<story><title>2/3 of kids bike to school in Assen because it was designed that way (2013)</title><url>http://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2013/09/the-school-run-in-assen.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>bcrosby95</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s not just how they are built.  I live 1&amp;#x2F;4 of a mile away from my kids&amp;#x27; school.  There are crossing guards and sidewalks.  Many people still drive their kid to school in my neighborhood.  It&amp;#x27;s crazy to me.</text></item><item><author>closeparen</author><text>I didn’t realize how good I had it growing up in a 1920s streetcar suburb of a Rust Belt city, where pretty much everyone walked or biked to school. Even people who are lukewarm on postwar suburbia usually hew to the consensus that it’s the ideal place to raise kids, and it makes no sense. Children need environments they can navigate under their own power.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>mikepurvis</author><text>I live in a downtown century home neighborhood with the elementary school right around the corner (Waterloo region, Canada), and most kids walk, but there are a handful whose parents drop them off on nearby side streets or whatever. Possibly on the way to work or something? Obviously there may be individual considerations, but overall it just seems nuts that anyone would consider that option given how small the catchment is.&lt;p&gt;Anyway, the school has a tiny parking lot (like 20 slots) just for staff use, but they’re constantly facing calls to expand it, add “pull-in” spots, and so on. I’m glad they’ve been able to resist these as I could well imagine many parents teetering on the edge of comfort level with walking, and potentially switching if it was only slightly more convenient to drive or slightly more scary to walk.</text></comment>
<story><title>2/3 of kids bike to school in Assen because it was designed that way (2013)</title><url>http://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2013/09/the-school-run-in-assen.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>bcrosby95</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s not just how they are built.  I live 1&amp;#x2F;4 of a mile away from my kids&amp;#x27; school.  There are crossing guards and sidewalks.  Many people still drive their kid to school in my neighborhood.  It&amp;#x27;s crazy to me.</text></item><item><author>closeparen</author><text>I didn’t realize how good I had it growing up in a 1920s streetcar suburb of a Rust Belt city, where pretty much everyone walked or biked to school. Even people who are lukewarm on postwar suburbia usually hew to the consensus that it’s the ideal place to raise kids, and it makes no sense. Children need environments they can navigate under their own power.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Baeocystin</author><text>When I went to high school, I walked, as I lived only a few blocks away. So did most kids. During the morning dropoff time, it was mostly walkers, bikes, and busses, with a few cars here and there.&lt;p&gt;Today? Proportions are reversed. Just a few walk or bike, and an absolute catastrophe of cars dropping off kids. So many that they back up in to the surrounding neighborhood. It&amp;#x27;s bizarre to me.</text></comment>