Taking Kids on Public Transit is Easier Outside the United States

My mother routinely took three kids and a large clunky carriage on the New York City subway by herself, waiting at the top of the stairs for kind fellow travelers to help carry it up and down. You would think that taking a compact, twenty-first century stroller on the Muni Metro in “Transit First” San Francisco would pose no problem. 

Sadly, even in a city where buses have been retrofitted to carry bicycles on the front, many transit operators (and fellow passengers) act like any parent taking kids on the bus must have left the SUV at home for the day.

The good news is that it is usually far easier to take kids on public transit once you leave the auto-dependent United States. Countries that impose heavy taxes on gasoline understand that citizens of all ages have little alternative to relying on transit, so they are much more accommodating to families traveling via bus, subway, or streetcar.

Streetcar in Australia

We found this to be the case everywhere we visited. On streetcars in Prague, we saw a decal of a baby in a carriage near the rear door. Even though we didn’t speak the language, we understood it meant that caregivers with strollers were welcome to board there. Traveling on the elevator-free subway in Budapest, we were stopped by a couple of humorless fare inspectors who asked us to show proof that we paid our fare. Of course, they had no problem with us taking an open double stroller on the Metro.

Taking young kids on public transit is a great way to see a city. Parents avoid the stress of driving and parking in a congested area, children get exposed to an environmentally-friendly form of transportation, and everyone benefits from one less car on the road.