Stanford University



Gunn High School Student Transportation Survey 2003-2004

Michelle Frumkin-Rosengaus, Ph.D. and Nik Kaestner

September 2004.

As part of a continuing effort to reduce traffic and promote alternative transportation to and from school by Gunn students, the GOFAST committee conducted its second biennial student survey towards the end of the last school year 2003-04. GOFAST stands for Gunn Organization For Alternative Safe Transportation and has been in existence for four years. The committee consists of Gunn administration personnel, Gunn parent volunteers, PTSA (Gunn Parent, Teacher and Student Association), City of Palo Alto staff, Palo Alto City Council members and Palo Alto School District staff.

The first Transportation Survey was done in the spring of 2002. Its purpose was to establish a baseline of the travel habits of students at Gunn, something that had never been done before. In the two years between surveys, GOFAST developed many innovative programs aimed at encouraging alternatives to solo auto driving and increase the safety of pedestrians and cyclists. This second survey was designed to evaluate the success of these programs, identify areas that need to be addressed in order to increase the effectiveness of the programs and develop ideas for future action items.

The survey was administered the first week in June of 2004 during Math classes. A total of 1,667 students were surveyed and 1,197 surveys were completed. This represents a 72% rate of return.

This document is divided into seven sections covering the following topics: description of the GOFAST Transportation Alternatives Program, Gunn journey to school travel mode with evaluation of the corresponding GOFAST programs, geographic distribution of the Gunn student body and travel choice by neighborhood, access to the Gunn campus, student information sources, student comments on food at Gunn, Executive Summary and Recommendations. Appendix A contains the frequency tables for all the survey 2003-04 responses, with some comparisons to the first survey. Appendix B contains the Neighborhood Map.

GOFAST Transportation Alternatives Program:

The GOFAST committee has developed a variety of programs to encourage alternative transportation to school. Alternative transportation encompasses modes of travel other than auto solo drivers. The programs use a combination of incentives and disincentives to reach the desired behavior. GOFAST programs include the following:

1. Promotion of VTA (Valley Transportation Authority) transit use through the sale of subsidized monthly passes. The SAC (Student Activities Center) sells 110 to 120 VTA passes per month. Passes are sold at $15, which currently is half the price of a VTA monthly student pass. The passes are subsidized with money from the sale of parking permits. The school year 2003-04 was the first year for this program; it is now into its second year.

2. GOFAST was instrumental in the implementation and route selection of the free Palo Alto Shuttle service to Gunn, which started running in 2001.

3. Working with the PAUSD to provide fee-based bus service to Gunn H S for students living in Los Altos Hills, Palo Alto Hills, Stanford and Stanford West.

4. Facilitating the formation of carpools through the creation of the neighborhood based student directory known as the “Carpool Directory”. It is now in its third year and printed as part of the Gunn Student Directory.

5. Encouraging student carpools by selling carpool parking permits at a reduced price and with preferred parking spaces. For the school year 2003-04, there were 245 carpool parking permits and 158 solo permits sold, at $30 and $60 respectively. This year, carpool permits (2 or more per car) are being sold for $100 and solo permits for $150.

6. Selling parking permits first to students living farther than 1 or 2 miles from campus, i.e. beyond El Camino, Page Mill Rd. and Foothill Blvd. Any parking permits left are sold to students living closer to school. Parking permits are sold only to Seniors and Juniors.

7. Carpool drop off incentive program. Adult driven carpools are allowed to drop off at the front office instead of having to drive to the back of the school.

8. Installation of new bicycle racks, bicycle safety videos, a Stanford Bicycle Route Safety Study and safety measures involving bicycle paths in al entrances to Gunn.

9. Rewarding students that come by bicycle through the creation of the Pedaling for Prizes program. This program was started in 2002-03, so it has been in effect for two years.

10. Encouraging students to walk, skate or skateboard for the resulting health benefits.

Journey to School Travel Mode Determined by the Survey and Evaluation of Corresponding GOFAST Programs:

According to the survey, 66% of the student body arrives in some mode of transportation other than solo drivers. This ratio is up slightly from 64% from the survey taken two years ago. Figure 1 shows the breakdown of travel modes used by students to Gunn in the morning, for both surveys.

