New research from the National Center for Safe Routes to School reveals that, nationwide, walking to and from school increased from less than 14 percent to more than 17 percent of all trips between 2007-08 and 2014. While not necessarily representative of all schools in the U.S., the travel patterns reported in the study show a significant upward trend.

The report, "Trends in Walking and Bicycling to School from 2007 to 2014," is based on 720,000 parent surveys collected by nearly 6,500 schools throughout the United States.  Using this data, National Center researchers analyzed school travel patterns to learn more about school and household factors that may influence families' school travel mode choices.

Other key findings from the analyses include:

• Across all grade levels, walking increased, especially for students attending low-income schools.
• Boys were twice as likely to ride a bicycle to and from school as were girls.
• Support from parents for walking and biking to school increased steadily since 2007, and the number of parents who think their child's school supports walking and bicycling to school increased considerably in 2014.