Safe Routes to School coordinator outlines 2025 work; commissioners press for clearer, trend-based data

Maria Ariano, Sunnyvale's community services officer and Safe Routes to School coordinator, told the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission on March 19 that the program conducted fall 2025 travel tallies, held bicycle-safety workshops, distributed helmets and other safety gear, and planned new outreach and equipment efforts for 2026.

"Our mission is to create a safer environment for Sunnyvale students and families to travel to and from school actively," Ariano said, describing the program's work across four school districts that serve more than 14,000 students in 14 elementary schools, four middle schools and two high schools.

Ariano said fall travel tallies were collected the week of Oct. 28 and 30, 2025, using teacher-administered Google forms or paper forms. From the schools that provided usable data, she reported that eight schools showed an increase in walking, three showed increased biking and seven reported more carpooling compared with the last available tallies; four schools provided no data and were excluded. Ariano said she required at least a 10-student change to list a school as "improved." "We had eight where students walked more to school," she said.

Commissioners repeatedly pressed for greater quantitative detail. "Could you provide graphs, data, number of responses versus number of questionnaires distributed?" Commissioner Bonet asked. Ariano replied she could provide the raw forms and said 14 of 18 schools submitted fall tallies, but she did not have a consolidated teacher-response percentage available at the presentation.

Commissioners and public commenters urged percentage-based, trend-year reporting and clearer maps of which schools and neighborhoods responded. "It's important that it be percentages not raw counts," public commenter Charlene Lou said, adding that historical trends over multiple years would be more meaningful than a single-year snapshot.

Program activities and incentives

Ariano described the program's incentive and training work in detail. Examples included distribution of reflective safety vests and helmets on request, LED bike lights, reflective bracelets, drawstring backpacks, and school-supplies bundles intended as teacher incentives to raise response rates on travel tallies. She said the program distributed about 60 helmets at a recent Earth Day event and that an after-school "ride-and-roll" safety rodeo drew roughly 70 students during fall and spring sessions.

For middle-school students, Ariano said the program ran half-day bicycle skills workshops with a presentation, helmet and bike checks, practice drills and a neighborhood ride; the second-year series trained 76 middle-school students and parents. She identified the instructor partner as Wheel Kids and said Tim Owie was the lead instructor for the workshops.

Planned 2026 initiatives

Ariano outlined several 2026 initiatives: creating walking and biking route maps for 20 public schools; launching a Safe Routes website to host resources and maps; deploying a shared e-bike outreach "mobility kiosk" ("MIKE") with Public Works outreach events; distributing 25 U-locks per middle school (first-come, first-served) to teach secure locking; and offering school-supplies bundles as a raffle incentive for teachers who return travel tallies.

Commissioners offered suggestions to increase participation, including principal engagement, PTA presentations, classroom incentives, student "patroller" programs, bike buses and small field-trip rewards for classes that complete tallies. Commissioner Drew also suggested coordinating with nearby programs such as Certino's Safe Routes to School to borrow reporting formats that show school-level trends.

Public comment and next steps

In public comment, longtime volunteer Charlene Lou urged principal buy-in, monthly stakeholder working groups, and percentage-based historical reporting. Kevin J, a bike advocate, urged continued support and broader outreach.

The presentation was informational only; no formal action was taken by the commission. Staff told commissioners they can return with more detailed, school-level, percentage-based trend data and that a fuller 2026 update is tentatively scheduled for October. Separately, staff noted a proposed city council priority to revitalize the Safe Routes program will receive analysis and appear in a May 19 budget workshop.

Sources and verification

The report to the commission and the questions that followed are the basis of this account; quotes and data points above are from Maria Ariano's presentation and the commissioners' questions during the March 19, 2026 meeting. Where Ariano said a numeric total was unavailable, the article notes that fact rather than inferring a value.