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Carpools: Gunn’s dominant form of transportation is by car, but carpools account for 34% of the students (22% in student carpools and 12% in adult driven carpools). This is a major change from the 25% from two years ago. The major commute change is in the adult carpools, which are up from 5% to 12%, and hopefully will continue increasing with the use of the neighborhood directory, preferential drop off zone and higher parking fees.

Solo Drivers: Solo drivers still account for 34% of the students, of which 19% are adult drivers and 15% are student drivers. This share is slightly lower than two years ago. Through the sale of reduced price carpool parking permits, the number of student solo drivers has dropped from 18% to 15%.

The survey indicates that less than half the students are aware of the existence of the Neighborhood Directory, which means that 53% don’t know about this ridesharing resource. Of the students who know about it, only 9% have used it. Regretfully, we do not have similar information for the parents.

Since so many people don’t know about it, this would indicate that there is the possibility of increasing rideshares by promoting the use of the Neighborhood Directory by students and adults alike. This would not be the case if most people knew about it and chose not to use it. Students will most likely carpool with friends, so adults are a better target for the Carpool Directory. Since this is a rather novel idea, it will take some time and a concerted education campaign, for people to think about using the directory in order to find other Gunn families in their immediate area with which to rideshare. Ideally, the Neighborhood Directory should exist in elementary and middle schools as well, so its use becomes habitual and carries on with the families as they move through the school system.

Bicycle: The survey shows that 13% of the students arrive by bicycle (160), up from 12% (127 bikers) two years ago. GOFAST has counted anywhere from 150 to 200 bikers at Gunn on any given day, with 490 names on the Pedaling for Prizes list of at least one-time bikers. Pedaling for Prizes has been in place two years, doing a great job of advertising, since ¾ of the survey respondents said they have heard of the program (72%), and 19% of the respondents (203 students) say they actually participate in the program. A target audience still exists in the 28% of the students who haven’t heard of it.

GOFAST has noted a seasonal effect on bikers, with high numbers in the fall then tapering off when the rainy season begins. The number of bikers tends to continue low through the spring. Pedaling for Prizes will try some incentives this year to entice students to continue biking through the rainy season.

Walk/Skate/Skateboard: Walkers, skaters and skateboarders make up 11% (136 students). This number is down from 14% (151 students) of two years ago.

Public Transit: Students arriving via public transit are at 8% (5% VTA and 3% Palo Alto Shuttle). Transit user share is down, from 13% two years ago (8% VTA and 5% Palo Alto Shuttle).

VTA service to Gunn was curtailed dramatically the last school year 2003-04. In 2002-03, Route 88 had 30-minute service along Oregon Expressway, Middlefield, Colorado Ave., Greer Rd., Louis and Charleston. For 2003-04, Route 88 was merged with another route and service along Oregon, Middlefield, Colorado and Greer was cut out completely. Instead, Route 88 was limited to hourly service and only along Louis, between Embarcadero and Charleston. Prices went up from $0.85 to $1.25 each way. These changes affected major Gunn neighborhoods in Midtown and Palo Verde. From the survey two years ago, there were 57 Midtown students using VTA 88, in 2003-04 it was only 15. Similarly, in Palo Verde there were 99 students using VTA in 2001-02, two years later it dropped to 20, and in Charleston Terrace the number went from 83 to 10. This explains the drop in transit ridership in spite of Gunn’s efforts.

The free Palo Alto Shuttle has been extremely successful but is running at full capacity, which is for approximately 60 people. Therefore, no matter what Gunn does to promote it, there is no space for more students. Furthermore, because of the packed conditions, many Gunn students have stopped using it.

Both transit services run through neighborhoods with the highest numbers of Gunn students. About half (48%) of the total survey respondents said a VTA 88 bus runs within 3 blocks of their house and 49% said the Shuttle runs within 3 blocks of their house. The three-block measure was chosen as being a walkable distance. The SAC sells monthly VTA passes for half price, but according to the survey results, only 49% of the students know about it. This is one place where transit service can be promoted.

Increased District fee-bus service for Los Altos Hills, Palo Alto Hills, Stanford and Stanford West residents is being requested by GOFAST. Only 22% of all students surveyed know about the existence of fee bus service in the hills, indicating the lack of publicity and information. Of the students living in Los Altos Hills, 21% said they are interested in bus service. The Gunn student directory lists 183 students living in the hills, which is 11% of the total student body. So here again, there is potential to increase transit ridership by improving the level of bus service to this area and by providing better information to the hills residents.

