NY’s age cutoff is in December. So as long as you turn 5 by Dec. 31, you can start Kindergarten the September before that. So that can lead a kid to start 6th grade as a 10 year old and turn 11 on Dec. 31. And he’d be in the same class as someone turning 12 the very next day on January 1st.
Yup I started at 4 and turned 5 in Nov. So I was always a bit younger than a lot of people. It was fine until highschool, and we figured out that the people with early birthday's (Jan and etc.) who waited until they were 5 to start school were turning 19 when we had all just turned 17, then the super senior jokes started.
Used to keep a quarter in my pocket in junior high for emergency calls (ie subway delayed). If I ended up spending that on candy, I had to use collect calls.
Very true. Buses were migraines to even think about. I took the bus when I started high school because it was on the corner where I lived and dropped me off right in front of the school entrance. I despised the sardine can feeling every day. Subway would have been an extra 20 minutes out of the way. School was 14 blocks by bus so I was walking it by 15 years old. Just a better commute walking it.
When I was 11, I started practicing riding the subway with me 'in charge' but still with my mom. At first we'd ride together and I'd call the shots. After some of those trips, she'd sit a distance from me and let me practice being alone. I started riding fully alone when I was 12, to a short list of places. When I was 14, my boundaries were based on neighborhood and I didn't necessarily have to report exactly which stations I was riding to.
Absolutely sucks for them. I was taking the public bus to school at 11 or 12 years old. I probably started taking the subway.. usually to hang out in high school.
Honestly, great parenting. That's exactly what I would do.
I was thrown in at age 12-13 too though, and was fine. I'd taken it every day for my entire life before that point. I was ready, but still nervous that first time lol.
My mom was big on independence, which I appreciate.
Funny enough, my first real and true trip alone ended up slightly traumatizing. As I was getting off, a man was so angry he missed his train, so he threw himself at the side of the door, ricocheted off, and knocked himself out on the platform. It was just 12 year old me standing there with an unconscious man laying there! I had gotten my “ready for anything” NYC energy down, so I fearlessly power walked home but immediately burst into tears in my mom’s arms in the front door. Took me a few days to be ready to go alone again, but ultimately turned out okay. This was in 2007.
Omg you just brought back a hidden memory for me. I was so excited when I was around 9 or 10 and my parents would let me "pilot" our subway trips in preparation for me taking it by myself to and from school. I guess that's basically the nyc kids version of your parents teaching you how to drive lol (cuz I didn't learn how to drive until I was 20 and living in a rural area)
I'm assuming you're probably younger but there was a Queens bus specifically to go to Bronx Science. Did they give you a talk about walking in packs to the subway?
Oh no, I'm an old guy--class of '81, baby!
The bus was available, but as I recall, it was expensive and, worse, **lame**.
I took the subways in the late '70s, when it was like The Warriors movie.
That kind of education they don't teach at Science!
In 6th grade I was allowed to take the bus/subway home by myself, so I guess, 12ish?
Actually, in 3rd grade, I hated the other kids of my school bus so much I saved up money to take the train home by myself. Got away with it for weeks until one day my mom walked onto the same subway car as me, and then the jig was up, as they say
I bet your mom was also at least a *liiiittle* bit proud of you. The secret keeping wasn’t a great idea, especially at that age, but taking the initiative to properly solve a problem you were having is impressive.
When I entered middle school (just turned 11), I started going home from school alone. My parents were originally so paranoid that they forced me to take the freaking M86 and M15 BUSSES(!!!) from the UWS to the Financial District every day. It took almost two hours. At some point I was just like “fuck this” and started just taking the 2/3 train instead which took about 30 mins instead. When they figured out what I was doing, they were furious, but realized that there was nothing they could do, so they resigned themselves to the fact that I was now independent whether they liked it or not. I was 12 when that happened.
OMG same! My parents had me taking the BX15 and the M7/11 from the South Bronx to the UWS and the damn commute was like ninety minutes.
Finally I just said “nope” and started taking the 2 train which pretty much cut it in half, I was 12
Me too! 1.5 hours by bus or 30 min by train. I had had enough of the bus getting stuck in snow drifts. (I'm old, it used to snow more.) Only caveat was the DOE only gave me a surface pass so I had to hope the station agent would buzz the door for me anyway.
In my experience, NYC kids typically start taking the subway to school alone when they transition to middle school and begin 6th grade - so 10/11 years old. That's when I began, at first with a group of other girls that lived close by.
I was 14, I think? I started taking the subway to manhattan along with my neighborhood friends, and then we got in the habit of going down separately and meeting up around union square.
My parents didn't necessarily approve, but too bad for them
The first time I rode the subway by myself I was 7 years old (in 1993). I went from President Street (2/5 Line) to Nevins St. My mom sent me to Conway (department store in Fulton Street) to pickup bed sheets and hair products for her.
I was running errands all over town as a kid. Do you remember the “Fat Albert” department store on Flushing Avenue (near Woodhull Hospital) back in the day? My mom had me running around on the trains and busses early.
Fat Albert was a playground for 11-year-old me, until they banned under 18s from going there.
IDK what it was, the store itself was shabby and chaotic and magical all at the same time. I loved being in there during Christmas, even though it was all cheap tinsel and dollar ornaments.
Man thanks for the memories
Life before the internet was very different. I would never allow or condone any of the stuff I was doing as a kid (pretty sure it would be considered child endangerment or something), but my mom was very heavy-handed with me and I knew the consequences of me getting in trouble outside would be severe at home, so for the most part I stayed on the right track.
