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STPP
California 2003 - 2004 Initiatives
Children's
Transportation
If
California
is to become a place where children can get around on their own more
of the time — by walking,
bicycling or riding public transit — then we must take bold steps
to make streets less hazardous for pedestrians and bikers, and to
alter current community and school design patterns that have
contributed greatly to the state’s lack of transportation options.
The following initiatives, if implemented, will go a long way toward
improving the health, safety and independent mobility of California’s youngest residents.
In
2001, children were involved in more than one-third of all
pedestrian-vehicle collisions in California, though
they accounted for just over one-quarter of the state’s total
population. As a result,
pedestrian collisions now rank among the leading causes of death and
hospitalized injury for children. Particularly vulnerable are
minority children and children from low-income households, who make
a higher percentage of their trips on foot and are more likely than
other children to be hurt in pedestrian-vehicle
accidents.
STPP
suggests that new policies and investments can make California’s
cities, towns and suburbs safer and more convenient for walking,
bicycling and transit — and these changes would benefit both the
health and mobility of children.
In the next few years
STPP
CA
will
promote several policy initiatives.
Following are two policy proposals that are part of our
Children’s Transportation initiatives:
I.
Safe Routes to School Reauthorization:
On
October 2, 2001, Governor Davis signed SB 10 (Soto) extending the Safe Routes to
Schools (SR2S) program for three more years. The program sunsets on
January 1, 2005, unless a later enacted statute deletes or extends that date.
Since the program began in 1999, the state has funded 273
programs throughout the state.
The program
dedicates $20-25 million a year for six categories of projects:
sidewalk improvements, traffic calming and speed reduction,
pedestrian/bicycle crossing improvements, on-street bicycle
facilities, and traffic diversion improvements.
The program is
administered by the CALTRANS Local Assistance Program.
This program provides vital funding to local governments to
construct projects in the vicinity of schools statewide to make it
safer for children to walk and bike.
The SR2S program
has been implemented successfully in many different jurisdictions
around the state and in other parts of the country and even
overseas. In CA one of
the more successful programs has occurred in Marin County and has
lead to increased biking and walking to school by students and
reduced traffic at schools due to parent drop offs and pick ups.
To learn more or
share this information with others, download the following fact
sheet. Please
show your support by signing the letter below and faxing a copy
to us at (916) 447-8881.
II.
Free
Student Bus Pass
Legislation
Many low-income
and fixed income families are unable to send their children to
school at the end of each month because of financial constraints.
These students subsequently miss out on much needed
educational opportunities, have an increased risk of not performing
well in school, and could potentially fall into the criminal justice
system.
Schools in
California
are also penalized financially because of the loss of average daily
attendance revenues attributed partly to this monthly drop-off.
Free-bus programs in other areas around the country have
demonstrated that student performance has improved considerably for
students that are able to attend school on a regular basis.
This proposed
legislation would establish a $100 million 2-4 year pilot program to
provide free or reduced passes to children who are currently
eligible for free or reduced lunches.
The program would be administered by local and regional
transit agencies.
The program was
successfully implemented in the San Francisco Bay Area in
Alameda
and
Contra
Costa
Counties
by AC Transit (2002-2003). Budget
cutbacks have forced AC Transit to terminate the program.
This program helped 24,000
East
Bay
youths get to school.
To learn more or
share this information with others, download the following fact
sheet.
For
more information, read STPP's report on the declining mobility of
California's youth, entitled Can't
Get There from Here.
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