In the afternoon, the return trips are slightly different. The number of carpools goes down to 27% (from 34% in the morning), but transit use increases to 13% (from 8%), and walkers increase to 15% (from 11% in the morning). This leads us to believe that many morning carpoolers return home on their own. This makes sense, since 45% of the survey respondents stay for after school sports.

Geographic Distribution of the Gunn Student Body and Transportation Choices by Neighborhood:

The majority of the Gunn student body (83%) resides within the city boundaries of Palo Alto. The remaining 17% live in cities outside Palo Alto, including 10% in Los Altos Hills and the rest as far south as San Jose. Figure 2 depicts the distribution by major geographical areas around Gunn.

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Following is a breakdown of student transportation choices by geographic areas with major concentrations of Gunn students:

• Thirty eight percent of the student body lives in the neighborhoods east of Alma and south of Oregon Expressway, with 2/3 of them concentrated in the Midtown and Palo Verde neighborhoods (see Figure 3). Overall, a third of the students in this geographic area carpool (36%) and a third drive solo (35%). About 12% of the students in this area bike to school (although specifically in Greenmeadow the share of bicyclists is 25%).

What is surprising is that only 17% of the students from here use transit; in the survey, anywhere between 56% to 86% of the students, depending on the neighborhood, said VTA 88 runs within 3 blocks of their house, for the Shuttle it was 44% to 59%. This area should be encouraged to use transit; e.g. by advertising the half price monthly passes, since between 24% and 41% of the students, depending on the neighborhood, did not know they could buy them at the SAC.

Greenmeadow and Charleston Terrace both have 41% of their students in solo cars. These are perfect target areas for carpooling because of the distance; since it takes parents a long time to drive the students to Gunn they will be more open to the idea of sharing the driving.

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• In the vicinity of the campus, i.e. Barron Park and Green Acres, live 22% of the students (see Figure 4). Half the students (55%) bike, walk or skate; a fifth of the students carpool (21%) and the remainder drive solo (23%). Only two students from Barron Park said they take the Shuttle, which could reflect the fact that the Shuttle is full by the time it gets to Barron Park. Perhaps if the Shuttle had more capacity it could attract more riders out of their cars, especially since 62% of the Barron Park students said the Shuttle passes within 3 blocks of their house. Solo drivers need to be encouraged to walk, bike or join carpools.

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• Another 12% of Gunn students live in the area between Alma and El Camino Real, namely the Ventura and Charleston Meadows neighborhoods (see Figure 5). The preferred travel mode to school in these neighborhoods is by car, with 31% carpooling and 32% solo drivers. Bicycles are 20% of the share and 11% walk to school. Due to their location, these neighborhoods are ideal for transit and bicycles.

In Ventura, 72% of the students report that the Shuttle travels within 3 blocks of their house, yet only 7% use the Shuttle. The problem is that the Shuttle is already full by the time it reaches Ventura. A similar situation repeats itself in Charleston Meadows, where 77% of the students say VTA 88 passes within 3 blocks of their house yet only 7% use it. The VTA bus gets very full, but VTA runs a second bus right behind it called a tripper to increase the capacity, both in the morning and afternoon runs. In Charleston Meadows, 39% of the students don’t know they can buy the discounted monthly passes.

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• Gunn students living in the hills area, i.e. Palo Alto Hills, Los Altos Hills and Portola Valley, account for 12% of the student body. Half the students from the hills arrive in solo autos (51%), another 40% arrive in carpools (see Figure 6). Only half the students know of the existence of the Carpool Directory, so it should be possible to encourage new carpools by publicizing the Directory’s use for ridesharing.

The District runs Routes Y and Z as fee-busing through the hills, mainly for elementary and middle school students. For the school year 2003-04 the District offered available seats on the buses to Gunn students, but the service was offered well into the school year and only with morning service, therefore response was lukewarm. Only a third of the Los Altos Hills students surveyed knew of the existence of the fee-bus service to Gunn. This year the District has opened seats for Gunn students on a first come first serve basis on Routes Y and Z, with both morning and afternoon service. Since there is no public transit service to Gunn in the hills, the District’s fee busing is important as an alternative transportation for this area.

