Student Transportation and Educational Access: How Students Get to School in Denver, Detroit, New Orleans, New York City, and Washington, DC

Despite the broad attention that school choice policies have garnered, issues of student transportation within choice-rich cities have not received much attention from policymakers. The student transportation policy decisions cities make can have a substantial impact on school district funding, student health and safety, and student access to different schools (including schools of choice), as well as after-school programs. In this report, the authors review the limited available research on student transportation and profile five choice-rich cities: Denver, Colorado; Detroit, Michigan; New Orleans, Louisiana; New York City; and Washington, DC. These cities vary widely in the availability of publicly funded transportation for students, especially for students who opt out of their neighborhood school. Type of school, student’s age, and city infrastructure are among the factors that contribute to the available transportation options in a given city. The authors conclude by laying out a set of critical questions that must be answered if student transportation is to be an enabler of, rather than a barrier to, equitable access to high-quality education in urban areas. These include better understanding how students currently get to school and how those patterns might be affected by policy choices, such as changes in transportation eligibility or transportation modes available and other innovations designed to increase equity of access to high-quality schools.

• Record URL:
  https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/88481/transportation_brief_final_errata_1.pdf
• Summary URL:
  https://www.urban.org/research/publication/student-transportation-and-educational-access
• Supplemental Notes:
  • February 2017, updated April 2017. © April 2017 Urban Institute.
• Corporate Authors:

  Urban Institute

  2100 M Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20037
• Publication Date: 2017-2

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Appendices; Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 36p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Access; Cities; Mode choice; Policy; School trips; Schools; Students
• Uncontrolled Terms: School choice
• Geographic Terms: Denver (Colorado); Detroit (Michigan); New Orleans (Louisiana); New York (New York); Washington (District of Columbia)
• Subject Areas: Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Policy; Public Transportation; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01650863
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Nov 15 2017 11:34AM