Creating a School Travel Plan

A SRTS School Travel Plan “maps out” how to improve pedestrian and bicycle travel to and from school to increase the number of students who walk and bike to school and to improve safety. A School Travel Plan identifies the following:

  • Where students currently walk and bike
  • Where students would walk and bike if they could
  • What changes need to be made so that students can and will walk and bike to school

The School Travel Plan identifies short term solutions for immediate action and implementation as well as long term ones that may require further planning.

District School Travel Plans

While the NJ Safe Routes Resource Center has previously developed a successful and effective model for developing a School Travel Plan for a single school, large school districts with numerous schools can present new and additional challenges. A School Travel Plan requires detailed information, which is often difficult to provide for multiple schools. A School Travel Plan also requires public input, which can be challenging to coordinate on a district-wide scale. A district-focused School Travel Plan process streamlines the collection of information and public input, using this data to help communities complete a detailed prioritization of district-wide barriers and countermeasures. In the case of school districts with the potential for a large number of countermeasures, it is necessary to determine which countermeasures to prioritize based on the community’s needs.

Why is it Important to have a School Travel Plan?

Some benefits of developing a School Travel Plan include:

  • Creating partnerships between the school and surrounding community
  • Generating ideas and actions so walking and bicycling is a safer and more desirable mode of transportation
  • Building community excitement that contributes to a successful SRTS program
  • Making your application for a SRTS grant more competitive by demonstrating a connection between goals, actions and targets.

Get Points with your School Travel Plan

To receive consideration for Silver level SRTS Recognition, share your School Travel Plan with the NJ Safe Routes to School Resource Center by emailing it to srts@ejb.rutgers.edu.

Municipalities registered to Sustainable Jersey and Sustainable Jersey for Schools can include School Travel Plans as part of the submission requirements to receive certification.

When future NJ Department of Transportation grants are announced, you will be eligible for extra points for submitting your School Travel Plan in the application for SRTS infrastructure grant funding.

School Travel Plan Toolkit