With school about to start up again now is great time to think about you and your family's best routes to school and work. 

Over at the BTA blog is a great story about an often unexplored safe route to school.  The Emerson School in downtown Portland started a program they call "Transit Trekkers," which connects nearby families and bus routes, pays for the transit fare, and coordinates rotating adult chaperons to escort the kiddos to and from school.  It's like a carpool on the bus (which makes it unbelievably carbon-lite!).

Image: bta4bikes.org/btablog

According to the BTA Blog school administrators "superimposed a map of Emerson families’ homes with a transit map, and sent out personal emails to several clusters of families that all lived on the same bus or MAX rail line, reminding them about the free tickets, and suggesting they may want to ride together."

That coordination encouraged 120 bus trips for students and 80 for the parents or transit chaperons.  The free tickets were made possible by a National Safe Routes mini-Grants.  These mini-grants are still available - consider starting a Transit Trekkers group in your community!

And don't forget about National Bike and Walk to School Day coming up in October!