Public transportation and the teenage girl
Usually I play chauffeur for my teenage daughter. Until she gets her drivers license, I get her to the practices, performances, parties and other places she can’t walk or bike to (or cons me into even if she can). But sometimes I just can’t. That darn thing called My Life steps in and forces her to find alternate arrangements. Like this week. Fall semester has started and I had to be on campus for an assortment of meetings. Alice needed to be downtown Minneapolis for some casting calls.
This required her taking a bus, then the light rail (train) into town, then walking about 6 blocks to her destination. Not a major deal for an adult. Or a savvy kid who takes public buses a lot (like in Washington, DC. Many kids naturally take the metro or the bus to school every day). Or likes to navigate new places on foot. But for my kid? A very big deal. Her experiences on public transportation have been many, but generally escorted. She doesn’t pay attention to where stops are, bus numbers, or street names. Oblivious I think you’d call it. So her first concern was the general ‘how to.’*
And then there is the ICK factor. According to my little princess, her friends don’t take public buses because they are just…eeewww. (Not cool, in other words.) I pointed out that when you need it – public transportation can be VERY cool. When the sub-20 degree temperatures last winter did in my car, you can bet I thought the express bus to campus was cool. And while in some cases buses may be dirty, and subway cars may smell, they are usually kept surprisingly clean (certainly that’s the case in the Twin Cities). And, I informed her that she’s in good company. Everyone takes public transportation. (I say that fully knowing that I am not the best model of the practice.).
Finally, there was her sense of safety. Of course it’s good for her to be wary and to be protective. We’ve taught her that from the 
get go. But as a woman she also needs to get to a place of comfort that she do and go where she wants, and not let fear or suspicion reign her in. It’s in knowing where she’s walking. How she’s dressed. How she presents herself. Knowing how to take care of herself and whose around to help. Having sense and using it. But still being prepared for the all too possible, worst case scenario. Women’s safety is a huge issue. So, as much as my husband could, he walked with her downtown. And the folks at Vision were more than happy to be an escort.
And although she had a few missteps (wrong bus) and was sure to vocalize her concerns with her father and I, Alice was just fine. She made it to where she needed to be on time and in one piece. Twice. She may not want to take buses more often, or venture through the streets of Minneapolis on her own, but she’s definitely gained more confidence that she can do it, and how she can do it.
And in no time, she’ll be ready for New York City (?)
* I note, with a slight sense of defensiveness, that we’ve tried to provide this education to Alice in the past. And for this venture, we prepared her with information -where, when, how much.
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