Back to school: an opportunity to make transportation more sustainable
As the school year begins, the daily rhythms of our streets shift and become more active. What felt like a quiet intersection in July may now be packed with bikes, buses, and families on the move. It’s not chaos — it’s a system kicking back into gear. And how well it functions says a lot about how we’ve designed it, and how we prioritize safe and sustainable travel.
More than a sign of the changing season, let’s make the return of school a meaningful opportunity to assess how our transportation networks serve young people, and by extension, everyone else. When a street works safely for a kid on a bike or a parent with a stroller, it usually works better for all of us.
New school year, new movement patterns
Whether it’s a kindergartener walking to school for the first time or a teenager catching a new bus service, many students are adapting to unfamiliar routines. At the same time:
- Drivers are re-learning how to navigate school zones and more congested local roads.
- Transit agencies are adjusting schedules to meet demand.
- Pedestrian and bike volumes spike near campuses.
This seasonal shift can lead to safety risks, especially in areas without adequate signage, lighting, or protection for people walking and rolling. Historically, the first weeks of school see an increase in collisions and near-misses, not because people are reckless, but because transportation networks are stressed exposing systematic gaps and weaknesses.
Seize the moment
The good news? These shifts and issues are reminders, challenges and opportunities to exercise safer driving habits, identify gaps and hazards in road safety as priorities for improvements. And many communities are already taking action:
- The national Safe Routes to School program promotes safer active travel for school kids across a variety of programs and initiatives, placing an emphasis on improving the safety and experience for kids who need to get to school walking or biking. Local implementing agencies, such as the San Luis Obispo Regional Rideshare, run local programs tailored to local needs improving the delivery of safety improvements allowing more kids the opportunity for getting to and from school safely.
- Across California, the Street Story platform allows people to share their transportation network experiences, helping identify hotspots for future investment. This tool is made more useful and meaningful the more people add their local experiences to the data.
- Increased use of public transit for school journeys is helping to reduce car congestion, teaching kids how to use public transit, and supporting more climate-friendly travel habits.
DCR supports these efforts through design and production of wayfinding information and graphic communication for public transit and transportation planning agencies that is intuitive, data-driven, and accessible – especially for people who may be navigating a route for the first time. We also assist agencies analyze crash data and transportation network infrastructure to determine and prioritize weaknesses in the system that need improvements, such as protected bike lanes, safer pedestrian crossings, and traffic calming infrastructureView our collision map created as part of SLOCOG’s first ever Active Transportation Plan back in 2021.
Safer streets start with real feedback
We believe design is most effective when it reflects the lived experience of the people who use it. That’s why we encourage parents, students, and community members to speak up — whether it’s about an intersection that needs a light controlled crossing, improved bus services needed to serve more students, or a bus stop that’s difficult to access.
The school year may just be starting, but the transportation decisions we make now, about how we move and how we invest, will have ripple effects well beyond the classroom.
Here’s to a safe, sustainable, and well-designed start to the year!
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For more information visit: Street story, Road to Zero, Safe routes to school
