Bear Creek Elementary students ride the state's first and only "walking school bus" to school. Children and parents meet every week, leaving just enough time for students to walk together to class before Bear Creek's 8:33 a.m. bell rings.

Bear Creek's walking bus is part of a state, national and global initiative to provide students with safe routes to school, said Landon Hilliard, Boulder Valley School District transportation coordinator and organizer of its Safe Routes to School project.