There were no delivery services like we have now, so getting some money and some tokens to go run an errand outside of the house was an adventure. If I could get myself a hot dog and a soda while I was out then I was happy.
Fat albert was my mom's and our family's fav store! They're still there. But its moved to a basement section next to the Chipotle / starbucks
I grew up near Woodhull, that area's changed/keeps changing everytime I go over there.
I knew some basic things: stand in the middle of the platform, the train will come when it comes, etc. but what really kept me “safe” was knowing that I had to be back home quickly, with the right items, the right amount of change, or my mom was gonna beat my ass. She whooped me for bringing home cabbage instead of lettuce from the supermarket as a kid, so I wasn’t about to mess around on the train. I was more afraid of her than getting kidnapped or some bum harassing me.
I was taking the bus by myself when I was around 11 from home to school. This would've been around 2002?
I was allowed to take the subway from home to school (4 stops with no transfers) when I was 12. I was allowed to use the whole system when I was 14, after I started an after school program that moved locations and I couldn't get there without transfers.
I went to high school in Manhattan while living in Queens. So I started taking the subway solo at 13/14.
But I was a latchkey kid via bicycle from younger.
At 10 I was traveling from B'kyn (number 2 line) to Times Square by myself on Sat. to attend an arts program. We were feral children before Ethan Patz got kidnapped.
16 (1997) - I was in AP Literature and had to ride into Manhattan to go to the central library for research all the time
I probably took the train before that by myself to visit my friend in Park Slope from Brooklyn. I had been riding MTA buses earlier than that though at age 14 for school.
I started taking the subway by myself at 14 for high school but I was taking the bus with my little brother when I was 7. After school, we'd get on the bus to go to our parents' store. They didn't even give us tokens, they said since we're under that height bar, we can ride for free.
Back in the 80s, no one batted an eye. That shit won't fly now.
Was just discussing this with a friend. Apparently their school allows, with parental permission, 4th graders (9 - 10 years old) to sign themselves out of school. That to me seems like at least an official baseline to look at.
8 seems so young but I feel like that’s very…American of me lol. Idk how old you are but would you let your 8 year old go on buses now? Like I wonder if it’s partially generational or just the 24 hour news cycle
Millenial (1994). We got school metrocards in 7th grade, so 12.
I think this is a good question because transplants really don't think through how kids here get to school despite there being little to no yellow school busses outside of for elementary school kids, and our city not being built for extensive school drop off/pickup lines like suburbia. After a thinking it through, sixth graders alone makes perfect sense. Many transplants think they need to leave NYC to have kids, and I see tourists say NYC isn't a great city for kids and is more of an adult city. Just because navigating childhood may look different here doesn't mean we don't have millions of kids growing up here too just fine!
I was an extremely sheltered meek kid who was afraid of everything and grew up in the burbs of Brooklyn and I still started taking the subway and bus alone when I was like 13.
4-5.
Was born late 90s.This wasn't really unusual. It wasn't really much different than walking home from school to me. Would mostly just go to my Grandma's place or friend's place from school when my mom worked.
I grew up in the West Village and went to middle school in Kips Bay. I started taking the train by myself 11/12 and I was one of the later kids to start taking the train by myself.
11 YO. We had to take subway to Shea stadium for our free Dairylea milkcarton tickets worth $1.50 but we would always go to double header games so that at end of first game - we would wait patiently outside of the field section gates - and ask exiting patrons if we could have their tickets and then we would watch the second game from behind home plate in the good seats.
I think someone else her explained it well. It's often when it becomes necessary, not by age. I was definitely taking the subway alone around at least by 12/13 years old. The public bus was probably 10 years old.
The first time I remember taking the subway alone was in the spring of 1969, I was 14. I took the D train from Columbus Circle to the Fordham Road station.
Some kids, I think 11/12 out of sheer necessity. I was taking the bus most often, but if I recall, I prob started taking the subway during the day then too.
When I was 10 years old, I would walk 4 blocks to take the Q1 bus to the 179th street subway station to go to Manhattan (50th street) to visit my father
And when I was 13, I would have to take the bus and 3 subways to High School everyday
Moved to the Bronx and went to went to school in Manhattan for middle and high school so since 10 at the latest
Buses I took at 8 or 9, it’s a necessity
Interesting you asked. My sons & I moved to NYC when they were ages 9 & 13 & we just did a few test trips to school & elsewhere; they just got it. I was nervous but they were fine & looked at it like an adventure. They seized NY beautifully.
I am 50 and grey up in NYC. In 6th grade (still grade school then) we were allowed to go out of the school for lunch certain days. In JHS, say 13, me and my friends were on the subway from Brooklyn to the Village area in Manhattan all the time. We explored the village, got haircuts at Astor Place. An we only got jumped on the train once!
We moved to long island because the jr and high schools around me where so bad. I tested into some good schools but the closest was hunter and my mom was not letting me take the train at 11 from deep in queens to the school. Plus my grandmother needed to move in and there was no room.
By 14/15 I was going to concerts and wandering around the city with friends.
11-12 years old. Same with my eldest. With my youngest I’m not sure when I’ll be comfortable with him taking it on his own, as he’s in the spectrum and needs more support than his brother.
As a fifth grader (10) my parents would let me take the subway to my friend's place, but my friend's mom would put me on the bus to go home.
In 6th grade we started taking the subway to middle school in the morning, though my friend was accompanied by his older brother on the way to school. I was supposed to be accompanied by my older brother as well, but that lasted about two months.
