Outings?

Lately I have been thinking about getting out of the house with the dck's (besides playing in the backyard or going for a walk), but I have quite a young group (4-14month olds and my 3 year old daughter). I have nothing within walking distance so I would have to either start driving the kids around (not really an option since my husband needs the car to get to work) or taking the city bus.
My question is for those of you who use city transportation, how old are the kids you are taking? Do you make them walk, or do you bring a stroller? Do you have someone that helps out or do you do it alone? Or am I crazy for even contemplating this?
I must admit that when I take the kids for walks, I have them in a choo choo wagon as I do not trust them yet to walk on their own. I have yet to bring this up to the parents as I would like to have it all figured out before I do so they know I'm prepared. Thoughts? Experiences?

I take my group of 5 children out walking for a couple of kilometers at least 2X a week and we take the bus at least 1X a week. I always have the two smallest children in a tandem double stroller. My 3 older children walk and I started teaching them how to walk with me by the stroller shortly after they turned about 18 months or were strong walkers. I bought the backpacks at Walmart that are puppies, ponies, etc. and they have long strings that attach to my wrists. It takes lots of practice but my youngest walker just turned 2 this month and he's doing fantastic and we are able to go all over the place. I would go crazy if we couldn't go out on field trips and the children love to go different places all the time.

It really depends on how many is in your group, and how far you think "walking distance" is. I was really out of shape when I started daycare, and 4.5 km one way seemed really far to me. Now I walk it both ways regularly, and bought a stroller that could accommodate all the little legs (a runabout). It really has opened up a world of possibilities to us (library, fire station, spray park, playgroups, etc.) and has stopped me going bonkers being cooped up in the house! Great exercise too!!

For the bus, I find my limit with the age group you listed would be 4 but I prefer 3. Anymore I have found is tough to manage. I wear the youngest in an ergo, put two in a double stroller and my oldest (almost three) would walk and sit on the bus with me. Anymore would be hard on me with the next oldest being 14 months, so good luck to you!! :)