Dust off your bike helmets, double knot your sneakers, and get ready for the Safe Routes Philly “Spring Training” showdown!

Vision Zero Philadelphia and Safe Routes Philly are calling on schools and parents to join us in our “Spring Training” program — aimed at preparing schools and communities to participate in Bike, Walk, and Roll to School Day on Wednesday, May 7.

The first National Walk & Roll to School Day—called Walk Our Children to School Day—was held in 1997. Since then, it’s come a long way. In May 2012, the first-ever National Bike & Roll to School Day—called Bike to School Day—was celebrated across the U.S. Join families, schools and communities as they walk and bicycle to school for these events each year.

Walking and biking to school is correlated with:

  • Better attendance
  • Better behavior
  • Better grades

The City’s Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems (OTIS), which oversees the Vision Zero Philadelphia and Safe Routes Philly programs, works with The National Center for Safe Routes to School to organize events locally. We want to help your school get involved!

Safe Routes Philly will be hosting a month long competition between schools all across the city. Each participating school will be paired with another school to see who can have the most students using active transportation every Wednesday morning between April 2 and May 7.

Each school needs to identify one adult to be the school’s “Coach.” The Coach’s role includes meeting once with the Safe Routes Philly team in February as well as tracking the number of students participating each week. Parents, school staff, neighbors, and community members are eligible to be Coaches.

Next Steps

Attend the virtual information session on Friday, February 7 at 2 p.m. Meeting information is below. You can spread the word among your community in-person or online by using the downloadable Spring Training Event Flyer.

Please book an individual appoints with the Safe Routes Team if this time does not work for you school.  Please email saferoutesphilly@phila.gov with any questions!

Virtual Meeting Details

Topic: Safe Routes Spring Training Kick-off
Time: Feb 7, 2025 14:00 Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Notes on Using Zoom:

  • To download Zoom for your computer or mobile device, visit zoom.us/download.
  • To ask a question, please use the “raise your hand” feature and turn on video to ask your question.
Visit the Safe Routes Philly webpage for more information and resources.