Safe Routes to School in Palo Alto

On a weekday morning in Palo Alto, the bike boulevards fill with children. Lines of riders roll down Bryant Street toward the middle schools, younger students walk with parents along quiet residential streets and high schoolers pour onto Arastradero Road and Embarcadero Road. The city says more than 58 percent of Palo Alto Unified students walk or bike to school, a share far above most American suburbs.

A lot of that comes from Safe Routes to School, a long-running partnership of the City of Palo Alto, the Palo Alto Unified School District and the PTA. This page explains what the program does, how to use its route maps, what is known about crossing guards and how to raise a safety concern. For school profiles, see our guide to Palo Alto public schools.

What the program is

The city's Safe Routes to School page describes a local community partnership that is part of the national Safe Routes to School movement. Its mission is to reduce risk to students traveling to and from school and to encourage families to choose active, sustainable options over driving alone. The Office of Transportation runs the city side of the work.

The program covers four broad areas:

• Route maps that suggest walking and biking routes for each campus.
• Education for students, built into the PAUSD curriculum.
• Encouragement through PTA volunteers at each school.
• Street changes near schools, coordinated with the city's traffic engineers and the bike plan.

A Five-Year Work Plan sets the goals. The city notes that activities depend on funding and staff capacity. The program also publishes an equity and inclusion action plan and annual program data. Its most recent annual report covers 2022 to 2025.

How it started

The program's history page traces its roots to PTA traffic safety representatives and parents who worked on school commute safety in 1994 and earlier. Their education campaigns increased walking, biking and carpooling and cut the number of single-family car trips to school.

1. Early years. A City/School Traffic Safety Committee formed to advise the City Manager and the school superintendent on student traffic safety.
2. 2003. PTA volunteers had reached the limit of what they could do alone. A task force led by Kathy Durham and other community members pushed for a formal program.
3. October 2005. The committee adopted the national Safe Routes to School Partnership Consensus Statement, which established the local partnership.
4. 2016. The first annual report to the City Council reviewed the partnership's first ten years.

The program sits alongside Palo Alto's long cycling tradition, from the Bryant Street bike boulevard of the 1970s to the 2026 bike plan. Our page on the city's bike boulevards covers that network.

Walk and Roll route maps

The most useful tool for families is the set of Walk and Roll suggested route maps. The city describes them as pocket maps designed to help parents and students explore healthy, active commute routes to and from school. They mark suggested streets and paths to each campus, with the bike boulevards and crossings that connect them.

Most school maps on the city's Walk and Roll page carry a 2026 label, though a few related maps are older. Spanish versions are posted for Addison, Escondido, Greene, Nixon and Fletcher. The Fletcher map also comes in Chinese. School offices often keep printed copies.

How to use a map

1. Find your home and trace the suggested route to school, even if it is not the shortest path.
2. Walk or ride the route with your child on a weekend first. Note each crossing and where to wait.
3. Practice the trickiest crossing several times at the hour you will use it.
4. Agree on a meeting point and what to do if a route is blocked.
5. Ride or walk with a group of neighbors for the first weeks of school.

Bike and pedestrian lessons

Safety education is built into PAUSD's curriculum for grades 3 to 8, according to the city. The materials include a Lego-based bike safety presentation for grades 4 to 7 and lessons for 3rd, 5th, 6th and 7th and 8th grades. The city says its core education programs reach about 5,888 students a year, roughly 49 percent of enrollment.

The program also runs a Mobile Information Kiosk E-Bike, known as MIKE, which brings information to community events. It publishes sun glare tips for riders and drivers. Glare is a real hazard in winter on east to west streets such as Embarcadero Road, Oregon Expressway and Charleston Road, where the low sun sits right in drivers' eyes at school times.

Rules every student rider should know

• California requires riders under 18 to wear a fitted, fastened helmet. The fine is up to $25 and parents share liability.
• Ride with traffic, never against it.
• Stop at stop signs and red lights. Walk the bike across busy crosswalks if unsure.
• Use a white front light and a red rear reflector after dark.
• Lock the bike to the school rack with a U-lock. Our bike parking guide explains free bike registration through the police department's Bike Index program.

Crossing guards

Adult crossing guards staff key intersections near Palo Alto schools at the start and end of the school day. The city has supplied them through a private contractor, All City Management Services. In August 2022 the Palo Alto Police Department posted a recruitment notice on the contractor's behalf, offering $65 a day with flexible schedules and welcoming applicants 18 and older, including seniors.

The city's Safe Routes pages do not publish a current list of staffed crossings. We could not confirm how many guards work each year. Ask your school office which nearby intersections have a guard and at what times. Crossing guards work only during set windows, so children who arrive early or leave late may cross unattended.

Raising a route problem

If a crossing feels unsafe or a route has a gap, there are three good channels:

1. The Safe Routes team. Email SafeRoutes@paloalto.gov or call the Office of Transportation at (650) 329-2520.
2. The City/School Traffic Safety Committee. It brings together community members, city staff and PAUSD staff. Meetings are generally held on the fourth Thursday of each month and the public may attend.
3. Your school's PTA. Each school has volunteers who work on commute safety and can bring concerns to the committee.

Problems such as faded paint, broken signals or overgrown bushes blocking a sidewalk can also go through Palo Alto 311. The city's planning resources include a Walk and Bike Route Planning page with maps and links. Its 2026 Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation Plan lists crossing upgrades citywide.

For drivers near schools

Everyone who drives in Palo Alto shares the road with students. A few habits help:

• Slow down in school zones, where the posted limit drops when children are present.
• Avoid bike boulevards at bell times if you can. Bryant Street and its neighbors fill with children.
• Never block a crosswalk while waiting in a drop-off line. Do not stop within 20 feet of one.
• Drop off a block away. Many schools ask parents to use a nearby street so children can walk the last stretch.
• Watch for glare in the morning and late afternoon in fall and winter.

PAUSD middle schools start at 8:30 a.m. every day in 2026 to 2027. California law bars most public high schools from starting earlier than 8:30 a.m. Our traffic and rush hour guide shows how school hours affect the main roads.

For new and visiting families

Families moving to town or staying for a school visit can learn the routes before term starts. Pick up the Walk and Roll map for your school, ride it on a quiet weekend and look at our elementary schools guide for campus details. If your child needs a bike for a summer stay, see our bike rentals guide, or compare kids' bike rentals in the Bay Area. Bay Area Bike to Work Day each spring is another chance to practice; our Bike to Work Day page has the details.

Frequently asked questions