Key Initiative
Changing the School Commute
Move Minnesota is helping create the next generation of confident public transit riders through our work with high school students in the Twin Cities.
The Issue
High school is a pivotal time for building independence and learning life skills. For the past half century, independence has been synonymous with learning to drive and getting a car. But car traffic at arrival and dismissal times decreases safety around schools for students walking, biking, and rolling–and also increases congestion, air pollution, and climate pollution in our communities. These issues have been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic due to school bus driver shortages, which have further encouraged driving to school.
The Solution
We can help foster independence by empowering young adults to use transit safely and successfully. Move Minnesota has partnered with Twin Cities high schools to dive deep into the challenges and opportunities facing school transportation and high school students. Using a lens of environmental stewardship and life skills development, our team is helping to motivate behavior change and build a cultural shift to normalize public transit use among high school students. Our work elevates the voices and perspectives of young people on issues that matter to them around transportation.
Why It Matters
Ensuring youth are able to use public transit not only helps them get where they need to go today, it prepares them to be well-rounded, self-sufficient adults well into the future. By taking the bus or train to and from school, work, and after-school activities, high school students can learn to navigate their city for daily trips, and also connect their individual transportation decisions to real-world problems and solutions, like those tied to climate change.
Our Objective
Learning how to use public transit is an important skill that can help a high school student build independence and confidence. Our desire is to develop life-long transit users who understand their connections to the world around them and feel empowered to make a positive contribution to society. To achieve this, we work to:
- Listen to the concerns of high school students and learn about the barriers they encounter.
- Teach high schoolers the basics of how to use Metro Transit.
- Help high schoolers discover the connections between public transit use and clean air, financial health, and community connection.
- Empower students to change their commute choices from car rides to public transit, and to continue this way of getting around into their adulthood.
Move Minnesota is a valuable partner.
Erica Wacker, Saint Paul Public Schools Administration
Speaking to Streets.mn on decarbonizing schools
Move Minnesota is partnering with middle and high schools in Minneapolis and Saint Paul to help students and their families transition to public transit.
What We Can Offer
- In-classroom instruction to teach students the basics of how to take public transit to school and for everyday trips. We have curriculum ready to be integrated into the classroom.
- Experiential transit trips for students. We will teach trip planning skills, tips for boarding the bus, how to transfer, and navigating public spaces.
- Fun, interactive transit education-based activities for students, educators, and parents at community and school-centered events.
- Support to educators who are teaching their students transit as a life skill.
- Resources to support educators, parents and caregivers, like helpful one-pagers on “Preparing Students for Transit” and “Safety for Students on Public Transit”
Students and Parents Say
“I think riding transit has done a lot for my son’s confidence.”
– Erin H., Parent and Volunteer | Saint Paul Public Schools
“Riding transit to school has given me skills for adulthood I don’t know where else I’d learn.
– High School Student | Saint Paul Public Schools
“I’m the kid who wanted to talk about transit!… I enjoyed talking to [Move Minnesota] at the jobs fair.”
– High School Student | Saint Paul Public Schools
“It’s more convenient for [my student] to take transit because we can ride it together as I commute to work.”
– Parent | Saint Paul Public Schools
“More knowledge about routes would help, [and] knowing how to ride the bus.”
– High School Student| Saint Paul Public Schools
WE’RE HERE TO HELP!
Twin Cities Educators, School Staff, Parents, and Caregivers
Let our team assist in teaching students how to take public transit. If you are affiliated with a local middle or high school and would like to know more or get involved, please reach out!
Related News & Updates
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Five Successful Approaches to Empower Students to Take Public Transit
Over the past two and a half years, we’ve connected with more than 1,000 students in a variety of ways, from one-to-one conversations, to single classroom sessions to extended engagements over multiple weeks. We’ve learned so much from the students about how they want to receive information and put it into action!
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How to Get More Students Riding Public Transit
No matter where we live, middle school and high school is a period of tremendous change for the kids in our communities. As students transition from childhood to their teenage years, they develop world views and habits that can last a lifetime. That’s why Move Minnesota started our Changing the Schools Commute Initiative: to help more students feel comfortable and inspired to use public transit. Our engagement shows it’s working!
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Twin Cities High School Students Head Back to School and onto the Public Bus
As teens head back to school this fall, many are making the switch from riding a yellow school bus to finding their own way to get to the classroom for the first time. Through our new initiative, Move Minnesota aims to help more local students transition to public transit.
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