Recent policy attention and research have focused on children's school commuting. Concerns include children's health and safety, traffic congestion, environmental impacts of transportation, and parents' time chauffeuring children. Popular responses aim to increase rates of commuting by bicycle and walking (Rosenthal, 2009), but rarely do these initiatives directly account for other policies, such as school choice, that also impact school transportation. School travel is intricately tied to geography (eg urban, suburban, or rural environments), state and district school bus policy, school quality, extracurricular activities of children, and other factors. School travel policies differ among and within states; for example, some but not all states require that districts provide bus.
