Stude nt Tra vel Tally – Se lect Q uestions

Survey ID Comment

1248111 Lack of sidewalks on Parke Ave is a huge issue with allowing my kids to walk to school. 1248645 Parke Ave is too dangerous for young walkers. 1248896 They should bring safety patrol back before and after school.

STUDENT TRAVEL TALLY – SELECT QUESTIONS

For comple te Stude nt Tr av el Tally res ults see Appendix B

The student travel tally survey is used to quantify students’ travel both to and from school by travel mode. The tally form is administered in school, by teachers. The count is administered school-wide in one single school week. Doing the tally on all three mid-week days (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) is greatly preferred but two of three midweek days is acceptable. Monday and Friday are avoided as possible weekend plans and/or holidays are more likely to affect students’ regular travel behaviors on those two days. Students are asked by a show of hands how they arrived at school that day and then how they plan to leave for home after school. This survey also records weather conditions on each particular day, morning and afternoon separately, as inclement weather can have an obvious effect on children walking or biking to and from school.

The student travel tally counts represent the number of actual recorded student trips to school in the morning (629) and from school in the afternoon (562) on three consecutive school days in October, 2014. Differences in these numbers are likely due to teachers forgetting to record a morning and/or afternoon travel tally on one or more days. When the tally was recorded the Glyndon-Felton Elementary School had 398 students enrolled.

Question – How did you arrive at school today? How do you plan to leave for home after school? Travel mode results from the student travel tally generally match up with the travel mode results from the parent survey. According to the tally as seen in Figure 33 and Table 14, the combined rate of walking and biking to school in the morning was eight percent (five percent walking, three percent biking). This combined rate then increased to 12 percent in the afternoon (eight percent walking, four percent biking). This is similar to the results of the parent survey with which found a 2.8 percent morning and 7.8 percent afternoon walking and biking mode share. Riding the school bus and traveling in a family vehicle were the two most frequent travel modes. The tally results showed 64 percent of students taking the school bus in the morning and 73 percent in the afternoon (parent survey 68 / 79 percent) and 26 percent of students taking the family vehicle to school in the morning and 13 percent in the afternoon (parent survey 28 / 13

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percent). This mode shift towards walking and the school bus in the afternoon is consistent with the results of the parent survey. The higher use of a family vehicle in the morning may be due to the convenience of dropping off students while parents are headed to work.

Also, the higher mode share for walking and biking in the Student Travel Tally is likely an effect of the survey method which may capture the true travel mode choices of all students, including those living close to school. Since a majority of students in this rural school district live many miles from the school, it is probable that the 30 percent return rate of the Parent Survey may over-represent the travel mode of those students who live far from the school.

Morning and Afternoon Travel Mode Comparison

Figure 33: Morning and Afternoon Travel Mode Comparison.

Table 14: Morning and Afternoon Travel Mode Comparison.

Morning and Afternoon Travel Mode Comparison

Percentages may not total 100% due to rounding.

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Weather Conditions – Sunny, Rainy, Overcast, Snow Arrival and departure modes were then cross-referenced based on weather conditions. The tally sheet allows for the recording of weather conditions each day, both in the morning and afternoon. Results between the two weather conditions observed during the tally period (sunny and cloudy) were not noticeably different. As shown in Figure 34 and Table 15, sunny and cloudy weather did not appear to have an effect on the mode choice of students. Because the tally was conducted on only three days of one week in October, students’ trips were not counted for all possible weather conditions, including rain and snow. Since a limited number of weather conditions were observed on the dates tallied, conclusions about the influence of weather on the choice of travel modes for students at the Glyndon-Felton Elementary School is limited at best.

Travel Mode by Weather Conditions

Figure 34: Travel mode by weather conditions (Fall 2014).Table 15: Travel mode by weather conditions (Fall 2014).

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