overall more aware, even behind the wheel, and I exclusively attribute this to getting to know the city as a pedestrian.
I see this stuff and I think about how in Japan streets are so safe to walk on there are reality shows based around the concept of four-year-olds running their first errands by themselves.
I let my 3 year old ride his balance bike infront of me while I walk or bike behind him, he stops at the roads, but there isn't a huge amount of traffic in the scheme, lot's of open space. He knows how to get to the park, the shops, nursery and has a map of important landmarks he expects to see along the way, you know this because he will point familliar objects out and direct us what route to take. It is nice that he can have enough freedom to explore his environment a little while we follow and keep an eye on him, especially when toddlers fight so hard to find little things they can do themselves and have to be told no constantly, leading us to the park or the local shop makes him feel important and involved, but only if he listens- really good for his development. It is also good to know that he already knows most of the area by foot and can navigate it himself, he will be able to get a lot more independence growing up because the neighbourhood is safe.
What country do you live in?
As a British student I've never understood school buses. We do have them for students who live far away from the school but the vast majority of us walk or cycle. Younger children are walked to school by their parents and school traffic does exist, although I doubt it's on the same scale as schools across the pond as to my knowledge, zoning law means schools in the US are larger and need to serve a significantly larger area than schools in most European countries.
School buses are common, but not in the way the US would think of them.
Most the time, they are just a regular service that changes its route to go through the school. On the more popular lines, it may be a dedicated route for students but it will still be a usual service bus. And usually double-decker. And then you get the weird mix where the route only exists to serve the School, but doesn't only serve the School.
In the US, the school might not even be surrounded by sidewalks, and if it is those sidewalks will go through a parking lot bigger than the school. And the huge roads outside the school will literally be packed with cars for miles.
Bus comes around at 6:30 in the morning I never get up before 6:30 so I need to be driven to school but then I take the bus home
bahaha actually I wish I could drive to school my school bus comes at 5:55am, getting my license soon tho
6:30? jesus..
For me it's always came at 8 am or later.
@@WhiteOut- that's good wish you best of luck on driver exams
@@davidty2006 yes 6:30 and worst thing about it I'm not the first one on the bus
One thing about teen drivers, though age is a factor, no matter what experience needs to come from somewhere, so whatever age people start driving at will always be the most risky, and also safety is important but so is convenience and efficiency; sometimes eggs get broken, and that’s just part of life.
I met so many people who didn't even know what was 3 blocks away from their house because they never walk or go out without sitting in a tin can for 30 mins, stuck in traffic.
I never realized how foreign it was the idea of having kids walk or ride to school until i moved to the states and just realized this wasn’t a thing 😅😅. I used to walk to school when I was 5 -9 years old then we moved to the states.
wait till you move to rural small town to get to my highshcool in next town over it was 9 min (11.1 km), you basically need a car for everything. although i do see farmer kids usually drive
I'm not sure why I watched this. I was already in the "death to cars" camp.
I did not need further evidence nor convincing.
What I really got from this, was those maps those kids drew. I had not thought much about that aspect of it, despite me being a supporter of the argument.
It got me thinking about how I imagined my school-route as a kid.
Because of domestic issues, I basically had two homes (not the first thing you might think, but close enough)
The first home, I could walk (about 2 km on the regular route). I had an accurate map in my head of all possible routes I would take (a winter-route would cut half a kilometer over a field on skis, yes, really).
I probably could have drawn them all with fair accuracy
But that other home? I was always driven there. Often by taxi paid by the municipality. I don't think I could describe half the turns. There is no way I could draw a map.
And while I could freely walk in the neighborhood of my first home, I was sheltered in the second one. In fact, while I can find that first home on google maps today, even without looking at the address, I have no chance of finding the other one.
So yeah. you're right. Cars ruin a child's navigation skills and understanding of their surroundings.
As I went to school in Germany I usually just walked the 0.62 miles on primarily side roads; Later on I also took the bike
Many classmates took the public city bus, some also took the train and then the bus;
Who thinks this is only sth which can work in a dense urban environment ... I went abroad to Norway for one year. The county I lived in had a population density of 17 / sq mi and I still didn't depend on my host parents driving me to school. I took the bus there as well
As someone who got hit by a car while walking in the correct lane and at the correct time, I completely agree that car based infrastructure is extremely undesirable
I live in a small city where it is illegal to ride your bike on the sidewalk (fair enough, the sidewalks are too small for bikes and walkers), however there are no bike lanes in town. There isn't a single bike lane. You HAVE to bike in the road. With cars that could not care less about you. Add to it that the residential speed limit is 35 and most people go 40... there is no safe way to bike here. It's a big problem...
I know this all too well.
My son was put in a middle school that was way too far and dangerous to walk to.
Then he wanted to stay with his friends and go to the far away HS.
He could have walked to HS but there is were no sidewalks and not even a path to walk on to get there.
I go to school in an American (but relatively pedestrian-friendly) city after spending my entire life in the suburbs and honestly it’s fantastic. I get so much more exercise and I feel like I can go wherever I want, whenever i want.
I'm about halfway through and haven't seen you mention it yet, but a contributing factor to less people walking to school may be the American healthcare system. For people with certain chronic illnesses, regularly walking to school will actively worsen your health if you aren't treating them effectively - and with the healthcare system working the way it does, it's impossible to do that unless you're rich.
I graduated from high school a full two years late because I have disabilities that are exacerbated by walking, and I live within the walk zone where bus transportation isn't normally provided by the district. My mom isn't a reliable source of transportation and I didn't have a license or car to drive myself. As a result I straight up failed most of my classes and was absent the majority of my first attempt at 12th grade. I couldn't pass the classes I needed to graduate until I got the district to provide bus transportation to and from school so I could attend classes without missing multiple days afterward due to the rebound from walking.
