Register your local event to create a national impact

Celebrate walking, biking, and rolling to school this fall with Walk and Roll to School Day on October 9th, 2024! The City of Pittsburgh Safe Routes to School program hosts this event biannually to promote walking, biking, and other forms of active transportation to school. To participate, register your school with Pittsburgh Safe Routes to School and connect with your school administration, staff, and fellow parents to encourage walking, biking, or rolling to campus for a chance to win the coveted Golden Sneaker Award for the most participants! 

Forms of active transportation like walking, biking, and rolling give students an opportunity to be physically active, enjoy the outdoors, make friendships, and develop a sense of independence and ownership of their neighborhoods. When your school community participates locally you’ll also be taking part in the National Walk and Roll to School Day movement with events across the country to get young people out of cars and buses and into the fresh air.

Register now for the 28th annual National Walk & Roll to School Day on October 9, 2024

Whether addressing the need to make routes to school safer for active trips or encouraging children to be more active, these events can be powerful tools to inspire lasting change. Of course, they are also lots of fun!

Communities are welcome to celebrate any day in October that best fits their schedules.

BikePGH Can Help

Need ideas on ways to encourage or celebrate active transportation to your school? Here are some suggestions:

Host a Bike Train or Walking School bus led by parents, school staff, and volunteers in your community! Check out our blog with tips to start your own!
Throw a block party at your school to provide space for students to safely enjoy biking, walking, skating, and playing before class starts. Your school community can apply for a Block Party Permit with the City of Pittsburgh here. Note: you must apply 14 days in advance of the event and pay a $25 application fee. Make sure to contact the school administration before applying for a block party permit.
Celebrate biking or walking at your school. Allow students to ride bikes in the recess yard or have a group walk around the school. Even students who can’t walk or bike to school can enjoy being active during the school day!

Please contact education@bikepgh.org if you need any advice or support for your Walk and Roll to School Day event or just to let us know how your school will be celebrating. We’d love to hear from you.

Getting to school shouldn’t be an uphill battle

Lastly, as we’ve written before, we’d be remiss not to mention that inequitable access to safe streets for walking, biking, and rolling can be a barrier to active transportation for the most vulnerable in our community. The recent tragic death of Courtney Carter, a 9-year-old Pittsburgh Faison student, demonstrates that neighborhood streets are still not safe for young people. As we’ve reported, many neighborhoods with high proportions of walkers may lack safe and wheelchair-accessible sidewalks, safe bike infrastructure, traffic-calmed streets, crossing guards, or all of the above. Fortunately, the school community can be a real force for change, even more so when working alongside neighborhood bike-pedestrian committees to demand safer streets for all especially our children.

Take Action!

• Connect with other parents, teachers, and administrators of your school
• Join or form a neighborhood bike and pedestrian committee to advocate for safe routes
• Use Pittsburgh 311 or MyBurgh app to alert the city to bike and pedestrian safety concerns
• Contact Pittsburgh Safe Routes to School to alert them to safety concerns
• Contact your city councilperson

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