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By Foot, Bus or Car: Children's School Travel and School Choice Policy

Author

Listed:
  • Elizabeth J Wilson

    (Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota, 301 19th Ave S., Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA)

  • Julian Marshall

    (Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minnesota, 301 19th Ave S., Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA)

  • Ryan Wilson

    (Active Communities/Transportation (ACT) Research Group, Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota, 301 19th Ave S., Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA)

  • Kevin J Krizek

    (Active Communities/Transportation (ACT) Research Group, Environmental Design Building, University of Colorado, Campus Box 314, Boulder, CO 80309-0314, USA)

Abstract

Many school districts in the United States allow parents to choose which school their child attends ('school choice’ or ‘magnet schools’) while other school districts require students to attend their nearest (‘neighborhood’) school. Such policies influence children's transportation. We survey elementary-school parents in St. Paul and Roseville, Minnesota, to discover how children travel to school and underlying factors influencing parent's choice of their child's travel mode. From this information we develop a statistical model of travel mode choice. We find that children's commute mode and parental attitudes towards school selection differ by school type (magnet versus neighborhood), income, and race. Relative to neighborhood schools, magnet schools draw from broader geographic regions, have lower rates of walking, bicycling, and commuting by automobile, and higher busing rates. Parent attitudes towards transportation also differ by race and school type. For example, parents of nonwhite and magnet school students placed greater-than-average importance on bus service and quality. This paper highlights the potentially unintended influence of school district policy on school commute mode.

Suggested Citation

  • Elizabeth J Wilson & Julian Marshall & Ryan Wilson & Kevin J Krizek, 2010. "By Foot, Bus or Car: Children's School Travel and School Choice Policy," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 42(9), pages 2168-2185, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:42:y:2010:i:9:p:2168-2185
    DOI: 10.1068/a435
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Liu, Yang & Ji, Yanjie & Shi, Zhuangbin & He, Baohong & Liu, Qiyang, 2018. "Investigating the effect of the spatial relationship between home, workplace and school on parental chauffeurs’ daily travel mode choice," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 78-87.
    2. Sylvia Y. He & Genevieve Giuliano, 2018. "School choice: understanding the trade-off between travel distance and school quality," Transportation, Springer, vol. 45(5), pages 1475-1498, September.
    3. Deka, Devajyoti, 2013. "An explanation of the relationship between adults’ work trip mode and children’s school trip mode through the Heckman approach," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 54-63.
    4. Bhat, Chandra R. & Pinjari, Abdul R. & Dubey, Subodh K. & Hamdi, Amin S., 2016. "On accommodating spatial interactions in a Generalized Heterogeneous Data Model (GHDM) of mixed types of dependent variables," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 240-263.
    5. Chica-Olmo, Jorge & Rodríguez-López, Carlos & Chillón, Palma, 2018. "Effect of distance from home to school and spatial dependence between homes on mode of commuting to school," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 1-12.
    6. Ermagun, Alireza & Samimi, Amir, 2015. "Promoting active transportation modes in school trips," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 203-211.
    7. Cheng, Lin & Chen, Chen & Xiu, Chunliang, 2017. "Excess kindergarten travel in Changchun, Northeast China: A measure of residence-kindergarten spatial mismatch," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 208-216.
    8. Wati, Kala & Tranter, Paul J., 2015. "Spatial and socio-demographic determinants of South East Queensland students’ school cycling," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 23-36.
    9. Andersson, Eva & Malmberg, Bo & Östh, John, 2012. "Travel-to-school distances in Sweden 2000–2006: changing school geography with equality implications," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 35-43.
    10. Singh, Nishant & Vasudevan, Vinod, 2018. "Understanding school trip mode choice – The case of Kanpur (India)," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 283-290.

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