Safe Routes to School (SRTS), Washoe County aims to increase the number of students walking, bicycling, and using alternative modes of transportation while reducing the number of vehicles traveling to and from schools.  SRTS is based on six principals, the “6 E’s”: Education, Encouragement/Engagement, Engineering, Enforcement, Evaluation, and Equity.

EDUCATION – Providing students and the community with the skills to walk and bicycle safely, educating them about the benefits of walking and bicycling, and teaching them about the broad range of transportation choices.

ENCOURAGEMENT/Engagement – Generating enthusiasm and increased walking and bicycling for students through events, activities, and programs.

ENGINEERING – Creating physical improvements to streets and neighborhoods that make walking and bicycling safer, more comfortable, and more convenient.

ENFORCEMENT– Partnering with local law enforcement to address traffic and crime concerns in the neighborhoods around schools and along school routes, while ensuring that law enforcement builds trust with communities and does not target students of color, low-income students, or other community residents. By supporting partnerships between community empowerment groups and law enforcement, Safe Routes to School can play a role in working toward enforcement efforts that improve safety and security for everyone. 

EVALUATION – Assessing which approaches are successful, ensuring that programs and initiatives are supporting equitable outcomes, and identifying unintended consequences or opportunities to improve the effectiveness of each approach.

EQUITY – Ensuring that Safe Routes to School initiatives benefit all demographic groups, with particular attention to ensuring safe, healthy, and fair outcomes for low-income students, students of color, students of all genders, students with disabilities, and others.

The Safe Routes to School Committee is made up of interested persons and departments that work together to discuss how the E's of multimodal transportation are being implemented in the Washoe County School District. Representatives from the City of Sparks, Reno, and Washoe County traffic engineers, City Planners from the Regional Transportation Committee, NDOT Bike/Ped program, the local Police Departments from Sparks, Washoe County, School District, and Reno, Air Quality Management, Renown Safe Kids, and local Bike projects like Reno Bike Project and Kiwanis make up the committee.