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Where I live, you actually have to pay for the school bus unless your child is further than 500 ft from school and in kindergarten or further than 2 miles in any of the other remaining grades. I have always paid for the bussing. My reasoning is #1 There are two fairly busy roads that would need to be crossed, and I know of at least two incedents of children getting killed on both. #2 Minnesota does not have the friendliest weather, particularly in the winter. Schools generally do not close in extremly cold weather for concern about latch-key kids getting to school and finding out it wasn't open and having no other place to go. Those are my main reasons anyway.
At age 9 I did allow my daughter to come straight home from after school activities giving her approximately 15-60 minutes home alone. Generally more in the 30 minute range. My neighborhood is full of stay at home mothers, there is always someone nearby in case of an emergency. After that, I had one last summer with a teen-aged relative rather than a daycare. It worked out very well, allowed them to become closer and they were extremely busy biking, hiking and going to the beach.
I really an inclined to believe that there are other factors besides age that deserve even more serious consideration.
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