You may have lived in a rural area. The average city kid lives much closer to their school than that. My elementary school was about 50% bus in and 50% walk/drive in. Most of the second half walked as it was not a wealthy end of town so many parents couldn’t afford time or money wise to drive their kid a 10 minute walk. I can’t say for sure as i was a kid but i don’t think there was as much fear of the local streets being too dangerous then as well.
When I was young, unless you had a driver’s license, everyone took the school bus (ain’t nobody walking 20 miles to school).
You may have lived in a rural area. The average city kid lives much closer to their school than that. My elementary school was about 50% bus in and 50% walk/drive in. Most of the second half walked as it was not a wealthy end of town so many parents couldn’t afford time or money wise to drive their kid a 10 minute walk. I can’t say for sure as i was a kid but i don’t think there was as much fear of the local streets being too dangerous then as well.