Ah, memories.... There were times my father drove us but often we used the public transport.
When I lived in N Wales first time round and when I was in primary school, the younger kids to my village had the school taxi. Most commonly a Ford Zephyr. The older kids had to use the bus with free passes. I'd guess we were in the 1 - 2 mile range from the primary school.
Some of the route was steep though - the most direct road route was marked one in four in a part. The bus didn't take that route (and I'm not sure it could have done it - did hear a tale of one mistakenly trying it and gettting stuck!). That used to go so far in another direction, turn round in the quarry (even cars had to do it this way - the road going up to the village met the other one at a sort of V).
Busses weren't always reliable and I've walked home both because one had broken down and because one did not turn up. Mind you, we didn't mind if they failed to turn up to get us to school and in the winter, the smallest fraction of snow could stop them. It was an excusable day off school when that happened.
