Hi
I’m planning to send my kid to ZIS school, as they don’t have a good school bus service and my kid is young to travel all alone, I’m looking for options with private school bus services.
Can anybody guide me on where to find available options?
Thank you
M
Hey! I don’t think you will find a pro ate bus school service because the kids going to local school will either walk or transport will be organized by school.
I have never heard of this beyond the bus offer of the international school.
What is bad about it?
From where to where?
How old the child?
If you organise something like this privately it will cost a lot of money.
It’s is from altstetten to adliswil.
Kids is 11 year old
Thanks
M
As Buzzer said, what is wrong with the school bus service? You can ask the school if other kids live in your area, maybe they can travel together.
At that age kid can take public transport safely and effectively. It will take a while but will all work.
@Swissed if your child has special needs and should not be taking transport alone, it could help to talk to the school about options.
A friend of mine has a child about the age of yours, with special needs. There’s a designated bus that goes round the neighborhoods to pick up the children who are not able to safely go on their own or even with a small group.
Thank you all for the suggestions, I will reach out to the school again. On first enquiry they said, they don’t have bus facilities, might have to ask them in how others with similar needs are handling it.
Thanks
Are you sure about this? Many kids start Gymi at that age and go alone using the public transport. It’s pretty normal here.
Indeed. It’s expected from kids 10 and older to take public transport by themselves. It doesn’t mean travelling through the country with multiple changes, but kids that age must be able to travel independantly throughout the city.
In all fairness, Altstetten to Adliswil by public transport doesn’t look the most straightforward of journeys and if the child is normally ferried everywhere by car it might take a couple of trial runs with an adult before it is happy to do it alone.
There are ZIS buses but they may well not go to the right places. Lots of information on the ZIS Site.
I think that is Altstetten to HB and from HB to Adliswil. Can be done by an 11 year old, if you show him/her where to change trains (as the one to Adliswil is in a “different” part of HB.
Exactly. That’s what I meant. The problem is less the age of the child and the different sections of ZH HB but the possible lack of public transport experience.
I had two lasses from England visiting once. Sixteen and eighteen. Neither of them had ever been on a bus or travelled by train alone. They were clueless about how things worked. We sometimes forget how much experience we have which another person might lack completely.
Unlikely that a child would travel at that time, but to add to the equation I think the early and late trains from Altstetten come in in a third part of the station.
Isn’t it the same as with the road to/from KiGa? First you walk with a kid, then you let your kid to walk the last streak alone while you are watching from the distance and so on. And finally there comes a day when a kid manages to walk the whole route alone.
I think my daughter took the tram and the train alone for the first time on the way back from Gymi on the first schoolday. But we are going often by public transport as a family. The “car” kids might need more time.
I think you’d have to adapt that a bit. I cannot see it working in HB at about seven thirty in the morning. 
HB is a very unpleasant and complex location, but for many kids from outside Zurich it is unavoidable on the road to Gymi.
I’d probably start with bus 89 and change at Saalsporthalle. A bit longer but, I’d expect, much less busy. Switch to the faster connection whenever the child is ready, provided the heavy bags allow.
Most of them are not usually going alone though, there are usually a couple of other classmates travelling with them.
I find Zurich HB pretty daunting as an adult, I can imagine navigating it alone as an 11 year old would be pretty stressful.
It’s one of the disadvantages of international schools, the kids come from lots of different areas.
My kids grew up in Zurich and could navigate HB alone as of about 9 years old. If it’s your city and you do it all the time with your parents etc it goes quickly.
A different story of course if there are learning difficulties etc.
Also depending where in Adliswil as the train station is not near everything. It’s not a short trip for sure…
If living near station in Altstetten this is what you can do.
2 changes - Paradeplatz being the trickiest but once shown a few times, not very complicated.
The other change is a simple one , just wait for bus.
Certainly it’s a long trip, an almost 2 hr commute for an 11 year old is not fun…
Thank you, this is what I’m planning to settle for.
Cheers
M
