European school children use the city buses and trams for transportation. On our latest trip In Nimes and Avignon, France, we missed our inter-city transportation connection back to AIX due to the surge of student ridership when the schools let out. It was entirely our own fault, as we didn't "pad-in" the extra time.. Don't expect the local buses or trams to run on time when the schools let out. :)
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
33820 posts
1600 to 1700 isn't universal in Europe.
In England it is 1445-1530 or 1600.
Posted by
Frankfurt, Germany
9219 posts
In Germany, schools usually let out around 13:00-13:30. Every country is different, so please don't generalize about "European school children".
Posted by
victoria, Canada
11507 posts
Nit picking aside I think OPs point is take in consideration volume of transportation passengers varies through out day and pad in enough time .
Posted by
OP
Eugene, Oregon, USA
959 posts
Thank you Pat. That was my point. :) Everyone else is right also, knowing their local times of when students get out. I appreciate the nit-pick corrections, and that England is part of Europe, and that Germany has another time zone and/or they let students out at an earlier time. It will help more people if they just know that sometimes this is an issue. In city transport. You might not get to be on that one planed for bus or tram or metro. Sometimes these things over load and you have to take the next one.
Posted by
New York, NY
4071 posts
I don’t understand the problem especially being told to “beware”.
Why can’t you take public transport with school children on board? It might be crowded but that is no different than taking public transport when adults are commuting to work in the morning or returning home in the evening.
Posted by
Houston
3522 posts
No ones saying you cannot take public transit when there are children on board. The problem is when an entire school lets out at the same time, there may not be any space on public transit for a while because of the large number of children trying to get on as quickly as possible. No matter how highly you squeeze, there is still a limit on the maximum number of people that can fit.
In other countries besides the US, parents are not there to pick up most of the children in cars. Many don't have school busses simply because their public transit is so good. Most of the high school students are not driving their own cars yet. So they all need some way to get home if it is too far to walk.
My home town bus service runs the public buses on a more frequent schedule right around the time children are leaving school (and in the morning when they are on the way to school) to prevent overcrowding and people having to wait too long to get on a bus.
I ran into a similar situation as reported here in Italy taking the train from Milan to the lakes. The train I picked happened to be the one running right after school let out. It was very crowded with students of all ages. I did manage to get on, but did have to stand for most of the ride.
Posted by
New York, NY
4071 posts
Interesting. NYC kids take public transport to/from school. There is no special concern regarding student crowding. Everywhere is different.