SchoolPool is iCommute’s free ridematching service for parents of children who attend the same school anywhere in the region. With this safe and secure service, you are matched with other parents in your neighborhood who are interested in sharing the driving responsibilities or would like to have their kids bike or walk to school with other students and a parent leader.
SchoolPool is a safe, convenient way to get your kids to school while saving time and money on gas, encouraging healthier, active lifestyles, and reducing congestion. By reducing the number of trips you take, you also help the environment by decreasing air emissions, including greenhouse gases.
Research has proven that when students carpool, their school attendance and timeliness improve. Carpooling, walking, or biking to school also reduces congestion in school zones, which promotes safety at your school.
To help promote physical activity and healthier lifestyles for students, SchoolPool added walking and biking to its list of transportation options for online ridematching. If you would like to have your child bike or walk to school but don’t feel comfortable with him or her traveling alone, you can now look for bike buddies and walking school buses in the online SchoolPool system. Bike buddies are groups of students who ride bicycles to school together with adult/parent leaders. A walking school bus is a group of children walking to school together with one or more adults. Walking school buses or bike buddies can be as informal as two families taking turns biking or walking with their children to school, or as structured as establishing a route, a timetable, and a group of parent volunteers. The Safe Routes to School program provides a guide for bike and pedestrian safety skills for children to help educate students on safe ways to get to school. SchoolPool also is providing free safety trading cards to teach kids about safe ways to walk and bike to school. The cards are available in English and Spanish.
For some parents, having their children take public transit to school is a good option. All San Diego transit operators allow for bicycles on board, and walking children to transit stops can lead to a healthier start to your child’s school day.
Parents who use SchoolPool to successfully find bike buddies and walking school buses can receive a free bike helmet for each child who bikes to school, a free baseball cap for those who walk, and all children who either bike or walk can receive reflective backpacks. Safety vests will be provided for parent leaders. (All while supplies last.) To redeem your biking and walking gear, see if your school is participating. If your school is registered, sign up for an iCommute account or log in, click the “Rewards” tab, and select “Incentive Programs.” Then find the appropriate reward (either biking, walking, or parent leader) and put in a request for your equipment. iCommute will then send you your gear so you are ready to SchoolPool! If your school is not yet participating, please follow the ABCs of SchoolPool.
Walk, Ride, and Roll to School is an awareness campaign sponsored by the iCommute SchoolPool program as part of the Safe Routes to School initiative. The purpose of this campaign is to increase the number of children walking and biking to school, raise awareness of the benefits of walking and biking, and improve pedestrian and bicycle safety. Schools that registered for the 2011-2012 campaign and had the most parent/student participation in October, 2011 won!
The grand prize winner, Chollas-Mead Elementary, received $1,000 in classroom supplies. The second place winner, Knox Middle School, received $750 in supplies. The third place winner, Horton Elementary, won $500 in supplies.
See if your school participated in this campaign.
The SchoolPool program is open to students in all public and private elementary, middle, and high schools within San Diego County. Participation is voluntary. Parents establish the schedules that work for best them.
A. Contact your child’s school, ask for the transportation coordinator, and tell them you are interested in participating in the SchoolPool commuter program.
B. If your school does not have a commuter program set up, ask them to contact SchoolPool by calling 511 and saying “SchoolPool” when prompted to reach a customer service representative. We will help set up a safe and secure network at your school for free.
C. Once your school’s network has been created, parents just need to sign up for an account. Once you’re signed up, log in, find matches, and you’re ready to roll!
iCommute has helped to establish SchoolPool programs at elementary, middle, and high schools throughout the region. See if your school is participating in SchoolPool.
For more information, call 511 and say “SchoolPool” or e-mail schoolpool@sandag.org.
Safety Trading Cards
SchoolPool fact sheet (English/Spanish)
How Parents Sign Up for SchoolPool Step-by-Step (English/Spanish)
School Administrator's Guide to SchoolPool
Walk, Ride, and Roll to School Campaign
Parent Sign Up / Log In
School Transportation Coordinator Sign Up / Log In