What is it? One of the greatest barriers that former welfare recipients face in making the transition to work is providing reliable transportation for their children to school or daycare. Lack of a car, work schedules that don't coincide with the starting and/or ending times of the typical school day and inadequate transit service often mean that low-income parents must decide between getting their children to school or daycare and getting themselves to work on time. When these conflicts occur on an ongoing basis, parents can miss out on training and employment opportunities and may even be fired from a job for being late to work too many times. Some communities have started special children's shuttle bus programs to help address these transportation challenges. 

Children's shuttles provide safe and reliable transportation for low-income children between their home and their school, daycare, or after-school activities.

Why use it? Children's shuttle buses are a form of 'lifeline transportation' service that ensures better mobility for people who depend on transit. Many low-income people rely on transit for most or all of their transportation needs, either because they do not own car or because they have only limited access to cars, such as having one car shared by several family members.

However, the existing transit network in many communities often does not serve disadvantaged neighborhoods well enough to fulfill the daily household travel needs of these families. In addition, existing dispersed land use and development patterns in many cities and suburbs can mean that the locations where people live, the locations where they work, and the locations where their children go to school or daycare are often very far apart from one another. A children's shuttle service can help ensure that low-income parents can focus on getting themselves to work or to training and educational opportunities without worrying about how their children will get to and from school, daycare, or an after-school activity.

In addition to providing transportation benefits for low-income households, children's shuttles can also provide benefits to the community at large, including:

 
How does it work? Children's shuttles are typically operated by a local social service agency. The shuttle vehicles are generally commercially-available vans or 'mini-buses' (as illustrated in the picture below). The shuttles typically provide service for free or very low cost to the children's parents. Children's shuttle programs usually require that parents meet certain eligibility requirements to prove that they are low income before their children are allowed to sign-up, although some programs are open to all children regardless of their parents' income. In addition to having a qualified driver with a commercial driver's license, most children's shuttle services also recruit, screen, and train paid or volunteer attendants to ride along to ensure the safety of the children using the shuttle. Funding for children's shuttle bus services can be secured from a variety of public and private sources (see 'Show Me the Money' for more information on potential funding sources).
 

Example of a mini-bus vehicle often used for children's shuttle programs.

If your area already has an existing children's shuttle, you and other community residents may want to advocate for expanding and improving it by contacting the agency that operates the service. If no children's shuttle service exists in your community, you can contact local government agencies, non-profit organizations, or large employers in your area and lobby them to help start such a program. You may even decide to do it yourself.

 
Regardless of which scenario best describes the situation in your community, keep reading for more information on how children's shuttles have worked in other communities, or jump directly to the "How to Put this Tool into Action in Your Community" section to learn how to start or expand a children's shuttle service where you live!