I used to live about 1 mile from my middle and high schools. There was a bus that most kids in my subdivision used, and I used it for a while, but eventually I realized that it took about as long to ride the bus to school as it did to just walk (I think I was actually slightly faster walking), and after getting tired of the nasty kids on the bus I just walked every day. Sometimes people driving in the morning felt sorry for me and gave me a ride.

However, one thing I do remember was that there were absolutely no sidewalks, so for a lot of people it probably didn't seem walkable.