Cars, trucks, and buses that transport goods and people are the largest source of global warming pollution in California, accounting for approximately 38% of total climate change emissions. Many of these trips are to and from school; during the 2019-2020 academic year, more than 6.1 million students were enrolled in public schools in California.
In other states, 40% of students ride a school bus to campus. In California, students are less likely to ride a yellow school bus. Only 10% of school trips in California are by school bus. 71% of children's trips to school are made by private vehicle (car, SUV, van, or pickup truck), 18% walking or biking trips, and 2% are by public transit or another mode (Source: Vincent, J. M, Maves, S., & Thomson, A. (2022). How Well Do New K-12 Public School Sites in California Incorporate Mitigation Measures Known to Reduce Vehicle Miles Traveled? UC Office of the President: University of California Institute of Transportation Studies)
Did you know? Safe, reliable, and affordable transportation leads to more children regularly attending school. California public schools have high rates of chronic absenteeism, and lack of transportation is a common cause of skipping school (Source: PACE, Unpacking California’s Chronic Absence Crisis Through 2022–23).
According to the Safe Routes to Schools Partnership, “Walking is one of the simplest, most effective, and most affordable strategies for kids and adults to build physical activity into their lives. One mile of walking translates to 2/3 of the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity each day."
Studies conducted by the National Institute of Health (NHI) and Center of Disease control (CDC) have highlighted benefits of regular walking, including lowering the risk of developing type 2 Diabetes and childhood obesity (Source: CDC, Childhood obesity prevention). The benefits of walking extend beyond health. Physical activity and academic achievement are linked, proving that active kids do better at school when they walk or bike to school.
The location of schools and the quality of public transportation, sidewalks, and bikeways all impact whether it is feasible for students to walk, bike, or ride to school. This page provides information on efforts made by schools across California to help improve students’ commute to school, and examples of programs that exist to support schools and students.
Success Stories and Strategies
- Fixing Sidewalks and Improving Infrastructure
The City of Madera adopted a Safe Routes to Schools Action Plan in 2019 and began implementation by building new sidewalks to address safety issues and setting up a “walking school bus.” Read a 2-page flyer about their process and the project or check out the write-up from the Cal Fresh Healthy Living Program, one of their funding partners.
- Bike and Walk to School events
Events are a wonderful way to celebrate the joy and independence of walking, biking & rolling to school and they bring schools and communities together for a common purpose. Most of all, they are fun! Every year, schools and students are encouraged to participate in Bike and Roll to School Day. Led by the National Center for Safe Routes to Schools, this program supports event planning, provides resources for conducting walk audits and tools, and tracks participation. In 2023, there were 539 Walk & Roll to School events and 295 Bike & Roll to School in California! Alameda County has a strong Safe Routes to Schools Program, with more than 80% of eligible schools enrolled and tens of thousands of students participating. Students wrote up stories, organized pop-up demonstrations, held bike helmet decoration activities, and more.
- New, clean buses
In 2019 the Porterville Unified School District (USD), in Tulare county, conducted a needs assessment and adopted a roadmap to reduce GHG emissions while saving money for the district. They set a goal to reduce GHG emissions by 80% by 2030, and achieved a 28% reduction within the first two years. Watch a short video presentation on the project on YouTube. On the transportation front, they found that Porterville USD had one of the oldest diesel school bus fleets in California, including buses with an average age of 14.5 years, and average odometer mileage of 181,300. They set the goal to provide every student in its district the ability to get to and from school with zero-pollution and zero-GHG emissions transportation by 2030. Porterville USD was subsequently awarded $13.8M Clean School Bus Program Award from the EPA to support the replacement of 35 highly polluting school buses with state-of-the-art zero-emission battery electric school buses.
- EV charging at school
Schools can receive funding to install Electric Vehicle charging infrastructure on campus. Los Altos High School, for example, installed 29 electric vehicle chargers on their campus thanks to a grant from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. The chargers are powered by on site solar panels installed over the parking lot, and a battery storage system is also onsite. Funding is available for schools to install EV charging! Programs like CALeVIP and Communities in Charge offer incentives and rebates. These block grants are administered by the California Energy Commission.
What type of charger is needed? Often level 2 (L2) chargers are installed at schools since they are less expensive than direct current fast chargers (DCFCs), allowing for more chargers to be installed. L2 chargers have a longer charging period compared to DCFC chargers, with the average charging period from empty to a full charge being 4-10 hours and around 20 minutes respectively. With students and teachers often being at school for eight hours a day, the extra time it takes for a vehicle to receive a full charge from an L2 charger should not be barrier to use.
Watch a short video from the Silicon Valley Clean Energy agency describing Los Altos High School’s work making their school more sustainable.
- Clean Mobility in Schools
This CARB program funds clean transportation and mobility strategies, including electric vehicles and electric vehicle supply equipment in schools (K-12); car sharing for staff at schools to use zero-emission vehicles; curriculum development; workforce training; and outreach to students, parents, and the community. Have a clean mobility project in mind for your schools? Check out CARB's Clean Mobility In Schools program page and learn about past funded projects.
- School siting
When schools are located in car-centric neighborhoods, walking and biking may be perceived as dangerous or unhealthy. Distance from quality public transportation may also increase rates of students getting to school by private vehicles. Building schools close to neighborhoods where students live can reduce traffic, increase walking and biking by 13%, and could create a 15% emissions reduction as a result of decreased automobile travel to and from the school site.4 New schools are often built on 20 to 50 acres of land. In comparison, older schools were built on less than 10 acres of land. This has led to a higher number of schools getting built in ex-urban and suburban areas with poor access to transit, leading to an increase in GHG emissions and air pollution.