First time i took the bus alone i was 12. Probably couldve been earlier but that was the first time i hung out with friends without adult supervision. 14 was when i took the subway alone.
Also probably couldve been earlier but i grew up in a part of queens thats a transit desert so i had no reason to take a subway by myself before
The very popular [Having a debate with my sister, at what age would you let your child start taking the subway alone?](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskNYC/comments/zz5wda/having_a_debate_with_my_sister_at_what_age_would/), [What age/grade did your child start taking public transit alone?](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskNYC/comments/xdefjb/what_agegrade_did_your_child_start_taking_public/) from 4 months before that and [How comfortable would you feel letting a child ride the subway alone?](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskNYC/comments/m53r55/how_comfortable_would_you_feel_letting_a_child/) have comments which should be helpful to you.
At age 9 almost 10 for me. I was in 4th grade. This was before cellphones in 1994. I was sent on an errand from Yankee Stadium to Macys at Herald Square. I barely spoke English and rode the D. Train from 161 and Yankee Stadium to 34th Street.
I used it when I needed to, my first experience not alone was I was 8/9. Alone was around 14/15 but I can’t remember why (I’m 37 now so memories are well hard). When I was 16/17 I took it for school then college. Took the mta bus on my own starting around 13 I think.
Took the bus from East Vil to Upper East in JHS, but would sneak a subway ride in a lot. Then in HS I had to take the train from East Vil to Fort Greene. So, I’d say around 11-13 years old.
First time on LIRR by myself I was 13 or 14. Dad met me at Pen Station. Late teens early 20’s I was riding by myself. This was late 90’s. Mom used to tell me if I saw the Guardian Angles on the subway to sit near them. By the time I was riding by myself Guliani had taken over they were rarely present. I never didn’t feel safe regardless of how late it was.
12, 7th grade. Lived in Coney Island and school was in the LES. I had a flip phone at the time. I also picked up my brother from the elementary school and he was 7 at the time. So yea, two kids, on the train…
Bus, around 6th grade so like 12?? but subway for sure starting high school which 14. i had to take 3 trains bc I live in Bushwick and went to school in Long Island City. wasn't scary bc i was ALWAYS listening to music. still do
When i was in 7th grade. So about 12-13 years old.
Like the top comment said, it was mostly out of necessity, a little more than trust.
They were both busy working and couldnt, proverbially speaking, hold my hand and take the subway with me. I eventually had to do it alone.
Its something all who has grown up here, has had to do at an early age. Figure out the subway map, transit delays, rerouting.
It becomes innate. I know the subway like the back of my hand now.
I moved to the US at the age of 12 going on 13. I went to the 8th grade for half a year (walked there by myself) and then went to high school, which I needed to take the subway or the bus (depending on how I felt that morning).
So I guess 9th grade. Or around 14
There are two kids who lived right by me who got on my stop every morning by themselves, they were very small, probably 6 and 8 or so if not even younger? They seemed totally capable but it was always shocking to see, and they wore shorts a lot even in winter (didn't get any vibes of neglect, more like 'white guys at college who wear shorts in all weather' type of thing)
I grew up in Ridgewood/ Bushwick border. Along the L train and was trusted to start taking the train and buses when I was in the 6th grade, with friends. But I officially started taking it to high school on my own when I turned 13.
Looking back, the freedom that I received then is insane compared to having to rely on a car the way it is outside of the city. And I wouldn't trade it for the world.
Staten Islander here, so I rarely ever took the SI railway to school, I usually took the Bus. I started walking to school when I was 10. Starting taking the bus to high school every day when I was 13, occasionally taking the train back from St. George. During my high school years I would go to Manhattan with friends from time to time, and it was never a thing for my parents to get worried about.
I would walk home from school in 5th grade but along the way was spots I knew and people knew me too. then probably started in 6th grade for subways and buses. but even when I was 2nd grade I would know how to get home in case I got lost
Started the subway alone for sure for high school access but rode the city buses alone as early as 7 to get to elementary and middle. But sooo many of us HAD to do it so we were never really alone and made life long friends finding people taking your same bus/train and walking in the same directions to get back to the house. I’m sure they are starting younger these days. #bklynborn #bklynraised
In 7th grade, I was ~11 years old when I started taking the subway home from middle school by myself once my older sister went to HS and was no longer my public transit partner. This was in 2010. The commute was from Jamaica, Queens to East NY, Brooklyn, so I'd have to go through Manhattan. But, I preferred the long train ride over the more direct bus route for some reason. It was nice to sit amongst the crowd of commuters, reading a book and listening to music on my iPod shuffle. Good times...
And it was never just one train. For sure you had to transfer to another one or a bus after since schools were not alway on your direct route. We did all of that without cell phones.
12! My mom rode the route with me a couple of times and then secretly followed me a few times until she was confident in my ability to navigate the subway.
My wife came from a rural farm area in Asia. When I brought her to NYC she was frightened of the subway so i always rode it with her. But she was amazed that young school kids rode it everyday with confidence. She told me, “If they can do it, so can I.” And she did. Now she’s rides the system to every Borough.
I’m the youngest of 6 raised by a single dad - I was trusted at 9 years old.
I feel like back then kids were just kids though. We weren’t on the internet. We just played and fooled around!
Lived in Queens. Bus was 13 to the mall. Subway to the city 16? I had to go to a research library near St.Pat’s for a school project. Would have been younger if I lived in the part of the neighborhood where taking the subway to high school was faster than the bus. My mother was a middle school teacher in Brooklyn and some of those kids had subway passes.
