For kids who lived in cities like Boston, New York, or Chicago, that walk would involve navigating bustling streets, less than safe neighborhoods, and all the hazards of an urbanized landscape. While urban children did have access to early public transportation options such as trolleys and streetcars, they were often limited by spending money for fares.
Although the journey to school in cities had it’s anxieties, a majority of children lived in varying degrees of rural environments. As shown in the figure aside, most of the country was and still is mainly rural, and thus the trip to and from school was done almost exclusively on foot.
Of course, modernity has changed the journey to school for both urban and rural school children, turning a walk to school into the exception rather than the rule. While rural school could not exist without bussing, initiatives in many cities seek a return to the old fashioned way of getting to school.
Projects and studies done by entities like the PEACH (Personal and Environmental Associated with Children’s Health) organization asked 11-12 year olds from Bristol, England to wear GPS and accelerometers to measure physical activity and routes taken during the commute to and from school. This data was then mapped in GIS and gave researchers a wealth of information about travel trends which they then used to assess its contribution to the health and activity of the average student.
Other similar studies done by researchers Guy E.J.Faulkner, Ron N.Buliung, Parminder K.Flora, and Caroline Fusco on what is called Active school transport (AST) also considered the implications of reaching school in some sort of active manner vs. passive ones like driving or school busses, and the effect of that on individual weight and general health.
In an odd and somewhat humorous manner, it appears that in light of growing obesity rates, children are once again being encouraged to walk or bike to school, forsaking the convince of school buses. As is common with many elements of classic Americana, an almost nostalgic resurgence has come to how children should get to school.