Best questions for high school freshman student survey about transportation to school

Here are some of the best questions for a high school freshman student survey about transportation to school, plus tips on crafting surveys that capture what really matters. If you want to build such a survey in seconds, you can generate your own using Specific’s AI survey builder.

The best open-ended questions for a transportation to school survey

Open-ended questions are gold when you want authentic, detailed feedback from students. They let respondents express their unique experiences and surface issues you may not have considered. Use these when you need context, stories, or to spot trends you can’t capture with just checkboxes or yes/no answers.

1. What is your usual way of getting to and from school, and how does it work for you?

2. Can you describe any challenges or frustrations you experience during your daily school commute?

3. What would make your journey to school easier or more enjoyable?

4. Have you ever missed school or been late because of transportation issues? Tell us about it.

5. How safe do you feel getting to and from school? Please explain why or why not.

6. Is there anything about the bus routes, stops, or schedules that doesn’t meet your needs?

7. What do you like most—and least—about the way you get to school?

8. If you could change one thing about your daily commute, what would it be?

9. How do your parents or guardians feel about your current way of getting to school?

10. Are there any barriers that make it difficult for you to use other types of transportation (walking, biking, bus, public transit)?

Using these open prompts shines a light on everyday problems and opportunities. For example, over 44% of school leaders say transportation challenges contribute to chronic absenteeism—and students can give firsthand details on how this affects them, not just statistics. [2]

Best single-select multiple-choice questions for student transportation

Single-select multiple-choice questions shine when you want structured feedback you can quantify. They’re great for getting a pulse on main transportation modes, surfacing safety concerns, or kicking off a conversation without overwhelming the respondent. It’s easier for students to pick a quick answer before you dig deeper using follow-ups.

Question: What is your primary way of getting to school?

• School bus

• Car (family drop-off)

• Walk

• Bike/scooter/skateboard

• Public transportation

• Other

Question: How satisfied are you with your school commute?

• Very satisfied

• Somewhat satisfied

• Neutral

• Somewhat dissatisfied

• Very dissatisfied

Question: Do you feel safe during your commute to school?

• Always

• Most of the time

• Sometimes

• Rarely

• Never

When to follow up with "why?" If a student selects “Very dissatisfied” or “Rarely feel safe,” always dig deeper: “Why do you feel this way?” That’s where the real insights surface. Sometimes students pick a neutral or negative choice out of habit or misunderstanding, so a follow-up clarifies the context—leading to actionable findings. For instance, if someone says they rarely feel safe, finding out if the safety concern is about the roads, the bus stop location, or something else is crucial. Read more on this in our explainer about automated follow-up questions.

When and why to add the "Other" choice? Always add “Other” to capture experiences you might not have anticipated. If someone selects “Other,” asking “Can you describe your way of getting to school?” often uncovers arrangements or challenges you wouldn’t know to ask about—like ride-shares, after-school volunteer drivers, or alternating schedules.

How a NPS question fits transportation insight gathering

Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a straightforward gauge: “On a scale from 0–10, how likely are you to recommend your way of getting to school to others?” For a student transportation survey, this gives you a fast measure of satisfaction and safety sentiment, and sets you up for easy follow-up (“Why did you give that score?”). Given the 91% of school districts facing bus driver shortages and increased student travel times [2], measuring overall happiness with current systems helps prioritize improvements and spot at-risk students. Want to try this setup instantly? Jump into this preset NPS transportation survey.

The power of follow-up questions

Follow-up questions unlock the “why” behind every response. With Specific’s feature for automated AI follow-ups, every student gets intelligent, real-time probing designed to uncover context—even if their initial answer is brief.

• High school freshman student: “I get to school by bus but sometimes it’s annoying.”

• AI follow-up: “What makes taking the bus annoying for you?”

Without that follow-up, you’d just log “bus” and “annoying”—no clue if it’s about delays, other riders, or the stop location. With an AI conversation, you extract details—so you can act on real problems.

How many follow-ups to ask? For most student surveys, 2–3 follow-ups are perfect. That’s enough to clarify, dig deeper, and let respondents feel heard—without making the conversation drag. Specific lets you set this up, including graceful exits when you’ve hit your insight goal.

This makes it a conversational survey: The interaction flows like a real conversation, with natural prompts, clarifications, and curiosity—not a static checklist.

Easy to analyze, even for qualitative answers: Don’t fear the volume of unstructured text! AI survey response analysis makes summarizing student input quick and accurate. Learn how in our article on analyzing survey responses with AI.

Thanks to AI, school teams save hours chasing clarifications by email—we do the follow-ups for you, while the data is fresh. Curious how this works in practice? Generate your own student survey in seconds and experience the difference.

How to write ChatGPT prompts for better student transportation surveys

You can use ChatGPT or other AI tools to brainstorm even more questions, as long as your prompt is clear. Here’s how I’d approach it:

To get a starter list:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for High School Freshman Student survey about Transportation To School.

But AI works better with details. Add context about your goals:

We’re surveying high school freshmen to understand their day-to-day challenges and experiences with getting to school. The goal is to identify transportation barriers, safety issues, and ideas for improvement. Suggest 10 open-ended questions and explain what insights each would surface.

To organize your questions, try:

Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.

Once you spot the categories you want to dive into (say, “transportation mode pros/cons”, “safety”, or “parental concerns”), ask ChatGPT:

Generate 10 questions for categories “Safety” and “Barriers to transportation access.”

This workflow gives you both breadth and depth, ready to refine in Specific’s AI survey editor.

What makes a survey conversational (and why AI changes everything)

Traditional surveys can feel like homework: fill-in-the-blank, static, and easy to skip. Conversational surveys flip that script, guiding respondents through a chat-like dialogue that adapts to their answers. Here’s a quick comparison:

Why use AI for high school freshman student surveys? You want honest, nuanced feedback—not just what’s fastest to click. For student transportation, small details like traffic, peer interactions, or inconsistent schedules often go unreported in forms but surface in conversation. Automated AI not only generates thoughtful survey questions but ensures the follow-up needed for a real understanding. Try a AI survey example or browse our advice on how to create a survey for high school students on transportation.

Specific’s conversational surveys set the UX standard—delivering engagement for students and reliable, actionable insights for school teams. For both survey creators and respondents, the process flows effortlessly.

See this transportation to school survey example now

See how a conversational survey captures honest, actionable feedback about student transportation—tailored in seconds, with AI follow-ups that make your results richer and easier to analyze. Take the fast lane to deeper understanding today.