Guest post by Adam Gonzalez, Director of Transportation at Loyola High School of LA
We’re proud to announce that Loyola High School is breaking ground by becoming the FIRST high school in Southern California to implement a carpooling program with the help of GoKid. Our new carpooling program will help to keep cars off the road while reducing drop-off and pickup traffic, save parents valuable driving time, and get students to and from school safely on a daily basis.
The Transportation Challenge at Loyola High School
At Loyola High School, we have a unique and diverse student body, and a rich history. We’re the oldest continuing secondary school in all of Southern California, having been founded in 1865.
With all of Loyola’s historical significance, we still face the growing challenges of living in Los Angeles. Loyola High School is located on Venice Boulevard in Los Angeles, California, and our faculty and staff commute as far as 64 miles each way to be a part of the Loyola community. Our students come from an incredible 205 different zip codes. Currently, we have students from Upland, Thousand Oaks/Westlake, Newport Beach, and Chino Hills.
This substantial travel that these students face – some up to 50 miles each way – makes just getting to school a challenge. We wanted to help our students’ families save on thousands of hours of driving while also reducing traffic in downtown LA. And so, we connected with GoKid.
How GoKid Connect Can Help
GoKid Connect is an app that allows Loyola High School to help families connect and set up carpools for their children. Parents can invite other parents to participate in carpools, getting their kids to and from school, sports, and activities. Through GoKid Connect, families can filter their searches by grade level and geographic area to find other families who may be a good fit. Then, families can connect through the app.
It’s free to set up carpools, and GoKid offers great features such as in-app messaging with other parents, automated reminders, route optimization, and more.
While we’ve only partnered with GoKid Connect for the past month, we’re already seeing results. Of our 1,240 families, 209 have already registered with GoKid, and 15 of those families have started carpools. Since carpools are recurring, we’re already consistently taking 30 to 40 cars off the LA streets during some of the busiest times of the day.
Looking Forward
We’re excited to see where our partnership with GoKid will take us and our students’ families. With a positive initial response, we’re hopeful that more families will arrange carpools, save themselves some driving time, and ensure that their kids can get to and home from school each day safely and efficiently.
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