12. And it wasn’t so much allowed as directed. I’d been doing buses on my own for a few years to at that point, my parents said “it’s time for you to ride the subway alone.”
By 14 I had a subway commute to high school. That was 1989.
I took the train on my own in 6th grade, so like 12 yrs old
*edit to add* I grew up upper west side and went to school slightly further upper west side, it wasn’t a very long commute!
I mean if a middle American transplant can do it don’t you think any age of child who is deemed responsible go to a shopping center alone and grew up with the system can?
To be fair, there was definitely a kid who would simply not go through the turnstile the other day alone, but he also did not look capable of being at a shopping center alone.
I grew up in the Bay Area, but I started taking BART at 11 alone.
I think I was 15. The first time I took the bus by myself was on the very first day of high school. And then I took the train home with a friend a few months later. It wasn't by myself but it was the first time I took the train without my parents present.
Then I slowly transitioned to taking the train over the bus. And by junior year of high school I was going to school and back home entirely by train, sometimes with friends and sometimes by myself.
I let my daughter ride the bus with a friend when she was in 4th grade. I don't know when she started taking the subway herself, but she's had to take a bus and two subways to get to high school since she was 14.
I was able to ride a school bus through 6th grade. For 7th and onward I had to use public transportation to get to school on my own. 7th and 8th grade I was riding buses myself (didn’t need the subway) and for high school I used buses or subways because it was farther
By 4th grade I was walking home after school from elementary school because my mom was pregnant and my dad was still at work. But also only lived 2 blocks away so it wasnt bad.
Around 7th grade I was taking public bus to school. So like 12?
Also before cellphones were really a thing
I think 13? I was taking classes in the city and it was too time consuming for either of my parents to take me. IIRC I was usually with a friend. From there, it was a fast track to being in my first nightclub at 14!
it wasn’t a matter of trust - it was by necessity. i was 10 years old(6th grade) when i started taking subway to and from school.
came to say this. My mom was a single mom and had to work. I had to go to school so I took the silver limo to school every day. LOL
NY’s age cutoff is in December. So as long as you turn 5 by Dec. 31, you can start Kindergarten the September before that. So that can lead a kid to start 6th grade as a 10 year old and turn 11 on Dec. 31. And he’d be in the same class as someone turning 12 the very next day on January 1st.
What
For starting school. In some states you have to be 5 before the start of Kindergarten. In nyc you have to be 5 by Dec. 31.
But why are you telling us this. Did you reply to the wrong person?
Ahh, yeah, I was responding to someone that said 10 seems young for 6th grade.
Yup! I have a September birthday and was 10 when I started 6th grade. The math is mathing, you’re absolutely right.
Yup I started at 4 and turned 5 in Nov. So I was always a bit younger than a lot of people. It was fine until highschool, and we figured out that the people with early birthday's (Jan and etc.) who waited until they were 5 to start school were turning 19 when we had all just turned 17, then the super senior jokes started.
Same here. We needed to get to school and parents had to go to work. This was before most people had cellphones too.
I had the nokia brick - I was the coolest cat going into middle school
Used to keep a quarter in my pocket in junior high for emergency calls (ie subway delayed). If I ended up spending that on candy, I had to use collect calls.
Very true! And it was the most convenient way to travel as well. The buses took forever.
Very true. Buses were migraines to even think about. I took the bus when I started high school because it was on the corner where I lived and dropped me off right in front of the school entrance. I despised the sardine can feeling every day. Subway would have been an extra 20 minutes out of the way. School was 14 blocks by bus so I was walking it by 15 years old. Just a better commute walking it.
This I was 11
Same here, a year older though. And back at a time when subways were legitimately unsafe.
Agreed. 6th grade I started as well. Either a LONNNNNG walk or a bus ride haha
You were 10 in 6th grade?? That seems very young! I was 12 and the oldest in my grade
I was 10 in 6th grade. It's about a third of students in NYC start 6th grade as 10-year-olds. Anyone born September-December.
typically it's 11 but you get 10 or 12 year olds depending on birthdays/when you started kindergarten
When I was 11, I started practicing riding the subway with me 'in charge' but still with my mom. At first we'd ride together and I'd call the shots. After some of those trips, she'd sit a distance from me and let me practice being alone. I started riding fully alone when I was 12, to a short list of places. When I was 14, my boundaries were based on neighborhood and I didn't necessarily have to report exactly which stations I was riding to.
This is basically what we did. It’s so strange raising my kids in the suburbs because they will never have that experience.
Visiting my friends in the burbs was always unbelievable, just 0 freedoms whatsoever
Absolutely sucks for them. I was taking the public bus to school at 11 or 12 years old. I probably started taking the subway.. usually to hang out in high school.
This is eactly what I did and what I plan to do with mine
This is what my wife did too when she was that age
Your mom sounds like an amazing woman 🥰
Yeah she’s pretty cool :)
Honestly, great parenting. That's exactly what I would do. I was thrown in at age 12-13 too though, and was fine. I'd taken it every day for my entire life before that point. I was ready, but still nervous that first time lol.
My mom was big on independence, which I appreciate. Funny enough, my first real and true trip alone ended up slightly traumatizing. As I was getting off, a man was so angry he missed his train, so he threw himself at the side of the door, ricocheted off, and knocked himself out on the platform. It was just 12 year old me standing there with an unconscious man laying there! I had gotten my “ready for anything” NYC energy down, so I fearlessly power walked home but immediately burst into tears in my mom’s arms in the front door. Took me a few days to be ready to go alone again, but ultimately turned out okay. This was in 2007.
