K-12 schools with high bicycle modal share ?

[WAngell]

I'm trying to collect data on K-12 schools including urban, suburban and rural, that have fairly high modal shares of students riding bicycles (and walking). Any advice that anyone can give me on this would be appreciated and in particular if you know of any schools that have a fairly high modal share. Perhaps anything greater than about 2%?

Chippewa Middle School in Shoreview is about 15% bicycle riders in spring and fall with about 3-5% during most of winter.
Rice Creek Elementary in Lino Lakes is about 9% spring and fall.

Last spring and this fall I've done drive by counts at a few schools in St Paul, Minneapolis, and a few suburbs and based on the number of bikes I could see none are up to 1%. I could usually see a bike rack but some of these might have a rack that's visible with one bike but perhaps another that I couldn't see with a gob of them. Calls to most schools result in either 'I have no idea' or 'I don't think any' responses on how many ride bikes.

Thanks,

Walker

[LakeCharles]

Well if you are including walking (which it seems you are), I would think most Minneapolis and St. Paul elementary schools would hit that 2% figure. They don't bus if you live within a half mile of the school. Meaning that for one square mile around the school, everyone walks (or gets driven I suppose for some). Considering most elementary areas are no more than 5 square miles (most are less, for instance Green Central is less than one square mile) at least 20% of kids are not bussed.

Middle schools have a no bussing buffer of a mile, for a 2 square mile area that kids have to walk/bike/be driven. Middle school areas are larger, but that is still at least 10% of each area.

[talindsay]

Both Minneapolis and Saint Paul public school probably have institutional research offices, where the actual data on selection of mode exists. Mind, the schools need to know if kids are taking the bus or not; kids walking or bicycling without a parent probably also have to be registered with the schools to do so, but kids walking or bicycling with a parent would just be lumped in with "parent pickup". It's unlikely either district breaks down categories of parent pickup.

Still, I would think the most meaningful way to start would be to contact the three biggest school districts: Anoka-Hennepin, Minneapolis, and Saint Paul - and see what kind of data they already have. Try to avoid a Freedom of Information Act approach, because working together with the schools is more likely to yield a meaningful result. But then, that depends on whether your intentions for the data are things the school districts can get behind.

Obviously anything they provide will have to be deidentified and probably aggregated at least to the school level, and possibly even higher up. So forget about knowing how many black kindergarteners at Hiawatha School walk to school, as contrasted with white fifth graders at Lake Nokomis.

[Anondson]

Saint Louis Park had a no-busing rule if you live within .6 of a mile. I think though there are a lot of walkers and parents who drive their child.

[WAngell]

Thanks all. I'm primarily interested in bicycling, but also walking.

A half mile walk zone would be about 0.8 square miles straight line, a one mile walk zone approx 3 square miles, and a three mile bicycle zone about 28 square miles straight line. All a bit less measured along paths and roads. So, assuming even population density (and non U.S. busing policy) then there should be about 9 to 30 bicycle riders for every one who walks (or less in the case of somewhere like Green Central with a very small enrollment shed).

For comparison, 89% of Dutch primary school children within 5km (3.1 miles) walk or ride a bicycle to school on an average day (higher for secondary which is roughly our high school). The 11% who do not includes those with a disability (though many with disabilities do ride) and those taken by car on some days due to inclement weather. While they do get cold and snow ours is a bit worse so I don't think we could expect very high numbers on the coldest days each year. For all distances about 37% of primary ride a bicycle and 30% walk.

Denmark is about 71% and Germany about 65% for primary children at 5km.

[FISHMANPET]

I don't know if it helps or adds anything, but South High in Minneapolis does a bunch of work to get kids biking. The students were even a part of a lobbying effort to get bike lanes to connect the Midtown Greenway to 31st St (the street that South High is on).

[Vagueperson]

You could check Great River Montessori. I remember seeing a ton of bikes there even though it's a bad location. It's charter.

[WAngell]

Thanks. I've got queries to South & GR. Seward Montessori also has a pretty good bike program btw.