As someone who lives in the south where there are many backroads and roads that have no houses or anything for a mile, it is imo safer to be driven bc it is scary to go down those roads alone. Bc any creep can stop and grab you and no one would know. And in these areas half the school probably lives more than 5 miles away
I remember looking at shows and movies and seeing kids just going everywhere by themselves and doing things on their own and thinking how unrealistic that is. Then I started wondering why lol
Same. I didn’t wonder until I was older how come they could just go out to meet friends, hang, out and go to places. Did they ever have to ask their parents/guardian(s) to give them a ride? Now I know that the places the kids from some TV shows live in are probably safe to walk in and have adequate public transit like the American suburbs.
as an European "exchild" (just reached an age where I can drive legally) it is really sad to watch. I was always independent if it comes to school mobility, only first year of school was tough for my parents because they had to watch me, since I was a young child, not being able to move by myself for safety reasons.
If you're able to walk, cycle, skate, etc, around your community, your parents can't control (and thus restrict or utterly remove) your ability to experience that community. This is a feature, not a bug for more authoritarian and conservative parents, who, even if in favor of self-driving taxis, object to the idea of those under-18 being able to access them without parents signing off on every single booking. Want to go to a friend's place? No, I don't like their parents' politics. Want to go to an event? No, it's in that part of town I hate. Want to see your other parents? No, I won custody of you and I want them to suffer. Of course, there's also good old fear of your own neighbors... they'll be kidnapped (probably not, no), run over (probably, yes, because of car-centric infrastructure), or assaulted by undesirable "others" (probably not, no, but if there were more people walking in your neighborhood... good guys outnumber the bad!).
For this same reason, they don't want their precious babies being able to go anywhere on their bike or scooter (or, y'know, legs) that doesn't require them to spend hours a week driving them around. This is a youth rights issue as much as anything else; you don't own your kids, you shouldn't be able to control their experiences around the community, and yes they're going to meet people and encounter ideas you don't like and you'll have to rely on others in society to keep them safe because you can't - and should not - hover around them 24/7 and be a permanent "minder" for their every waking moment. If you don't like it, don't have kids; they're not pets, they're human beings.
Also, sorry, you were at 69 comments and I've gone and ruined it.
Regardless of how one may feel about cars, parents absolutely have the right to tell their children where they can or can't go, or who they can or can't associate with, for any reason.
"for any reason"...no, i disagree. i think very specific reasons are acceptable: if the person/place in question poses a real physical or psychological danger for the child, and if the child is not old enough to handle the situation on their own, those are acceptable reasons for a parent to interfere and set hard boundaries. like if your teenage kid is hanging out with people that pressure them to drink underage, or wants to go to a concert late at night all by themselves, those are reasons for the parent to get involved. even then, i feel that the best kind of involvement is talking to your kid and reasoning with them. if it's a situation where they're too young to be reasoned with (toddler age) then you'd let them express how they feel and talk them through their frustration. but this whole "because i said so" approach...it generally just makes kids afraid. and when people are afraid, they stop listening and thinking
@@feyelsbells7839
I think "because I said so" is more likely to result in children doing the thing you don't want to
@@Demopans5990 exactly! yes. just telling a kid something doesn't work
My parents are way overly fearful of homeless people pulling a knife on me or something, so as a young child I never was allowed to go anywhere by myself. Learning to drive is the only way I can take myself anywhere even still.
I feel sorry for all these kids. I have walked to school by myself since I was 10. A ~30 minute walk each way through the quiet streets of my neighbourhood. I can go almost everywhere I want to easily. I live 5 minutes walk from a metro station, there's 4 bus lines within a 15 minutes walk of my house. In a 20 minutes walk I can get to a tram stop, another metro station, a mainline train station with fast trains into the city centre, and 6 more bus lines. And this is in the suburbs, I live 10km from the city centre as the crow flies. In my city buses are free for under 18s and trains and metro are half price of the adult fare.
It must be like prison having to be driven everywhere by your parents
My highschool is about 30 minutes away bike, but i have never and probably won't ever try that. Why? Because for me that 30 minute ride would 1. Be illegal since I would ride on the sidewalk instead of the road, 2. The roads would either be a death trap of fast SUVs or backed up bumper to bumper with tired parents, crossing and even being near that would be unhealthy and annoying.
In Bielefeld, Germany where I live
we have a campaign running
"Tschüss Eltern-Taxi, hallo SchülerCard"
(goodbye parental taxi, hello student card)
As student cards have been extended to non school times
encouraging the use of public transport.
I regularly see children from Kindergarten age upwards
being taken by their teachers and assistants on trams and buses
to visit museums and events.
Normalising public transport is vital for making livable cities.
I am a very paranoid person, extremely so especially since the youngest (7 years old currently) was nearl kidnapped once. That being said I kind if thought this video would be shaming overly worried parents bc statistically its true that the average parents never has to worry about their kid being kidnapped ect. But I do actually fully agree with this video. Also for those who are paranoid such as myself we now have a lot of options anything from clickers trackers ect (with the childs known and explaining stranger danger) that most schools will approve so long as you let them know in advance. This will help facilitate independent thinking and a sense of self security that will be so infinitely helpful to their development
The best thing to prevent kidnappings is having eyes on the street. Walkable infrastructure is safer.
I walked and bicycled everywhere in my small town growing up. I'm sure this is a big reason I'm so interested in viable alternatives to driving now.