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• Stanford/Stanford West, College Terrace and Research Park areas account for 7% of the Gunn students. According to the survey, 46% of these students arrive by carpool and 34% in solo autos. Another 17% bike to school (see Figure 7 for Stanford/Stanford West).

Until now there hasn’t been bus service for Gunn students in these neighborhoods. For middle-schoolers, The District has run Route J from this area to Terman Middle School with great success. This year for the first time, The District is offering Gunn students fee-bus service on Route J to Gunn. The location of these neighborhoods is ideal for District fee busing and carpooling.

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• Another 3% of Gunn students live north of Oregon Expressway and east of Alma. Menlo Park and East Palo Alto account for 1% of the students. The remaining 5% live in cities south of Palo Alto, from Los Altos to as far south as San Jose.

Access to the Gunn campus: The majority of the students (66%) gain access to the Gunn campus through the main entrance on Arastradero Rd., up from 61% two years ago. Half of the total Gunn student body (50%) enters on Arastradero coming from the direction of El Camino Real, and 16% of Gunn students enter on Arastradero Rd. coming from Foothill and the hills areas. The good news is that the entrance on Georgia Street is at 12%, down from 24% two years ago; GOFAST has been discouraging students from entering on Georgia St. because of the large number of complaints from the Georgia St. residents.

The remaining students enter via Los Robles (13%), Miranda (7%, up from 1% two years ago) and West Bowl Park (2%). GOFAST has conducted a series of safety improvements on Miranda, which can explain the increased use of this entrance. There is improved speedy delivery for auto drop offs and better safety for pedestrians and cyclists.

Student Information Sources: In order to communicate more effectively with the students, the survey included a question regarding the students’ main sources of information about school activities. The goal is to increase student awareness about transportation alternatives using the most effective medium. The results show that fliers and posters around school are the most popular venue for students (27%), followed by the morning bulletin announcements (23%). Other sources of information are teacher announcements (18%), parents (12%), the school newspaper The Oracle (11%) and the electronic Gunn Connection (9%).

Student Comments on the Food at Gunn:

At the end of the survey, students were allowed to express their feelings about the quality of the food served at Gunn. GOFAST’s aim is to keep students on campus and avoid the lunch rush out of the parking lot. A sampling of 134 student surveys expresses their opinions quite clearly.

More than half the students (54%) complained about the elevated price of the food, especially in regard to the poor quality they get for the money. Thirty seven percent of the students want better quality food, 28% want more variety and 22% want healthier choices. Among the suggested healthier food choices are vegetarian options, sushi, salad, yogurt, fresh fruit, sandwiches, chicken and wraps. Eighteen percent of the students suggested shorter lines, more windows or institute a cafeteria-style lunchroom.

Executive Summary and Recommendations:

Gunn High School, through GOFAST’s efforts, is doing a wonderful job in promoting alternative transportation methods to and from school. This is evidenced by the 66% share of students arriving at school in means other than solo drivers. Yes, there is a lot of traffic on Arastradero, because Gunn is a very large school, with only one entrance and on a busy corridor. When the first survey was done two years ago, the student population of Gunn was at 1600; this school year 2004-05 enrollment is up to 1714 students. Students should be commended publicly for achieving this 66% share of alternative transportation modes to school.

GOFAST programs have had an effect on transportation patterns at Gunn. Figure 8 shows the difference in transportation choices in the two years between the surveys. If GOFAST had done nothing, you would expect to find a similar distribution two years later, when in fact there have been changes. Granted, there are changes beyond our control, such as the reduction in VTA service.

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Future transportation goals for Gunn High School and recommended action:

1. The most immediate and cost-effective action for GOFAST is marketing. There are many good programs in place, but the information needs to get out to the Gunn community.

2. Gunn’s focus for the near future should be to reduce the remaining 34% of solo drivers. A longer-term goal should be to reduce vehicular traffic on Arastradero Rd. by increasing the level of transit service to Gunn.

3. Gunn could set a goal of, for example, “75% arriving at school in other than solo cars by next year”, and send out a challenge to the students to meet this goal. Information should be targeted to the students via morning bulletin announcements and fliers around campus, since according to the survey these are their main sources of information.

