Of course, all the time. I didn't grow up in NYC, but all my friends that went to school here took the subway or bus to middle or high school on their own. I've

Of course, all the time. I didn't grow up in NYC, but all my friends that went to school here took the subway or bus to middle or high school on their own. I've been in the city for a decent amount of time now (16-ish years) and I've always seen lots of young kids on public transit after school lets out. I grew up just outside of Boston and my parents let me take the commuter rail to north station and the T over to Cambridge with friends as an early teenager. It never felt like a big deal, you just learned to read a subway map and a train time table. If you got lost you asked for directions.