The Smartest Kids in School

I was walking past Swanson Middle School in Arlington shortly after school started in the fall and took note of the bike racks and bikes.  There were thirteen bicycles parked on the bike racks, which could potentially hold a maximum of twenty.

I think these are the smartest kids (and teachers) in the school.  In Arlington, students who live within 1.5 miles of a Middle School are in the walking zone; outside that zone they are provided bus service.  A student who lives 1-1.5 miles away will take 15-30 minutes to walk, depending on pace and distance.  On a bike, though, it shouldn't take more than 10 minutes max to ride a mile and a half--providing that much extra sleep time in the morning.

Looking at the boundary map, it appears that one-third to one-half of the households in the Swanson District are within 1/2 mile of the Custis Trail and W&OD trails, which bring you within a block or two of the school.  Kids who would have to catch the bus from 2-4 miles away and 45 minutes before school starts can save themselves as much as 30 minutes by riding over to school instead of taking the bus.  By utilizing the trails, they can ride almost the whole way separated from traffic.  At the end of the day they can be halfway home or to their friend's house (or wherever they go after school) before the bus is even loaded!

I hope these and many other students participated in Bike and Walk to School Day back in October.  Let's give these bike riders an A for riding every day.  They're smart.
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Steve Offutt is an Arlington resident and cyclist
Visit BikeArlington.com for more info on cycling in Arlington

Comments

[Allen Muchnick]

Arlington County's bicycle program should survey those who are and are not bicycling to schools, to find out what routes are being used and what is hindering more bicycling.

[Jeremy Holmes]

I'd like to second mattotoole's comments. I also grew up in Southern California in the 80s, and my bicycle was my main form of transportation to and from school. In fact, I never even rode a school bus until I moved to Roanoke in '89, and even then I would occasionally skip the bus and walk to school (despite the fact that my school was in Roanoke County, which has no sidewalks anywhere in its jurisdiction).

I recall that we had a huge "bike garage" that regularly held 60 to 70 bikes a day. Many of those who didn't bike, walked.

In Roanoke, there are some elementary schools that expressly prohibit students arriving by bicycle (though with the Safe Routes to School program I think this is slowly changing valley-wide).

[mattotoole]

This is a subject I harp on a lot.

Growing up in southern CA in the 70s, over 80% of us rode bikes or walked to school. We had a 1.5mi bus distance too, but few kids rode the bus unless they lived more than 2-3 miles away. Biking was faster and you could do it on your own schedule, with no waiting around, plus you had your own transportation to after school activities or neighborhood play.

There was hardly such a thing as a "soccer mom" because most of us got to our after school activities under our own power. Note how the rise of the minivan/SUV coincided with the fall of biking to school.

There were no morning and afternoon traffic jams around schools either.

With so much of our lives centered around our schools, our neighborhoods should be too -- and connected by convenient and safe bike-ped routes that parents can feel confident letting their kids use by themselves.