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New Orleans Student Commute Times by Car, Public Transit, and School Bus

A new study by Jane Arnold Lincove and Jon Valant, released in partnership with the Urban Institute, examines how much time students spend on school buses and how early students’ commutes to school begin.

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New Orleans Student Commute Times by Car, Public Transit, and School Bus

Published
by Jane Arnold Lincove, Jon Valant

The study ana­lyzes bus routes from sev­en­teen New Orleans schools between 2015 – 2017, and finds that the aver­age trip from a student’s bus stop to school lasts 35 min­utes. Round trip, this means that the aver­age stu­dent spends approx­i­mate­ly six hours per week on a school bus. Stu­dents com­mut­ing by car trav­el, on aver­age, 14 min­utes to get to school, and those who com­mute by pub­lic tran­sit trav­el 47 min­utes to school on aver­age. The study also exam­ines how ear­ly stu­dents’ com­mutes begin and find that the major­i­ty of pick­ups occur between 6:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. Although rel­a­tive­ly few stu­dents have pre‑6:00 a.m. pick­up times, there are some stu­dents who need to arrive at the bus stop before the sun ris­es, some as ear­ly as 5:00 a.m.

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