2. NEWTON & SAFE ROUTES TO
SCHOOL
21 schools
13,000+ students
Neighborhood based
school system
85% of elementary
students live within
1 mile of school
Newton SRTS Task
Force is 8 years old
All elementary and
middle schools are
SRTS partners
Program is primarily
run by PTO
volunteers
Some involvement
from city staff –
police best ally
2
5. ENCOURAGEMENT…
Green
Neighborhood friendly
Easier for parents
Saves money
Exercise
Social time
Improved feeling of well
being
Time to think
Better prepared to learn
Sense of accomplishment
Independence
5
IS NOT ENOUGH!
E·VAL·U·A·TION: əˌvalyəˈwāSH(ə)n/ noun
the making of a judgment about the amount, number, or value of something; a
Data to help develop solutions that Newton leaders could get behin
6. SURVEY DEVELOPMENT
Determine how children get to school and why
choices made
Measure mode shift potential
Online via Survey Monkey with links sent by
PTOs and Principals
Collected for one month, early March to early
April
High response rate, averaging just over 30% of
families responded
Mostly positive follow up emails sent by many
respondents
6
8. HOW ARE STUDENTS
GETTING TO SCHOOL
8
Collect
individual
responses
Develop
profiles by
distance
Estimate
trips
9. WHY ARE THESE CHOICES
BEING MADE & BARRIERS
FACED
Multiple Choice:
Why we walk
Why we drive
Why we don’t take the bus
How weather impacts likelihood to drive
Multiple choice with detailed comment
sections:
Issues on walking/biking route
9
10. ASSESSING
SENTIMENT/SUPPORT FOR
CHANGEAgree/Disagree Questions
10
If the route
were safer we
would walk
more
The city
should fix
structural
issues
now!
The city
should
enforce snow
removal
ordinance
I want to live in
a community
where most
kids walk to
school
More should be
done to
encourage
children to
walk/bike/bus
to school
11. MODE SHIFT
OPPORTUNITY
-
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
< 1/4
mile
1/4 to
1/2
mile
1/2 -
1 mile
1 -1
1/2
miles
1 1/2
- 2
miles
> 2
miles
TotalDailyTrips
Distance from home to school
High School Students
Car Pool
Drives
with other
student
Drives
themselve
s
Family
vehicle
11
12. SUMMARIZING MODE SHIFT
(ALL SCHOOLS)
-
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
Current After Mode Shift
Car Pool
Drives with
other student
Drives
themselves
Family vehicle
MBTA1,500
1,200
450
3,800
12
13. LEARNINGS & MISSED
OPPORTUNITIES
Encouragement
SRTS Programs vs.
Principal Support
13
Equity: Driving not
possible for everyone,
thus need to give
everyone safer, easier
options
Parents don’t seem to
know options
Should have included
questions on walking
school buses and
remote drop off and
…
Too many students
being driven very
short distances (under
½ mile)
Adjust expected
walk time & and
think about overall
commute time
We did a survey two years ago.
The survey confirmed what we already knew, cars are the primary way Newton students get to school.
Survey says…10,000 vehicle trips a day
My main focus today will be on the survey process.
A little bit about Newton 21 schools 13,000 Students 9th largest school district 16 square miles so it’s complicated when thinking about school transportation
Our task force started in 2008 with a few parents who didn’t understand why so many children were being driven to school
Sidewalks
Crossing guards
Neighborhood schools
We have been promoting the benefits of walking and biking to school for 8 years. Still there are too many kids being driven to school and limited support at the city level.
Then came the rebuilding of the elementary schools, a 20 year plan to rebuild all 15 – initial school designs were making schools even less walk & bike friendly – multi-lane drop-off loops 10 feet from the front door were being touted as the solution to vehicle congestion
We realized we needed “Newton specific” data to convince city officials to support walking and biking to school so we applied for a MAPC community grant to do a survey
Purpose: determine how children get to school and why these choices are made ; Measure mode shift potential from cars to walking, biking , bus
Process: A group of SRTS volunteers along with a few city officials created the questions Programed them into Survey Monkey (VERY EASY) to create an online survey for families to complete k – 12.
Administered: Survey Monkey link sent via PTO newsletters and Principal emails The survey data was collected from early March to early April; reminder emails
We were shocked by the response rate over 30% of families completed the survey not a short survey 67 questions (20+ per school level) – Average person took 10 minutes to complete
Questions fell into 5 major categories
We started with the assumption that distance from school is a key factor in what mode of travel students chose
Instead of doing a straight average by school, we averaged by distance bands from school.
For example 25 families at school Z who live between ½ mile and 1 mile responded to our survey, on average they walk 2 times a week and drive 3 times a week, we assumed that all 100 families that live between ½ mile and 1 mile have the same behavior
This was more work, it gave us a much more accurate estimates
Mulitple choice questions
Why we walk?
No driver or vehicle available
work/other starts before child leaves
we choose not to drive
Open response ____________ received many positive comments (we like to walk, my kids need the exercise, they walk with friends, it is easier than driving)
Why we drive
Why my children don’t take the bus
Issues
Missing sidewalk
Sidewalks are blocked with shrubbery
Vehicles are parked on the sidewalk
Traffic Signals do not give us enough time to cross
Crosswalk is faded
Unsafe driving along the route to school
Gave them opportunity to say if this was an issue and whether it impacted their willingness to walk or bike
building the case for change
If the route were safer, my child would walk/bike/scooter more
I think my child’s school should do more to encourage children to walk/bike to school or take the bus
I want to live in a community where most kids walk or bike to school
This showed that mode shift would be received more positively by parents than many city officials currently think
Shows transportation by distance by mode
When calculating mode shift opportunity we set modest goals by mode:
For example:
Make walking and biking for students living within 1 mile of school the primary mode of transportation
increase from 54% to 78% 360 less daily car trips
Increase bus ridership for students that qualify
increase from 39% to 44% 200 less daily car trips
We need to make it safer and easier for students to walk and bike
40% of students who live under ½ mile are driven
77% of students that live beyond ½ mile but don’t qualify for the bus will be driven
We need to address ridership on the bus
47% of students eligible for the bus are being driven instead
Student Transportation is a matter of equity: For 1 in 10 families driving is not a choice (parents or caretakers don’t drive, no car, parents leave before kids leave) so we need safer, easier non-car options
Encouragement is helping but we could do a much better job encouraging families to walk/bike/take the bus only 10% of middle school and high school families feel that their schools encourage non-car transportation
personal mantra: Teaching children to navigate the world on two feet is critical to their march to adulthood. Teaching them to navigate the world on two wheels is life changing.
