Today was International Walk and Roll to School Day, and San Francisco students, teachers and parents came out in mass to celebrate the big event! This year’s event was record-breaking, with 14,000 students from 84 San Francisco schools participating.

Students from across the city walked, biked, scooted and rolled their way to class. To make the morning even more fun and community-oriented, many formed “Walking School Buses” and traveled to school together. See above photo of Sunset Elementary School students.

Walk and Roll to School Day kicked off the 2014-15 Safe Routes to Schools program, which works on encouraging families to bike, walk or take transit to school instead of relying on private auto use. The Safe Routes to School program is a coalition of local agencies and advocates that work together to advance safe, healthy and equitable transportation to and from schools, and the SF Bicycle Coalition is proud to be part of this partnership. This year, the Safe Routes program expanded from 15 local schools to 25.

Students from Bessie Carmichael Elementary formed a giant “Walking School Bus” to get to their school for Walk and Roll to School Day. Photo by Arunsankar Muralitharan

Mayor Ed Lee used Walk and Roll to School Day as a chance to announce a series of Vision Zero safety projects that will help ensure that streets near our schools are more safe. The projects include sidewalk bulbouts, school zone signage, raised crosswalks and daylighting of intersections. See full list of projects on WalkSF’s blog. 

The event may be over, but there are plenty of Safe Routes and family biking events to come. Check out the great Safe Routes to School resources to get your family or school involved. Want to start biking with your family? The SF Bicycle Coalition teaches free Family Biking Classes to help get you and your family rolling! Congrats to all the students, teachers and families who utilized smart, sustainable and fun ways to get to school today!