This article will guide you on how to create a high school freshman student survey about transportation to school. If you want to build a survey like this in seconds, you can use Specific to generate it instantly.
Steps to create a survey for high school freshman students about transportation to school
Let’s make this easy. If you want to save time, just generate a survey with Specific—the entire process takes under a minute.
Tell what survey you want.
Done.
You honestly don’t need to read further if you do this. The AI survey builder will create a quality, expert-level survey tailored to your audience, and it will ask smart follow-up questions to respondents for deeper insights.
If you do want to dig in, let’s walk through how and why this works so well.
Why these surveys matter more than you think
Running a high school freshman student survey about transportation to school isn’t just busywork—it’s a strategic move with real impact. Getting a clear view of how students get to school, the challenges they face, and their safety gaps means you can make better decisions about planning, budgeting, and even improving academic outcomes.
Approximately 40% of students use school buses as their primary mode of transportation[1]. That’s a massive number—but do you know the unique challenges those bus riders face in your district?
Missing this type of survey means you aren’t hearing from the 13% who walk, the 6% who drive themselves, or the 3% who rely on public transportation. There’s untapped insight hiding in those “smaller” groups[1].
School commute affects sleep: Every extra minute traveling cuts sleep by 1.3 minutes—a big deal for teenager wellbeing and learning[2].
If you’re not asking students about their transport experience, you’re missing out on what’s really shaping their mornings—and, as a result, their health, attendance, and grades. Surveys unlock these details. They’re essential for understanding equity gaps, transportation modernization needs, and student safety concerns. The benefits of high school freshman student feedback on this topic can’t be overstated.
Even better: semantic surveys (conversational, easy to answer, and smart in following up) catch the textured reality that multiple-choice forms never will.
What makes a good survey on transportation to school?
There’s a simple trick to making your high school freshman student survey actually useful: keep the questions clear, unbiased, and conversational. The goal is honest answers, not right answers. Students can spot a leading question instantly—and they’ll tune out.
Bad practices | Good practices |
|---|---|
Loaded or leading questions | Clear, neutral phrasing |
The best surveys on transportation to school maximize both response rates (you want lots of freshmen participating) and the quality of the feedback (so you get genuine, actionable insight). That’s the bar to measure your survey.
Question types and examples for your high school freshman student survey on transportation to school
Using the right mix of question types is the secret to capturing a well-rounded view. Here’s how to think about what to ask—plus a few examples for each style.
Open-ended questions. Ideal for stories, context, and discovering surprising reasons.
“Can you describe your typical journey to school?”
“Is there anything that makes your commute especially easy or difficult?”
Open-ended questions let students speak freely, uncovering issues or ideas you hadn’t anticipated. These are best when you want detail rather than simple stats.
Single-select multiple-choice questions. Perfect for quantifying modes of transport or preferences, while making analysis easy.
What is your primary way of getting to school?
School bus
Private car
Walking
Bicycle
Public transit
Other
NPS (Net Promoter Score) question. Use when you want to quickly measure how likely students are to recommend their commute method—or overall school journey—to a new student, while uncovering promoters and detractors. You can generate a NPS survey on this topic instantly.
On a scale from 0-10, how likely are you to recommend your way of getting to school to another freshman?
Followup questions to uncover "the why". Always use followups when you need depth or explanation—especially for surprising or unusually short responses. For example:
“You said you usually walk to school. What’s your main reason for choosing that?”
“You mentioned your commute is stressful—can you share an example?”
Followups help crack open flat responses and dig out what’s really going on for each student. For more example questions and expert tips on crafting them, check out the best questions for high school freshman student survey about transportation to school.
What is a conversational survey?
Conversational surveys are a new breed: instead of rigid forms, respondents interact as if they’re chatting with a friendly researcher. This makes giving feedback easier, faster, and—crucially—less intimidating for high school students. AI survey generation stands apart from traditional survey creation by offering:
Manual surveys | AI-generated surveys |
|---|---|
Slow, tedious to build | Ultra-fast to create |
Why use AI for high school freshman student surveys? With Specific, you get all the benefits of both speed and substance. AI survey builder technology means you ask better questions, include tailored followups, and deliver a smooth, friendly mobile experience. If you want to see how to create a survey using AI, check out this guide on survey creation and analysis for detailed steps and powerful analysis tips.
The result? The feedback process is frictionless, honest, and far richer than a static form. That’s the value of conversational surveys for both creators and respondents.
The power of follow-up questions
Follow-up questions turn any high school freshman student survey from a checklist into a conversation. They’re the difference between surface-level info and true, memorable insight. With Specific’s AI followup features, every ambiguous or incomplete answer gets a gentle, in-the-moment nudge for clarity—without making respondents feel grilled.
This saves you enormous time compared to manual email followups, and the conversation feels natural. For example:
Student: "I get a ride from my uncle."
AI follow-up: "How often does your uncle drive you? Is it daily or just some days?"
How many followups to ask? Usually, two to three followups per key response is enough. If you’ve gathered the detail you wanted, the AI can just move along. Specific lets you control this so you don’t overwhelm students—or skip insights.
This makes it a conversational survey. The experience feels like a real chat, not a test—boosting participation and the candor of responses.
AI analysis, response themes, and trend discovery—even across thousands of open-ended or followup answers—is instantly possible. See how to do this in practice with AI survey response analysis—the process is painless, even for qualitative data.
Automated followup questions are a breakthrough. Try generating a survey with Specific and see how much deeper the feedback can go—effortlessly.
See this transportation to school survey example now
Create your own survey and see how easy it is to ask smarter, better questions—and get feedback that’s actually worth reading.