North Liberty welcomes walking school buses to Garner Elementary

March 14, 2012 — This spring, students at North Liberty’s Garner Elementary will take a different kind of bus to school.
Every Wednesday, starting March 21, trained parent volunteers will walk students from their neighborhoods to the elementary school as part of the walking school bus initiative. Like their more traditional counterparts, walking school buses have appointed routes and stop times, but are powered by pedestrians instead of diesel.
The program will help reduce traffic around the school, decrease car-related pollution, fight childhood obesity, and help establish safe pedestrian and bicycle routes to school. Garner’s walking school buses are the first of their kind in the Iowa City Community School District or Johnson County.
The initiative is spearheaded by The Iowa Bicycle Coalition as part of its Safe Routes to School Program in association with Garner Elementary School, the school’s PTO, and members of Johnson County Public Health. The City of North Liberty’s police department will help the students safely cross Highway 965.
For the inaugural walk, North Liberty Mayor Tom Salm will greet walking students at school, and City Administrator Ryan Heiar will make the trek from home to Garner with his own children. Already, 36 students have signed up to participate, and Nick Soboinski, director of the Iowa Bicycle Coalition’s Safe Routes to School Program, expects more students to join each week.