Reboot Your Commute Brings Mode Shift to Local High Schools

In the early morning hours of February and March school days, high school students across Alameda County changed their usual commute. Led by student leaders at 16 schools, the Safe Routes to Schools Reboot Your Commute event encouraged high school students to try something new and use active and shared modes of transportation, including biking, walking, rolling, taking transit, and carpooling.

Opening new avenues of travel to young people

Reboot Your Commute is an annual event coordinated by Transform staff. It’s grown in popularity over time, with more students participating each year. 

The goal is to create a countywide conversation about the impact of travel choices on our health, safety, community, and environment. Student leaders facilitate events at their schools by setting up welcome tables and creating spaces for their peers to share how they got to school, plus their thoughts and preferences around active and shared transportation. To generate excitement and draw a crowd, student leaders played a bike and pedestrian trivia game and pedaled up bike-blended smoothies.

Participating students were also entered into a drawing to win a $50 Clipper Card or a scooter and helmet.

Student voices on mobility choices

In talking to students after the event, we learned more about the impact of their transportation choices. Aryana Jamwal, the youth event leader at Granada High School in Livermore, told us, “[Reboot Your Commute] made me more conscious about driving. I tried to drive less by myself, and I’m trying to carpool with friends more to practice what you preach.” 

Other insights and concerns we heard from students in Livermore:

• When parents were unavailable in the morning, students had to figure out how to walk to school and time their commute to arrive on time.
• Livermore isn’t the most walkable city. There were lots of concerns about getting to places like the mall without reliable, safe transportation.
• Lack of knowledge about how to get to destinations without a car was a barrier to active mobility.
• Commuting with friends in the morning helped students stay positive and open to trying new things that expanded their minds.

More in store next year

Aryana would like adults out there to know that “The chance to walk, scooter, or bike keeps you grounded rather than staying on your phone in the car.” Parents and caregivers can help students by carpooling. “It is a good thing so different kids in our neighborhood can go to school, help the environment, and relieve stress for the adults.”

For students across the county, these fun events are just the start of conversations we will continue with help from the Youth Task Force, high school students gaining leadership skills by supporting active and shared transportation. As we close out this school year, we’re looking forward to next year and the impact these inspiring youth leaders will make on their communities in the years to come.