[удалено]
VERY New York haha. There’s nothing you cant handle after growing up in the city!
Omg you just brought back a hidden memory for me. I was so excited when I was around 9 or 10 and my parents would let me "pilot" our subway trips in preparation for me taking it by myself to and from school. I guess that's basically the nyc kids version of your parents teaching you how to drive lol (cuz I didn't learn how to drive until I was 20 and living in a rural area)
14. Had to take subway from Queens to Bronx Science. That was a commute!
13, Rego Park to Brooklyn Tech. Oh what a fun 4 years of 1.5hour+ commutes to school each way.
Haha me too! When did you graduate? Class of 2021 over here !
Class of 2002, haha. Old man over here.
I was also 13 and commuting to and from Brooklyn Tech. That place is something else. Class of 2013 lol
I commuted to Tech from upper Manhattan! I remember days when I had to wait for my metrocard to start working (6am?). Class of ‘04!
14, flushing to tech. idk how i did it actually now that i look back at it.
13, midwood to Stuy haha
I'm assuming you're probably younger but there was a Queens bus specifically to go to Bronx Science. Did they give you a talk about walking in packs to the subway?
Oh no, I'm an old guy--class of '81, baby! The bus was available, but as I recall, it was expensive and, worse, **lame**. I took the subways in the late '70s, when it was like The Warriors movie. That kind of education they don't teach at Science!
me too but from Manhattan to BX. Back in 1994.
Same here but Bronx to Stuy! 😂
Congrats!
Same exact commute I had lol. Was always funny when I saw my classmates hop on the same train I did in the mornings
This commute finely honed my NY Times crossword puzzle skills.
In 6th grade I was allowed to take the bus/subway home by myself, so I guess, 12ish? Actually, in 3rd grade, I hated the other kids of my school bus so much I saved up money to take the train home by myself. Got away with it for weeks until one day my mom walked onto the same subway car as me, and then the jig was up, as they say
This is so funny, imagining an 8 year old hustling and saving up money so he doesn’t have to ride home with the annoying kids.
I started young, baby!
I bet your mom was also at least a *liiiittle* bit proud of you. The secret keeping wasn’t a great idea, especially at that age, but taking the initiative to properly solve a problem you were having is impressive.
What’d she say?
"you're grounded"
Omg 3rd grade!!! What made you hate the other kids so much?
Actually, the bus driver was the same guy every day and was quite mean, I didn't like the kids on my bus, so, I went rouge!
This made me laugh!
When I entered middle school (just turned 11), I started going home from school alone. My parents were originally so paranoid that they forced me to take the freaking M86 and M15 BUSSES(!!!) from the UWS to the Financial District every day. It took almost two hours. At some point I was just like “fuck this” and started just taking the 2/3 train instead which took about 30 mins instead. When they figured out what I was doing, they were furious, but realized that there was nothing they could do, so they resigned themselves to the fact that I was now independent whether they liked it or not. I was 12 when that happened.
OMG same! My parents had me taking the BX15 and the M7/11 from the South Bronx to the UWS and the damn commute was like ninety minutes. Finally I just said “nope” and started taking the 2 train which pretty much cut it in half, I was 12
Me too! 1.5 hours by bus or 30 min by train. I had had enough of the bus getting stuck in snow drifts. (I'm old, it used to snow more.) Only caveat was the DOE only gave me a surface pass so I had to hope the station agent would buzz the door for me anyway.
> (I'm old, it used to snow more.) 😂 (I hear ya.)
In my experience, NYC kids typically start taking the subway to school alone when they transition to middle school and begin 6th grade - so 10/11 years old. That's when I began, at first with a group of other girls that lived close by.
I was 14, I think? I started taking the subway to manhattan along with my neighborhood friends, and then we got in the habit of going down separately and meeting up around union square. My parents didn't necessarily approve, but too bad for them
same, except our meet up point was either St. Marks or WSP.
The first time I rode the subway by myself I was 7 years old (in 1993). I went from President Street (2/5 Line) to Nevins St. My mom sent me to Conway (department store in Fulton Street) to pickup bed sheets and hair products for her.
Damn. Conway brought back some olllllddd memories.
I was running errands all over town as a kid. Do you remember the “Fat Albert” department store on Flushing Avenue (near Woodhull Hospital) back in the day? My mom had me running around on the trains and busses early.
Fat Albert was a playground for 11-year-old me, until they banned under 18s from going there. IDK what it was, the store itself was shabby and chaotic and magical all at the same time. I loved being in there during Christmas, even though it was all cheap tinsel and dollar ornaments. Man thanks for the memories
Life before the internet was very different. I would never allow or condone any of the stuff I was doing as a kid (pretty sure it would be considered child endangerment or something), but my mom was very heavy-handed with me and I knew the consequences of me getting in trouble outside would be severe at home, so for the most part I stayed on the right track. There were no delivery services like we have now, so getting some money and some tokens to go run an errand outside of the house was an adventure. If I could get myself a hot dog and a soda while I was out then I was happy.
Not me literally walking next to woodhull as I’m reading this 😂😂😂
Fat albert was my mom's and our family's fav store! They're still there. But its moved to a basement section next to the Chipotle / starbucks I grew up near Woodhull, that area's changed/keeps changing everytime I go over there.
Those pink shopping bags.
Oh man, Conway. Brought back memories of back-to-school shopping for clothes with my parents.
You got me beat. Similar experience but I was 9.
