Class Is Back in Session

Another school year has begun, and thousands of San Francisco kids and teenagers are walking, biking, carpooling and taking Muni to class. In this episode, we discuss the work we do to support education by helping students get to school. We speak with SFMTA Transit Planner Sandra Padilla, SFMTA Transportation Planner Ben Frazier, School Crossing Guard Dennis Lowry, Walk San Francisco Interim Executive Director Margaret McCarthy, as well as a city parent and various high schoolers and recent high school graduates.

Transcript

MELISSA CULROSS, HOST: Thousands of San Francisco kids are heading back to school this week, and we’re helping them get there.

TEENAGER: It’s honestly a blessing to take Muni. It’s free for youth. So, it’s very accessible if you need to get groceries or just go to school. 

MELISSA: Welcome to Taken with Transportation, the San Franciso Municipal Transportation Agency’s official podcast. I’m your host Melissa Culross, and it technically may still be summer, but class is in session at San Francisco’s public schools. Our city isn’t terribly big in terms of square milage, but it is densely populated and full of hills. So, we asked some high schoolers and recent high school graduates how they make their way to class.

MULTIPLE TEENAGERS: I get to school by Muni. That’s the only way I am really able to get to school without spending money and taking an Uber or a Lyft … If I’m running late, probably carpool ‘cause it could be more convenient. But if I have time, I might choose a Muni. I just think it’s such an effective way I can get to school … My junior year, I started taking Muni to school. I took the 48 from 24th and Mission BART station … I do use a cargo bike. So, half of the time I will use Muni, half of the time I use the cargo bike. But when I feel really tired, or if I just need a break from everything, Muni is my safe space. It’s my safe haven … If you need to get to school on time, if you need to catch up on anything important, Muni is definitely the way to go. 

MELISSA: Muni was pretty popular with the teens we spoke with, and that’s no surprise. Scores of students take Muni to school. In fact, more than half of San Francisco high schoolers take public transit to class, according to a recent survey from our Safe Routes to School Program. So, we have to make sure that Muni is up to the job. SFMTA Transit Planner Sandra Padilla works on the Muni Service Planning Team. We’re talking with her about how we adjust service to accommodate students. We begin by asking how ridership changes when the school year starts.

SANDRA PADILLA, SFMTA TRANSIT PLANNER: On the day-to-day level, it increases the intensity of the morning peaks. And it also introduces an early afternoon peak that’s not there when school is not in session. Um, if we take some of the routes that students most rely on, such as the 28, the 29, the 44, the 48, the difference in the percentage of trips that are crowded by hour light up unmistakably during the months of August through May. And also, during very specific hours of service, such as 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. and then 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. And even though the morning window is shared with when many people travel to work, the crowding pattern is much less pronounced in the summer. 

MELISSA: We also look at ridership changes from month to month.

SANDRA: When we chart weekday boardings per month, we can absolutely see the school year reflected. For example, the difference in average weekday ridership between July and October, um, in 2024 was almost 100,000 boardings. And of course, the difference may not only be attributed to students. But the pattern is definitely there and follows the schedule of the school year.

MELISSA: So, we know ridership increases when school starts. How then do we make the necessary adjustments?

SANDRA: In general, our approach to determining service changes is to prioritize addressing crowding, especially on routes where we hear about pass-ups. And that’s when the bus pulls up to the stop, but it’s so crowded that not everybody that’s waiting is able to get on, um, and people are passed up. We identify needs, identify resources and then prioritize changes that will address the needs and make resources stretch furthest.

MELISSA: The service changes that go into effect at the end of this month for the new school year have to be cost neutral because of our financial situation. So, we are making some small changes to add capacity … that should make a big difference.

SANDRA: We’re shifting the time window when we have the most vehicles going inbound or northbound on Van Ness Avenue, uh, to better match the school ridership patterns we saw in the spring and fall data. 

BUS ANNOUNCEMENT: 49 Van Ness-Mission to North Point and Van Ness

SANDRA: And another example is the 29 Sunset, where we were able to shift … where we were able to change the shift that operates the 29 Sunset tripper so that the added capacity on the 29 goes on for longer. And, of course, we are going to bring back school trippers into the schedule after not having them on during the summer. Uh, school trippers are what we call when we have an empty bus that’s otherwise 100% capacity available, pull up to a school in the afternoon, usually fill it up and then go back into regular service, bringing students to their next destination while serving regular riders.

MELISSA: Finally, we ask Padilla if she has any advice for kids and their families who are using Muni to get to school.

SANDRA: Plan ahead. Especially for students travelling independently, make sure that they know which stops and routes. Ideally redundancy: Our system is, you know, like, very rich. So, there’s always, like a plan B. If you miss one bus, um, a lot of the time you have other options. And I would say, ideally, practice the trip once without time pressure to make sure that you are doing this clear-headed. And then it kind of becomes muscle memory. Stay alert so that you don’t miss your stop. And enjoy sitting back and catching up without having to deal with traffic.

BUS ANNOUNCEMENT: Please hold on

MELISSA: Even though Muni is an essential part of the school commute for so many kids, there are other ways to get to class. Take walking for example. Margaret McCarthy is interim executive director of the advocacy organization Walk San Francisco 

MARGARET MCCARTHY, WALK SF INTERIM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: If you’re able to walk together with your kids, it can be a really wonderful relational bonding time. It is absolutely and active way to start the day. So, we hear from parents and caregivers all the time that when they’re able to walk with their kids to school, the kid is able to channel the energies that they have, rather than feel they have to repress them. So, it can be fun for the kid. It can be fun for the participating adults. And it can make everybody more freshed and refreshed when it’s time to start the school day.

MELISSA: And walking doesn’t have to be a solo or single family activity. McCarthy tells us walking school buses also could be an option.

