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 8th, 2025! 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 or Golden Bike Awards for the most participants walking or biking to school.

Forms of active transportation like walking, biking, and rolling give students an opportunity to be physically active, enjoy the outdoors, make friends, 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.

BikePGH Can Help!

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

• Host a Bike or Walking School Bus – Our “How to Start a Bike Bus” Guide and webpage has everything you need to know to plan a group walk or bike ride to your school.
• Throw a block party at your school – A block party provides space for students to safely arrive and enjoy biking, walking, skating, and playing before class starts. Your school community can apply for a Block Party Permit with the City of Pittsburgh. Note: you must apply at least 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. Last year’s 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 PGH 311 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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