School transportation

This Research Summary is part of the final deliverable for Report 2025-21, "School start times impact on students walking or biking to school: Safe routes to school."

Some school districts schedule elementary schools with early start times for various reasons. Such start times sometimes necessitate travel before sunrise during winter months. Intuitively, this could potentially conflict with a desire for increased use of active transportation, e.g. from the Safe Routes To School program, to reduce motor vehicle travel and associated traffic congestion from driving students to school. Since prior literature has identified that parents are concerned about child safety around traffic, it is possible that travel before sunrise (where visibility is reduced) would also be a concern to parents and further discourage active transportation. To answer this question, we conducted a stated preference survey of parents about their child's travel choices, asking parents to rank the importance of various factors including travel before sunrise. Due to concerns about whether stated parental preferences would align with actual behavior, we also conducted a revealed preference survey using StreetLight data on travel to elementary schools. Survey distribution and data collection occurred in February in Minnesota, during a period of late sunrise. Overall, the results from all data analyses are aligned. Early school start times were associated with slightly higher use of active transportation in both stated and revealed travel patterns. Parents ranked travel before sunrise only as a moderate concern behind distance, infrastructure, crossing busy roads, and child's age. We did not find data to conclude that travel before sunrise significantly limits use of active transportation.

By November 1 of each odd-numbered year, the commissioner shall submit a report on the safe routes to school program to the chairs and ranking minority members of the house of representatives and senate committees with jurisdiction over transportation policy and finance.

By November 1 of each odd-numbered year, the commissioner shall submit a report on the safe routes to school program to the chairs and ranking minority members of the house of representatives and senate committees with jurisdiction over transportation policy and finance.

By November 1 of each odd-numbered year, the commissioner shall submit a report on the safe routes to school program to the chairs and ranking minority members of the house of representatives and senate committees with jurisdiction over transportation policy and finance.

This cover letter accompanied the FY 2018-2019 Safe Routes to School report.

By November 1 of each odd-numbered year, the commissioner shall submit a report on the safe routes to school program to the chairs and ranking minority members of the house of representatives and senate committees with jurisdiction over transportation policy and finance.

This cover letter accompanied the 2016-2017 report on Safe Routes to School.

This cover letter accompanied the 2014-2015 Safe Routes to School report.

By November 1 of each odd-numbered year, the commissioner shall submit a report on the safe routes to school program to the chairs and ranking minority members of the house of representatives and senate committees with jurisdiction over transportation policy and finance.