The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG) released regional school travel data last week, after a request from the Safe Routes Partnership was fielded for an analysis of the 2008-2009 Household Travel Survey.
The Household Travel Survey, conducted by the Transportation Planning Board of the Metropolitan Washington council of Governments collects information about daily trips from residents of the Washington region in order to assess regional travel demands, such as typical weekday travel behavior within the region. The 2008-2009 school travel data provided by MWCOG provides an excellent benchmark for measuring the success of the Safe Routes to School movement in the region, as it corresponds closely with the creation of the national Safe Routes to School program as well as a number of local advocacy movements.
A couple of quick highlights from MWCOG’s data:
Reported Usual Mode to Elementary School by Jurisdiction
| Private Auto | Transit | Taxi/Limo | Walk | Bike | School Bus | |
| Alexandria | 62.4% | 6.1% | 0.0% | 21.6% | 0.0% | 9.9% |
| Arlington County | 45.9% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 19.7% | 2.0% | 32.5% |
| Charles County | 31.2% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 3.7% | 0.0% | 65.1% |
| District of Columbia | 52.3% | 6.2% | 0.0% | 27.6% | 5.2% | 8.6% |
| Fairfax County/Cities | 33.2% | 0.7% | 0.0% | 15.7% | 0.7% | 49.7% |
| Frederick County | 43.5% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 10.7% | 0.0% | 45.8% |
| Loudoun County | 37.7% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 8.5% | 0.0% | 53.9% |
| Montgomery County | 50.4% | 3.0% | 0.0% | 20.1% | 0.0% | 26.5% |
| Prince George’s County | 46.3% | 1.7% | 0.0% | 16.1% | 0.0% | 35.9% |
| Prince William County/Cities | 30.4% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 14.1% | 0.0% | 55.5% |
| Total | 42.0% | 1.7% | 0.0% | 16.5% | 0.6% | 39.2% |
Reported Usual Mode to Middle School by Jurisdiction
| Private Auto | Transit | Taxi/Limo | Walk | Bike | School Bus | |
| Alexandria | 16.3% | 8.1% | 0.0% | 37.1% | 0.0% | 38.5% |
| Arlington County | 29.9% | 4.4% | 0.0% | 24.3% | 0.0% | 41.4% |
| Charles County | 30.4% | 3.5% | 0.0% | 9.3% | 0.0% | 56.9% |
| District of Columbia | 39.5% | 13.5% | 0.0% | 22.0% | 3.5% | 21.6% |
| Fairfax County/Cities | 16.4% | 2.4% | 0.0% | 15.5% | 1.0% | 64.6% |
| Frederick County | 28.1% | 3.3% | 0.0% | 3.7% | 2.3% | 62.7% |
| Loudoun County | 13.8% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 12.1% | 0.0% | 74.1% |
| Montgomery County | 23.8% | 3.3% | 0.0% | 6.0% | 0.7% | 66.2% |
| Prince George’s County | 35.6% | 2.4% | 0.0% | 16.5% | 0.0% | 45.5% |
| Prince William County/Cities | 12.2% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 22.2% | 0.0% | 65.6% |
| Total | 25.0% | 3.7% | 0.0% | 14.3% | 0.8% | 56.1% |
According to the data, more than 80 percent of elementary school children and nearly 85 percent of middle school children were transported by vehicle in 2008-2009. Specifically noted in MWCOG’s analysis, is that middle school students are more than 15 percent more likely to be transported by bus than elementary school students, likely due to school placement for older students.
While only 1.2 percent of all elementary and middle school students report bicycling to and from school, it is worth repeating that this data represents numbers just after the creation of the national Safe Routes to School program and predates many local advocacy efforts. The true test of the program’s success will come when we measure the increase in walking and bicycling in the most recent Household Travel Survey.
Where do we go from here with this information? As previously noted, it provides us with a strong benchmark for measuring regional success moving forward. In the near term, we can use this information to prioritize our efforts regionally, as we now have a clearer picture of where opportunities for change exist. Furthermore, the degree to which children are driven or bussed to school in the region lends strong evidence to the argument that school travel is a major contributor to rush hour traffic and air quality impacts. We will work with MWCOG to further measure those impacts, providing us with a strong new tool in the region to advocate for increased walking and bicycling among elementary and middle school children.
We are grateful for the hard work staff at MWCOG invested into compiling and analyzing this data.