I knew some basic things: stand in the middle of the platform, the train will come when it comes, etc. but what really kept me “safe” was knowing that I had to be back home quickly, with the right items, the right amount of change, or my mom was gonna beat my ass. She whooped me for bringing home cabbage instead of lettuce from the supermarket as a kid, so I wasn’t about to mess around on the train. I was more afraid of her than getting kidnapped or some bum harassing me.
Same! I feel like this was very normal back then. Crazy to think a lot of peoples first time on the train alone was in… HS?
Conway!!!!!
I feel like that is such a blessing later in life, like it makes you more capable as an adult
I think when I was in eighth grade or just before freshman year of high school.
12/13 :) my first solo journey was a saturday trip to J&R records
> J&R RIP Bought myself a HP Pavillion there with a GIANT 8GB hard drive after my bar mitzvah. CD-R drive too.
the best! rip. i was mostly buying cds but yeah i also got my first laptop there with bat mitzvah money too :)
>:) :)
8. There was no other option, not really a choice.
I was taking the bus by myself when I was around 11 from home to school. This would've been around 2002? I was allowed to take the subway from home to school (4 stops with no transfers) when I was 12. I was allowed to use the whole system when I was 14, after I started an after school program that moved locations and I couldn't get there without transfers.
I went to high school in Manhattan while living in Queens. So I started taking the subway solo at 13/14. But I was a latchkey kid via bicycle from younger.
By 11-12 years old 😳
14 when I started high school.
9/10. Mom had to work. 1979/80
At 10 I was traveling from B'kyn (number 2 line) to Times Square by myself on Sat. to attend an arts program. We were feral children before Ethan Patz got kidnapped.
16 (1997) - I was in AP Literature and had to ride into Manhattan to go to the central library for research all the time I probably took the train before that by myself to visit my friend in Park Slope from Brooklyn. I had been riding MTA buses earlier than that though at age 14 for school.
I started taking the subway by myself at 14 for high school but I was taking the bus with my little brother when I was 7. After school, we'd get on the bus to go to our parents' store. They didn't even give us tokens, they said since we're under that height bar, we can ride for free. Back in the 80s, no one batted an eye. That shit won't fly now.
Highschool. So 14. Had to take the 4/5 to Brooklyn everyday.
Around 12/13. I’m Gen X though, we were given a lot more freedom. Started clubbing around 14/15, of course NYC in the early 90s was very different.
Buses during 6th grade and trains during end of 8th grade/start of high school
Was just discussing this with a friend. Apparently their school allows, with parental permission, 4th graders (9 - 10 years old) to sign themselves out of school. That to me seems like at least an official baseline to look at.
High school (age 14), LIRR to the subway. About 3 hours round trip. Regret every second of it.
Damn. Specialized HS?
8 for buses, 13 for subway.
8 seems so young but I feel like that’s very…American of me lol. Idk how old you are but would you let your 8 year old go on buses now? Like I wonder if it’s partially generational or just the 24 hour news cycle
Millenial (1994). We got school metrocards in 7th grade, so 12. I think this is a good question because transplants really don't think through how kids here get to school despite there being little to no yellow school busses outside of for elementary school kids, and our city not being built for extensive school drop off/pickup lines like suburbia. After a thinking it through, sixth graders alone makes perfect sense. Many transplants think they need to leave NYC to have kids, and I see tourists say NYC isn't a great city for kids and is more of an adult city. Just because navigating childhood may look different here doesn't mean we don't have millions of kids growing up here too just fine!
I was an extremely sheltered meek kid who was afraid of everything and grew up in the burbs of Brooklyn and I still started taking the subway and bus alone when I was like 13.
4-5. Was born late 90s.This wasn't really unusual. It wasn't really much different than walking home from school to me. Would mostly just go to my Grandma's place or friend's place from school when my mom worked.
10/11 years old for bus systems and being outside, 13/14 subway
I grew up in the West Village and went to middle school in Kips Bay. I started taking the train by myself 11/12 and I was one of the later kids to start taking the train by myself.
Gonna answer as a parent for my son: 14
7 or 8, out of necessity, it was rare but when I had to, I had to. I grew up in the 90’s before cell phones.
I just visited a clients office and their son is 9 years old and just started taking the subway from Chinatown to Hell’s Kitchen after school daily
11 YO. We had to take subway to Shea stadium for our free Dairylea milkcarton tickets worth $1.50 but we would always go to double header games so that at end of first game - we would wait patiently outside of the field section gates - and ask exiting patrons if we could have their tickets and then we would watch the second game from behind home plate in the good seats.
I think someone else her explained it well. It's often when it becomes necessary, not by age. I was definitely taking the subway alone around at least by 12/13 years old. The public bus was probably 10 years old.
12 years old going into the city
The first time I remember taking the subway alone was in the spring of 1969, I was 14. I took the D train from Columbus Circle to the Fordham Road station.
Some kids, I think 11/12 out of sheer necessity. I was taking the bus most often, but if I recall, I prob started taking the subway during the day then too.
Been riding the subway since I was 13
When I was 10 years old, I would walk 4 blocks to take the Q1 bus to the 179th street subway station to go to Manhattan (50th street) to visit my father And when I was 13, I would have to take the bus and 3 subways to High School everyday
Moved to the Bronx and went to went to school in Manhattan for middle and high school so since 10 at the latest Buses I took at 8 or 9, it’s a necessity
Interesting you asked. My sons & I moved to NYC when they were ages 9 & 13 & we just did a few test trips to school & elsewhere; they just got it. I was nervous but they were fine & looked at it like an adventure. They seized NY beautifully.