4. More effort needs to be placed on promoting public transit. Transit potential is enormous. According to the survey, 61% of the students said VTA 88 runs within 3 blocks of their house. The neighborhoods traversed by Route 88 have 787 Gunn students, according to the Student Directory for 2003-04. For the free Palo Alto Shuttle, the neighborhoods served by the Shuttle have 837 Gunn students. This translates into a potential ridership of 480 students for VTA and 477 for the Shuttle, based on the three block criteria. There is some overlap in these numbers because some homes are within three blocks of both services. Transit is best promoted through incentives, perhaps a reward program similar to that of the very successful Pedaling for Prizes.

5. GOFAST should continue developing fee-bus service to the hills residents and Stanford/Stanford West areas. There are 173 students in Los Altos Hills and 91 students in the Stanford area listed in the Student Directory. According to the survey, 21% of the Los Altos Hills students indicated an interest in bus service, which would be approximately 36 students. From Stanford/Stanford West, the District’s J Route to Terman Middle School on Arastradero is full to capacity, which would indicate a similar potential if it provided a bus for Gunn students.

6. Carpooling is another effective way of reducing vehicular traffic. Two years ago, in the survey for 2001-02, carpooling was at 25% and this year it is up to 34%. Carpooling should be encouraged especially in neighborhoods farther away from Gunn and in areas that are not served by transit. The farther the area is from Gunn, the more time parents save if they carpool, making them more amenable to the idea of ridesharing. Examples of these areas are Los Altos Hills and Stanford. Other large areas not covered by transit service include homes along San Antonio Rd., in the neighborhoods of Charleston Terrace, Greenmeadow and Charleston Meadows. Midtown, between Middlefield and Alma, is also largely unserved by transit.

7. Continue publishing The Gunn Carpool Directory, printed as part of the Student Directory. This is the best local source of information to find families to rideshare. Carpools can be made to look “cool” for students if ridesharing with friends. Adults can be encouraged to carpool by pointing out the savings in time and gas, the opportunity to get to know their children’s friends and listen in on what goes on at school (since car rides are conducive to talking), and the unique opportunity to meet neighboring families. Adults can be approached via the Spotlight, especially through the Principal’s letter and the PTSA President’s letter. The electronic Gunn Connection is another effective way to reach parents.

8. The Carpool Directory has practical uses beyond ridesharing:

• Afternoon classes and activities should provide parents with a list of participating students sorted by neighborhood in order to form carpools.

• In elementary and middle schools the Directory can be used to form bikepools and walkpools. It can also be used to group students and drivers for field trips.

• In emergencies, the neighborhood sort is useful for emergency information dissemination. For example to contact an affected neighborhood that has been flooded or has a fire.

• To select neighborhood representatives for school issues.

• To set up an emergency tree phone by neighborhood, instead of alphabetical order as has been done in the past.

• To help families in crisis with emergency food and support by their neighbors.

• As a planning tool. For example, to determine future transit service areas.

9. Pedaling for Prizes is a successful program and should continue. It still has the potential of growing since 28% of the students surveyed haven’t heard of it; there might be more bikers in this group. This is a worthwhile program because it promotes the healthy benefits of biking and highlights the fact that it often takes less time than driving.

10. Transportation work should continue at the neighborhood level. As shown in Figure 9, there are clear differences in transportation choice by neighborhood. This graph shows the major Gunn neighborhoods in order of increasing solo drivers, the hills neighborhoods being the ones with the most solo drivers. Transportation information can be tailored to the specific needs of the area. The Palo Alto GIS (Geographic Information System) can create mailing labels for the dissemination of neighborhood specific information.

11. Finally, families of 8th graders coming to Gunn are the best target audience for alternative transportation. An excellent time to approach these families is in the spring, using the visits of school administrators to JLS and Terman. These new families will be in the process of developing their transportation plans for the following school year and will be more apt to consider alternative suggestions.

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GOFAST has some wonderful programs in place but they need time to mature. There is no way around it, attitudes and habits take time to change. The transportation baseline for Gunn has been established. Given the number of students who haven’t heard of the Carpool Directory, half price VTA passes, Pedaling for Prizes and fee-buses, there is room for improvement. If Gunn can sustain GOFAST’s programs, the next biennial survey will probably show a difference.

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