Safe Routes to School

Promoting walking and bicycling in San Francisco schools

YBike is proud to be a partner in San Francisco's new Safe Routes to School Program (SRTS-SF), which promotes safe and active walking and bicycling for youth and families.  The two-year Safe Routes to School program, which began in the fall of 2009 and is funded by a $500,000 grant from the federal government via Caltrans, seeks to increase bicycle, pedestrian, and traffic safety around schools, improve health and the environment, and make communities more livable for everyone.   SRTS-SF is led by the SF Department of Public Health and supported by the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, the San Francisco Unified School District, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, the San Francisco Police Department, the Department of Children, Youth and Families, and the Presidio Community YMCA Bicycle Program (YBike). 

Download a 1-page fact sheet on Safe Routes to School-San Francisco.

YBike will be assisting our good friends at the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition with pedestrian and bicycle safety education directly in the schools.  The program launched at five elementary schools in the 2009-10 school year, including Bryant (Mission District), George Washington Carver (Bayview), Longfellow (Excelsior), Sunnyside (Sunnyside), and Sunset (Outer Sunset) Elementary Schools.  Ten additional schools will be added to the program in the 2010-11 school year for a total of 15 schools.

Safe Routes to School is now a hugely successful program that has been proven in hundreds of communities and over 6,500 schools across the United States.   Although San Francisco is relatively late to Safe Routes to School, nearby Marin County was one of the first communities to develop a Safe Routes to School program, which is now so robust and successful that it is looked to as a model: http://www.saferoutestoschools.org/index.shtml.  See the National Center for Safe Routes to School for detailed information about Safe Routes to School programs across the country, as well as for additional resources on bicycling and walking to school.  The website of California's Safe Routes to School programs also has some information and resources on programs in California, specifically.  Finally, consider joining or contributing to the Safe Routes to School National Partnership, a nationwide network working to promote the Safe Routes to School movement in the United States.

Are you interested in volunteering with Safe Routes to School? E mail Volunteer@YBike.org