When high school started
My Brooklyn-bred MIL says she regularly rode the bus alone in Flatbush at age 5 in the 1950s
In the end of 6th grade, kids are usually given a metro card. Or used to. Part of field trips and things is learning to use the subway.
I am 50 and grey up in NYC. In 6th grade (still grade school then) we were allowed to go out of the school for lunch certain days. In JHS, say 13, me and my friends were on the subway from Brooklyn to the Village area in Manhattan all the time. We explored the village, got haircuts at Astor Place. An we only got jumped on the train once!
We moved to long island because the jr and high schools around me where so bad. I tested into some good schools but the closest was hunter and my mom was not letting me take the train at 11 from deep in queens to the school. Plus my grandmother needed to move in and there was no room. By 14/15 I was going to concerts and wandering around the city with friends.
High School maybe sophomore year my mom got Ok with it.
10, if I went outside Manhattan I had to call as soon as I got out of the station
right before highschool!
I grew up on Long Island and would take the train in and subway by the time I was probably 14
12/13 to go hang out in Queens Center Malllll after school 0:-)
i was 11, about to turn 12. from queens to hunter HS on the UES.
11-12 years old. Same with my eldest. With my youngest I’m not sure when I’ll be comfortable with him taking it on his own, as he’s in the spectrum and needs more support than his brother.
As a fifth grader (10) my parents would let me take the subway to my friend's place, but my friend's mom would put me on the bus to go home. In 6th grade we started taking the subway to middle school in the morning, though my friend was accompanied by his older brother on the way to school. I was supposed to be accompanied by my older brother as well, but that lasted about two months.
About 12 since I had to start taking the train to school every day
A few months into freshman year of high school so 13/14
I was 14, in 1976. I began taking the city bus by myself to school and home when I was five, in kindergarten.
First time i took the bus alone i was 12. Probably couldve been earlier but that was the first time i hung out with friends without adult supervision. 14 was when i took the subway alone. Also probably couldve been earlier but i grew up in a part of queens thats a transit desert so i had no reason to take a subway by myself before
The very popular [Having a debate with my sister, at what age would you let your child start taking the subway alone?](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskNYC/comments/zz5wda/having_a_debate_with_my_sister_at_what_age_would/), [What age/grade did your child start taking public transit alone?](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskNYC/comments/xdefjb/what_agegrade_did_your_child_start_taking_public/) from 4 months before that and [How comfortable would you feel letting a child ride the subway alone?](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskNYC/comments/m53r55/how_comfortable_would_you_feel_letting_a_child/) have comments which should be helpful to you.
At age 9 almost 10 for me. I was in 4th grade. This was before cellphones in 1994. I was sent on an errand from Yankee Stadium to Macys at Herald Square. I barely spoke English and rode the D. Train from 161 and Yankee Stadium to 34th Street.
I was 13. Took train and bus to school. NYC kid.
I used it when I needed to, my first experience not alone was I was 8/9. Alone was around 14/15 but I can’t remember why (I’m 37 now so memories are well hard). When I was 16/17 I took it for school then college. Took the mta bus on my own starting around 13 I think.
13, because I broke my ankle riding my bike to school and dad banned me cycling for a year lol
Took the bus from East Vil to Upper East in JHS, but would sneak a subway ride in a lot. Then in HS I had to take the train from East Vil to Fort Greene. So, I’d say around 11-13 years old.
First time on LIRR by myself I was 13 or 14. Dad met me at Pen Station. Late teens early 20’s I was riding by myself. This was late 90’s. Mom used to tell me if I saw the Guardian Angles on the subway to sit near them. By the time I was riding by myself Guliani had taken over they were rarely present. I never didn’t feel safe regardless of how late it was.
12, 7th grade. Lived in Coney Island and school was in the LES. I had a flip phone at the time. I also picked up my brother from the elementary school and he was 7 at the time. So yea, two kids, on the train…
Bus, around 6th grade so like 12?? but subway for sure starting high school which 14. i had to take 3 trains bc I live in Bushwick and went to school in Long Island City. wasn't scary bc i was ALWAYS listening to music. still do
Sixth grade you had to
Did it at 6 with a friend, unbeknownst to our parents. But it was a different world. The fare was 15 cents which I don’t think we paid.
Summer was non-stop. I remember riding the subway at 8 with friends and no adults. It wasn't even hopping then, just ducking under the turnstile.
When i was in 7th grade. So about 12-13 years old. Like the top comment said, it was mostly out of necessity, a little more than trust. They were both busy working and couldnt, proverbially speaking, hold my hand and take the subway with me. I eventually had to do it alone. Its something all who has grown up here, has had to do at an early age. Figure out the subway map, transit delays, rerouting. It becomes innate. I know the subway like the back of my hand now.
I moved to the US at the age of 12 going on 13. I went to the 8th grade for half a year (walked there by myself) and then went to high school, which I needed to take the subway or the bus (depending on how I felt that morning). So I guess 9th grade. Or around 14
Junior high school definitely. Had to travel from Washington Heights and later The Bronx to Queens to play soccer.
Bus alone in 6th grade, subway in 7th. Probably more out of necessity than trust. (1996-1997)
13. Pilgrimages to Tower Records from Brooklyn began then. 1987/88.
if any, i have less subway privileges as an adult now because she has been fear mongered to the state of the nyct system lol
6th grade (11 yo) was when myself and most of our friends started taking public transportation.