MARGARET: A walking school bus is just a fancy way to say it’s a group of people walking to school. They’re usually organized, you know, by a parent or through your school community. And it works more or less the same way as a school bus. You’ll have a pre-determined route. And so then, perhaps you as a parent are not able to walk with your kid to school, but a trusted parent that you know is leading a small group of children to school. And when they swing by either the spot in your community where you join, or you go to a designated meet-off point, then the kids are able to walk together as a group, again with trusted adults responsible for getting those kids to school on time.

MELISSA: We’re fans of all the different ways students can get to school and want to help families figure out what works best for them. That’s where San Francisco Safe Routes to School comes in. Its goal is to make walking, biking, rolling and taking transit to school safer and more accessible for all the city’s kids. SFMTA Transportation Planner Ben Frazier is the Safe Routes to School program coordinator. We’ve met him at Duboce Park and are chatting about what program staff have been working on lately.

BEN FRAZIER, SFMTA TRANSPORTATION PLANNER: We’ve had a really busy summer developing lots of new programming and refining some of our existing offerings. We have some new activities that we’re continuing to promote this year: some new pedestrian focused activities; some pedestrian safety curriculum for younger kids and a, uh, walkable city curriculum for some older students, trying to help them understand their built environment and really, kind of, get a feel for why things are the way they are, why they make trip decisions the way they are and, kinda, how we can, kinda, start to influence that.

MELISSA: We’ve talked about Safe Routes to School before on this podcast. What has changed from the last time we heard from you?

BEN: Yeah, we had our first, uh, Ride Muni to School Week this past March. It was a great success. We had over 19 schools participate. The leading school logged over 294 trips. And the leading student … one person, one student … logged over 167 transit trips in one week, travelling over 300 miles over the nine-day contest. 

MELISSA: Muni, of course, is one of the Four Fun Ways to School that Safe Routes to school promotes. Can you give us an overview of all of those four ways?

BEN: Yeah, so our Four Fun Ways to Get to School are walking, biking and rolling, uh, that includes bikes, skateboards, scooters and wheelchair, any type of mobility device with wheels, uh, taking transit, so that’s Muni or the yellow school bus and carpooling.

MELISSA: So, as parents and kids get excited about the new school year, what do you want them to know about all their options for getting to school and getting to school safely?

BEN: That they have options, you know. Driving to school isn’t necessarily the only thing. And there’s lots of support out there, if you do wanna try walking or biking or taking the bus. So, you know, the first part is, you know, seeing who, who your friends are that year; seeing what some of their schedules are; and then finding friends to travel with. ‘Cuz that always makes it fun, too. 

MELISSA: Safe Routes to School is actually an international effort that came to San Francisco about 15 years or so ago. And we run the program in collaboration with street safety and transit advocate groups like Walk SF, as well as the San Francisco Unified School District. Safe Routes to School hosts several big events to encourage kids to embrace the various ways to get to class. Frazier already mentioned Ride Muni to School Week, and there are two more.

BEN: We have Walk and Roll to School Week around October every year. It’s our big walking activity. This year, we’re bringing back the Golden Sneaker contest as a part of that. And then in the spring, usually last week of April, first week of May, we have Bike and Roll to School Week, which is our, usually our biggest event of the year where we get thousands of kids biking to school across the city. 

MELISSA: Now, we’ve talked throughout this episode about how we help students who are going back to school, and we heard from some teenagers. But what about parents? To get that perspective, we’re speaking with Rachel Boles who lives in the Sunset District. She has two children, one in elementary school and the other starting middle school this year. 

RACHEL BOLES, SN FRANCISCO PARENT: My younger one walks to school because we’re half a block away. My older one … I was driving her last year, but we’re gonna be trying Muni actually this year. We’re gonna try the L train and try to make her more independent. :14

MELISSA: First, what’s that walk to school like?

RACHEL: We have a crossing guard, which is helpful. There are a lot of other families walking with us. So, it feels a little bit community-building. She gets to see a few friends in the morning and say “hi” before she gets to school.

MELISSA: And then you said with your older daughter?

RACHEL: Yes.

MELISSA: You’re gonna try taking the L. So, um, how are you preparing for that?

RACHEL: Well, for the first day of school, my husband will actually be taking her on the L Train just as sort of, you know, that experimental first run so she has somebody accompanying her and doesn’t have to figure everything out herself. But the idea is that once she knows how to do it, she’ll just be able to do it herself. 

MELISSA: Boles mentioned a crossing guard. No matter how kids get to school, they need to be safe crossing streets near campus once they arrive. Dennis Lowry is starting his third year as a crossing guard at Starr King Elementary in Potrero Hill after retiring from a career in project management.

DENNIS LOWRY, SCHOOL CROSSING GUARD: At my intersection, it’s very confusing for the drivers because we have certain, uh, one way streets that come in in conflicting ways. So, helping the kids make sure that they’re safe getting across the street is very important. 

MELISSA: Crossing guards are part of school communities. And Lowry says the students at Starr King know him.

DENNIS: They always call me Mr. Dennis, uh, when they cross, and it’s one of the few times in my entire career where I can literally say that I watch my clients grow every year and get taller and taller.

MELISSA: So, how does he feel about the beginning of a new school year?

DENNIS: I love it. I mean, the kids are very happy to be back at school. They all wanna be learning. They wanna hear Miss Martin, the principal, talk to them every morning, and it’s just great.

MELISSA: Thank you for joining us on Taken with Transportation. We’re a production of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, and you can find the latest episodes at SFMTA.com-slash-Podcast, as well as Apple, Spotify, our YouTube channel or wherever you listen. I’m Melissa Culross. Be well and travel well.