Any community with large numbers of low-income families who need better access to jobs, social service, and educational opportunities, could benefit from a children's shuttle program in their community. In addition, any community that faces problems with inadequate transit service for low-income neighborhoods (such as infrequent, indirect or non-existent bus service on routes that are used by many low-income residents) could also benefit from a children's shuttle program. 

To our knowledge, there are no comprehensive studies compare the relative benefits of different children's transportation programs: children's shuttles, youth transit passes, carpools, Safe Routes to School, etc. In the absence of such a comparative analysis, you can better understand the potential benefits of a children's shuttle program by considering one children's shuttle: 

In Santa Clara County, a free shuttle service school-aged children is provided by the paratransit agency OUTREACH  in collaboration with Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), the County of Santa Clara Social Services Agency (SSA), and the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA). Largely funded by MTC's Low-Income Flexible Transportation (LIFT) Program, this demonstration project started in 2001 with initial funding for three years. The shuttle service is called Give Kids a LIFT! and provides free transportation for children from their school or daycare to after-school programs, community centers, childcare, and similar destinations as selected by the child's family. Children between the ages of five and 13 who are in the county's welfare-to-work programs (known in California as CalWORKs) or other programs for low-income families are eligible. The program currently serves more than 100 children per day and operates throughout Santa Clara County. For more information about the Give Kids a LIFT! program in Santa Clara County or similar children's shuttle services that are currently operating in the San Francisco Bay Area, jump to the "Who Else Is Doing It?" section.