All of these programs are great news and an encouraging sign of the trajectory of the movement, but at this point they're much more likely to be big once-a-month events than daily, routine commutes. How are kids getting to school the other 95% of the time? Too often, the answer is still "cars and buses."

Given the number of students arriving at school in cars, there are clearly plenty of parents with time in the mornings, many of them probably stay-at-home moms or dads. They could be taking some extra time to lead biking and/or walking trains every morning, gathering students as they make their way to school with their own children, but they're not. With the full disclosure that I'm not a parent and can't pretend to know exactly what their concerns might be, I think much of it comes down to two related issues: potential parent leaders may not want to take responsibility for the safety of kids they don't know, and other parents may not be comfortable leaving their kids in the care of someone they don't know well, even for a 15-minute walk.

The problem here, if it is indeed a part of the problem, is ultimately a lack of community. Most people would never harm a child, but when people don't know the members of their community they can't always trust them by default. It may be that school districts or another credible institution can step in to bridge the gap and provide a framework for continued growth.

Schools, teachers, and administrators are extremely well-respected and trusted in America, and they could function as intermediaries in this impasse. (They could also lead these trips themselves, though they shouldn't be obligated or expected to do so.) They're in a position to lend credibility to potential parent leaders interested in running bike or walking trains on a regular basis, as well as to allay the concerns of hesitant parents. Bestowing credibility upon parent leaders could take the form of something simple and informal, like a brief interview or background check, or could be a more involved "licensing"-like process with classes and meetings with other parents and children. Though this might be a bit over-the-top in terms of burdening the parents interested in participating, I would argue that if it's what's necessary to get kids walking and biking to school every day, it's worth the trouble. As familiarity with the program and a proven track record of safety was established, the need for such formalized measures would be likely to fade.

There's also room for technology in solving this problem. Lenore Skenazy, interviewed last year by Salon, captured my thoughts pretty well:

So what’s the antidote? Skenazy has thought about setting up a website, Find a Free-Range Friend, “like a dating site,” she says. “You put in your kid’s age and ZIP Code so you can find another parent and say, ‘OK, you believe in it and I believe in it. Let’s send them to the park together, or they can walk to school.’”

A better analogy might be something like Lyft, the ride-sharing business where people can use their cars as taxis and connect with people who need rides via a convenient smartphone app. In that same spirit, parents walking or biking to school with their kids could broadcast their trip, inviting other parents to contact them if they'd like their kids picked up on the way, free of charge!

As a last note, the emotional pull of how little freedom kids have nowadays, and their utter dependence on adults for transportation, is especially powerful for me. With that in mind, I'll leave you with this excellent Streetfilms production on how much things have changed over the past half-century: