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Walking school bus
What on earth is a walking school bus?
The future of walking school buses – school travel plans
What drives the walking school bus?
What on earth is a walking school bus?
A walking school bus is a good community idea for helping increase
safety for school children, keeping cars off the road and encouraging
healthy walking habits.
The Auckland region has embraced walking school buses to the point where there
is world-class growth. The Auckland Regional Council (ARC) and the region’s
local councils support this community initiative by providing funding and professional
expertise.
Walking school buses reduce the number of children being driven to school. In the Auckland region, 80 percent of children arrive at school by car.
The walking school bus is a fun, safe and active way for children to
travel to and from school with adult
upervision. Each bus walks along a set route with at least one adult ‘driver’,
picking children up at designated stops and walking them to school. The process
is reversed in the afternoons.
There are numerous benefits from having a walking school bus such as:
- extra time for parents by sharing pedestrian journeys
- reduced chaos and traffic congestion around schools
- healthier, more active children
- increased independence for children
- safer and closer communities
- opportunities for children to interact with the road environment in a safe and active way
- companionship and fun for both parents and children.
The future of walking school buses – school travel plans
So, you’ve got a walking school bus, what comes next?
School travel plans are a natural progression from walking school buses.
A school travel plan is also a community initiative, but one that offers
a more comprehensive solution to school travel issues.
School travel plans involve a travel planner working with the community to
identify school travel issues and implementing solutions to encourage more
active ways of getting to and from school.
In the Auckland region, a long-term programme to support and foster school travel plans is being developed by the ARC. The hope is that school travel plans will be as keenly embraced as walking school buses.
A walking bus
What drives the walking school bus?
Walking school buses rely on the dedication and hard work of a network of parent and adult volunteers. There are two levels of volunteers required to keep a bus going:
- parent coordinators – those who manage the bus routes for each school and ensure the routes are ‘staffed’ each morning and afternoon
- walkers – those who walk on the routes with the children. In the Auckland region, one supervising adult is required for each eight children. With the increasing demand for walking school buses in the region, this adds up to a lot of volunteers!
