I was wondering how kids get to school or get around in NY? Do they walk, take a school bus, or parents take them in their car, in subway (I've never see kids on the subway), on the taxi, regular bus?

Or in general how do people with kids get around town usually?

Thanks,
Alison

I've seen lots of children on school buses on the UWS and also younger children walking with their parents

A lot of high schcolers in New York commute to magnet schools that aren't necessarily close to home. (A well-known example is LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts--aka the "Fame" school--but there are many others, such as Stuyvesant and Bronx Science). A lot of these kids take public transportation--I knew someone who went to LaGuardia and came in every day from Staten Island.

In general, you see lots of kids and parents, including plenty of baby strollers, on the subway as well.

It's a big mix. For elementary school, most kids go to their neighborhood school and most walk with their parents, and then alone when they are a bit older. In middle school, kids usually attend a school within their district but not necessarily within their immediate neighborhood. We are lucky - our daughter's middle schoolis 2 blocks away from our apt., but many of her classmates travel by bus or their parents drop them off on the way to work. A few even come from other boroughs to attend her school, because it is a magnet arts school.

High school is a whole different story. For NY public school, all kids apply to up to 12 schools. Especially for more ambitious kids, this means applying to schools in Manhattan if you live in Brooklyn or another outer borough, or even if you live in Manhattan, applying to schools quite a bit distant from your home. The majority of schools "specialize" in one area or another. There is an aviation high school near La Guardia airport, one in the fashion district that specializes in fashion design, there are several performing arts schools, etc. Depending on your grades, auditions, and in some cases, random selection, you are then assigned to a school, meaning that the majority of high schoolers are commuting every day. If you get on the subway around 3:30 it will be filled with teenagers for this reason.

Private school kids also tend to be from all over the city, so they too, are commuting by bus, subway, etc.

Depends on where you live & what ding dong school your kid goes to. I went to the local Catholic school up the block from me in upper Manhattan. Everyone I knew walked to school. Hell when my mom was 5 she walked to school by herself (of course that was almost 60 years ago).

I went to high school in the Bronx so I took the bus, along w/100 other kids going to different schools throughout the Bronx. I got a bus pass which was free since I lived a certain distance away. I don't know what the distance is for reduced or free. That you would have to inquire about. I did have friends who went to schools in Westchester. They took Metro North, which I'm sure cost an arm & a leg.

Some kids do get bused in, which I don't get but that's a political topic we won't get into here.

Most high school kids don't go to neighborhood schools. There's the freedom of being in high school & getting out of your hood to see another world.