City staff brief Transportation Commission on Safe Routes to School; commissioners and residents press for enforcement and school-district coordination

Lindsay Terry, the City of Davis Safe Routes to School coordinator, presented an overview of the city’s Safe Routes to School program at the Transportation Commission meeting on Monday, Feb. 10, describing education and encouragement programs aimed at K–12 students and summarizing participation trends and planned events.

Terry said the coordinator position is funded by the City of Davis general fund and that she began in mid-October. She outlined recurring programs including Active For Me (an arrival-scanning program run by volunteers), helmet giveaways, bike rodeos, Polar Pedal (a winter-month riding campaign), Loopaloosa (a May bike-month kickoff) and school-based bike education and repair classes. She said Active For Me participation varies by school, with participation rates in recent years ranging roughly from the mid-teens to about 40 percent of a school’s enrollment, and that the program has trended downward in absolute participants over the last three years.

The presentation included recent program activity: a December helmet check in which staff and Davis Police Department volunteers checked helmets and distributed helmets to roughly 400 people of all ages; an ongoing Polar Pedal campaign in February that recorded more than 2,000 miles ridden in its first week; and plans for March–April bike rodeos, an April 6 citywide bike swap at Cesar Chavez Elementary, Loopaloosa on May 4 and a coordinated Bike and Walk to School event on May 7.

Terry said staff are working with volunteers at each elementary site, local advocacy groups such as Bikes Davis and the Davis Police Department. She described Active For Me as a volunteer-run, tag-and-scan arrival system that logs mode, miles and classroom participation; the program is largely sustained by volunteers at elementary sites.

Public commenters and multiple commissioners focused discussion on conditions at school pickup and drop-off areas and on motorist behavior. Earl Bazar, a North Davis resident and long-time local bike advocate, presented a separate proposal for a North Davis Bike Loop and noted it would require relatively little public expense (signage and pavement markings) because it relies on existing greenbelt and neighborhood facilities.

Trish Price of Bikes Davis praised the Safe Routes work and urged a stronger enforcement component around schools, saying “we would just like to see a little bit larger component of enforcement of motorist behavior in the safe routes to school” because many drop-off conflicts involve motor vehicles and young children.

Commissioners and staff discussed several enforcement and engineering measures. Commissioners urged the commission to press the school district for campus-level design changes that reduce vehicle–pedestrian and vehicle–bike conflicts, and to pursue “bite-sized” infrastructure steps such as installing better bike racks, targeted striping and red-curb (“daylighting”) enforcement in school zones. Staff said the city meets with DJUSD (Davis Joint Unified School District) once every other month during the school year to observe drop-off periods and identify near-term changes and longer-term improvements. City staff said they are prioritizing red-curb work where bike trails intersect streets and responding to site-specific requests for curb changes.

Commissioners and members of the public also suggested pilot approaches to reduce on-site vehicle congestion: designate underused parking lots near schools for parent drop-off with short walks to campus; provide bike parking canopies at schools; run outreach and enforcement campaigns for motorists; and consider incentive programs for students or staff who commute by bike. Several commissioners described recent local near-misses and collisions involving bicycle riders during school-travel periods and emphasized that perceived lack of safety and motorist behavior are major barriers to increased walking and biking to school.

Staff identified next steps and calendar items: bringing an update to the commission in May on traffic safety at schools and the city’s “Moving Transportation Forward” planning work; continuing coordination with DJUSD and Davis Police Department on near-term improvements; and returning to the commission with draft updates to lighting and the city bike plan once consultant work is complete.

The commission took no formal policy votes on program changes at this meeting. Routine procedural motions—approving the meeting agenda and approving meeting minutes on the consent calendar—were approved unanimously. Commissioners asked staff to prioritize site visits, enforcement coordination and targeted striping and to report back with specific proposals for near-term, actionable changes.