The SFMTA prioritizes making it safer and easier for students to get to school. A full-time School Safety Engineer provides the loading zones, crosswalks, and signage necessary to support safe pick-up and drop-off. We provide trained adults to help children cross streets and improve safety at busy intersections through our Crossing Guard Program. We design street upgrades and encourage more families to walk, bike, take transit, or share rides to school. With youth 18 and under riding Muni at no cost, every middle and high school in the city served by one or more Muni routes, afternoon School Trippers providing dedicated capacity to schools with high transit demand and Transit Ambassadors riding select routes, providing safe and reliable access to transit for school trips is a major priority for San Francisco.
Safe Routes to School
The Safe Routes to School program was created to help to make walking and bicycling to school safer and more accessible for children, including those with disabilities, and to increase the number of children who choose to walk, bicycle, take public transit, or ride in parental carpools. These programs enhance children’s health and well-being, and improve the daily life of all members of our community. Learn more by visiting the Safe Routes to Schools website.
Crossing Guard Program
- Approximately 165 school crossing guards serve public and private schools throughout San Francisco during the 2025-2026 school year, assisting children in arriving and departing safely each day
- 96 of the city's elementary and middle schools are served
- Learn more on the adult crossing guard program webpage.
Walk Audits
The SFMTA conducts walk audits at up to ten K-12 schools annually. Walk audits are organized group walking tours that identify obstacles to safe and comfortable walking and bicycling within a 2-3 block radius of each school. Participants typically include school staff, students and parents, advocates, SFUSD transportation staff and representatives from each Supervisor's Office.
Visit our School Walk Audit Program page for past reports and details about how the audits work.
Engineering Improvements
Engineering and capital improvements play a critical role in getting students to and from school safely. Our projects range from large capital improvements to requests made by community members. Our work includes:
- More than 40 school zone crossing improvements completed in summer of 2026 to upgrade road markings and high-visibility cross walks.
- More than 2300 school intersections have red-curb daylighting to keep crosswalks clear of parked vehicles, with 65% of citywide intersections now completed.
- Lower speed limits on more than 100 miles of safety corridors and neighborhood commercial streets under previous state legislation.
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Speed safety cameras that have reduced dangerous speeding by up to 90% at camera locations within school zones compared with pre-installation conditions.
School Speed Limits
The SFMTA is launching a citywide program to lower speed limits on more school streets, helping create safer trips for children, families and everyone traveling to and from school.
Approved by the SFMTA Board of Directors, the program establishes a new default school speed limit of 20 miles per hour (mph) and expands where 15 mph and 20 mph school speed limits can be used throughout San Francisco. These changes are made possible by Assembly Bill 382 (Berman, 2025) and provide the SFMTA with an additional proven tool to reduce vehicle speeds and improve safety around schools.
While California will require lower school-area speed limits statewide by 2031, San Francisco is moving forward now so school communities can benefit sooner. The program supports the city's ongoing commitment to traffic safety and complements broader efforts to create safer, more comfortable streets for people walking, biking, taking transit and driving.
Under the new program, the SFMTA will be able to apply lower speed limits more consistently around schools, helping reduce the risk and severity of traffic crashes and creating safer environments for students and families.