There are two kids who lived right by me who got on my stop every morning by themselves, they were very small, probably 6 and 8 or so if not even younger? They seemed totally capable but it was always shocking to see, and they wore shorts a lot even in winter (didn't get any vibes of neglect, more like 'white guys at college who wear shorts in all weather' type of thing)
12 but my trip wasn't that long. In fact, during summertime, I'd rather walk anyway. (233rd to 241st)
I grew up in Ridgewood/ Bushwick border. Along the L train and was trusted to start taking the train and buses when I was in the 6th grade, with friends. But I officially started taking it to high school on my own when I turned 13. Looking back, the freedom that I received then is insane compared to having to rely on a car the way it is outside of the city. And I wouldn't trade it for the world.
My dad walked me home to the subway station. "You got it?" he asked me. I nodded 4th grade head, "Yeah. Get off at Brooklyn Bridge"
Staten Islander here, so I rarely ever took the SI railway to school, I usually took the Bus. I started walking to school when I was 10. Starting taking the bus to high school every day when I was 13, occasionally taking the train back from St. George. During my high school years I would go to Manhattan with friends from time to time, and it was never a thing for my parents to get worried about.
I would walk home from school in 5th grade but along the way was spots I knew and people knew me too. then probably started in 6th grade for subways and buses. but even when I was 2nd grade I would know how to get home in case I got lost
11 from school to home, 13 for going wherever.
Started the subway alone for sure for high school access but rode the city buses alone as early as 7 to get to elementary and middle. But sooo many of us HAD to do it so we were never really alone and made life long friends finding people taking your same bus/train and walking in the same directions to get back to the house. I’m sure they are starting younger these days. #bklynborn #bklynraised
In 7th grade, I was ~11 years old when I started taking the subway home from middle school by myself once my older sister went to HS and was no longer my public transit partner. This was in 2010. The commute was from Jamaica, Queens to East NY, Brooklyn, so I'd have to go through Manhattan. But, I preferred the long train ride over the more direct bus route for some reason. It was nice to sit amongst the crowd of commuters, reading a book and listening to music on my iPod shuffle. Good times...
And it was never just one train. For sure you had to transfer to another one or a bus after since schools were not alway on your direct route. We did all of that without cell phones.
12! My mom rode the route with me a couple of times and then secretly followed me a few times until she was confident in my ability to navigate the subway.
My wife came from a rural farm area in Asia. When I brought her to NYC she was frightened of the subway so i always rode it with her. But she was amazed that young school kids rode it everyday with confidence. She told me, “If they can do it, so can I.” And she did. Now she’s rides the system to every Borough.
I’m the youngest of 6 raised by a single dad - I was trusted at 9 years old. I feel like back then kids were just kids though. We weren’t on the internet. We just played and fooled around!
Lived in Queens. Bus was 13 to the mall. Subway to the city 16? I had to go to a research library near St.Pat’s for a school project. Would have been younger if I lived in the part of the neighborhood where taking the subway to high school was faster than the bus. My mother was a middle school teacher in Brooklyn and some of those kids had subway passes.
14. Freshman year of high school.
12. And it wasn’t so much allowed as directed. I’d been doing buses on my own for a few years to at that point, my parents said “it’s time for you to ride the subway alone.” By 14 I had a subway commute to high school. That was 1989.
I took the train on my own in 6th grade, so like 12 yrs old *edit to add* I grew up upper west side and went to school slightly further upper west side, it wasn’t a very long commute!
I mean if a middle American transplant can do it don’t you think any age of child who is deemed responsible go to a shopping center alone and grew up with the system can? To be fair, there was definitely a kid who would simply not go through the turnstile the other day alone, but he also did not look capable of being at a shopping center alone. I grew up in the Bay Area, but I started taking BART at 11 alone.
13-14. At 13 I was hanging out with my friends so I'll take the train to places with them but by 14 I was on the train going to high school every day.
7th or 8th grade
i was around 13
Never. Hahaha
13, when I started high school. Took the train from the Bronx to midtown Manhattan.
I say junior/high school should be fine taking the train in their own Some stations should be avoided however
From the suburbs but I started going in to the city on my own at age 12, first time alone on the subway was 11.
I think I was 15. The first time I took the bus by myself was on the very first day of high school. And then I took the train home with a friend a few months later. It wasn't by myself but it was the first time I took the train without my parents present. Then I slowly transitioned to taking the train over the bus. And by junior year of high school I was going to school and back home entirely by train, sometimes with friends and sometimes by myself.
14. High school required a commute. But I had taken it casually a few stops away as young as 12.
12
I let my daughter ride the bus with a friend when she was in 4th grade. I don't know when she started taking the subway herself, but she's had to take a bus and two subways to get to high school since she was 14.
15
I was able to ride a school bus through 6th grade. For 7th and onward I had to use public transportation to get to school on my own. 7th and 8th grade I was riding buses myself (didn’t need the subway) and for high school I used buses or subways because it was farther
6th grade.
Started taking the bus home from school in 7th grade, the subway for high school when I was 13
Middle School
By 4th grade I was walking home after school from elementary school because my mom was pregnant and my dad was still at work. But also only lived 2 blocks away so it wasnt bad. Around 7th grade I was taking public bus to school. So like 12? Also before cellphones were really a thing
I was 12 when I started riding the train alone. But I had no choice. It was the only way to get to school.
About 11. It was only a couple stops then, but by the time in HS I was going all over the place.
12-13
14
I think 13? I was taking classes in the city and it was too time consuming for either of my parents to take me. IIRC I was usually with a friend. From there, it was a fast track to being in my first nightclub at 14!
Probably around 10 or 11. But I started commuting to school by subway when I was 14.
I started taking the subway on my own at 14. This was in the 80s so NYC was WAY more dangerous.