Active School Travel in Canada

Active School Travel in Canada

Jacky KennedyDirector, Canada [email protected] www.saferoutestoschool.ca

Active & Safe Routes

to School

International context

Why STP?

Canadian STP model

Canadian success

School Travel Initiatives in Canada14 years of growth

Recreation & Parks

Of the Yukon

HASTE BC

SHAPE Alberta

Saskatchewan

in motion

Green Action

Centre

Green Communities

Canada

Velo Quebec

City of St. John’s

Lung Association

Of New Brunswick

Ecology Action

Centre

Recreation PEI

CACO/YNTBD

History is rooted in safety. Going back nearly 35 years to 1976…

• Danish city of Odense launch a Safe Routes to School project in response to children killed due to traffic collisions

• Community members, teachers, politicians and civilians worked to change dangerous streets to safe streets

• 3 years later: annual collision rate was reduced by 85%

School Travel Planning History

Sustrans U.K. SRTS led by exampleEuropean programs blossomedAustralia, New Zealand, Canada, United States

International Best Practice

Revised 2010

Focus on:

New Zealand

United Kingdom

Australia

United States

Not Europe - too dissimilar to Canada

http://www.saferoutestoschool.ca/schooltravel.asp


Why School Travel Planning?

TOTAL TRAFFIC

&

PEAK PERIOD TRAFFIC

• MORE LIVEABLE, HEALTHY, GREEN COMMUNITIES• PERSONAL AND COMMUNITY SAFETY (EYES ON THE STREET)• INJURY AND CHRONIC DISEASE PREVENTION• INCREASED TRANSPORTATION CHOICE & $$$ SAVINGS

1971:• Policy Studies Institute: ‘One False Move…’ by Mayer Hillman, John Adams

and John Whitelegg• 10 UK schools, ages 7 to 15, conducted• 80% travelled actively, unaccompanied by adults1990:• Same 10 UK schools surveyed; compared to results from 10 German

schools• Results indicated a drop in active school travel to less than 10%; German

children more active than UK children2010:• Same surveys are being conducted in 2010 in UK, Germany, Australia,

Denmark, France, Israel, Italy and Norway. • Results to be published in 2011.

School Travel Planning History

Promoting Active Travel to School: Progress and PotentialNHS South West, UK Department of Health, ModeShiftwww.sthc.co.uk

This October 2010 paper attempted to answer:➔ How far can young people reasonably be expected to walk orcycle to school?➔ Is any progress being made to get more young people active bypromoting walking or cycling to school?➔ What is the potential for encouraging more young people towalk or cycle to school?➔ What can be done to get better value for money?

School Travel Planning – UK Results

2007/08 data available from 9 local authorities across the South West:

•The data indicated a 3 per cent increase in the number of young people walking to school in the last two years; an average of an additional 600 young people per local authority, using active travel on most school days.•This ranges from an extra 7.9% in North Somerset (1060 young people) to virtually no change in Torbay.•Average of an additional 230,000 walking trips per local authority per year examined.

School Travel Planning –UK Results

What Can Be Done to Get Better Value?

• Using smarter information about travel patterns to and from schools, e.g. the School Travel Health Check (www.sthc.co.uk).• Identifying and supporting schools with the most potential for change.• Recognizing and highlighting economic values associated with a shift from car to active travel. Current estimates annual £600 return.• Providing information for prospective parents about the benefits and potential of active travel before decisions on school choice are made –reduce “child miles” travelled for the school journey.• Ensuring schools continue to feel supported to change the travel behaviour of their young people.• Working collaboratively to promote active travel to school enables a more efficient approach to tackling transport and health issues.

Travel Planning –UK Results

•Assesses the evidence base from both peer reviewed and grey literature both in the UK and beyond

•The volume of literature on CBA/BCR of interventions to promote routine walking and cycling has grown in recent years and reveals that the economic justification for investments to facilitate cycling and walking has been undervalued or not even considered in public policy decision-making

•Yet, almost all of the studies report economic benefits which are highly significant, with benefit to cost ratios averaging 11.5:1


Value for Money: An Economic Assessment of Investment in Walking and Cycling

Adrian Davis, 2010http://www.apho.org.uk/resource/item.aspx?RID=91553

http://www.apho.org.uk/resource/item.aspx?RID=91553

DfT’s economic appraisal method applied to three Links to Schools schemes in 2005

1) Bootle: a series of improvements to an existing route close to a number of schools

BCR 29.3:1

2) Hartlepool: Construction of a toucan crossing close to a primary and a secondary school, and general infrastructure improvements

BCR 32.5:1

3) Newhaven: A new shared-use path forming a link between, two secondary schools

BCR 14.9:1


Cost Benefit Analysis of links to schools

•Conservative calculations: even greater economic benefits are possible than those reported

•Such high benefit to cost ratios are rare in transport planning

•“Investment in infrastructure and to facilitate increased activity levels amongst local communities through cycling and walking is likely to be a ‘best buy’ for our health, the NHS at large in terms of cost savings, as well as for the road transport sector.”


Value for Money: An Economic Assessment of Investment in Walking and Cycling

Adrian Davis, 2010

School Travel Planning: National Dissemination

Jan 2010 to Mar 2012•Partners: Coalitions Linking Action and Science for

Prevention (CLASP), Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, The Public Health Agency of Canada

•Project includes national expansion of School Travel Planning (STP), and an added focus on sustainable happiness, health and STP

Production of this information has been made possible through a financial contribution from Health

Canada, through the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer; and from the Public Health Agency of

Canada. The views expressed herein represent the views of the Children’s Mobility, Health and

Happiness: A Canadian School Travel Planning Model project and do not necessarily represent the views

of the project funders.

Child and Youth Friendly Planning

In transport and land-use planning, the needs of children and youth should receive as much priority as the needs of people of other

ages and the requirements of business.

Progress in Canada towards achieving this goal.

www.kidsonthemove.ca

http://www.kidsonthemove.ca/

Results: A Canadian Study of Active School Travel Rates and Barriers

Beesley, T., Faulkner, G., Arbour, K., Builing, R. ,Stone, M.

Faculty of Physical Education and Health, Faculty of Geography

University of Toronto

Faculty of Physical Education and Health, Faculty of Geography

University of Toronto

Creation and analysis of survey instruments:Family SurveyClassroom Survey

Sustainable Happiness and STP

School Travel Planning adheres to the principle of Sustainable Happiness: happiness that contributes to individual, community and/or global well-being and does not exploit other people, the

environment or future generations.

www.sustainablehappiness.ca

http://www.sustainablehappiness.ca/

Metrolinx GTHA School Travel Household Attitudinal Study

Survey conducted in Fall 2009 by Harris/Decima Inc. on behalf of Metrolinx

Objective: First overview of elementary school travel in Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA)

1,001 English telephone interviews completed with parents and guardians of children attending elementary school (i.e. Kindergarten to Grade 8)

Collected information on:• Child’s usual mode of travel to and from school

• Parental perceptions about school travel (e.g. safety, convenience)

• Awareness of school travel programs and infrastructure

• Interest in active and sustainable school travel modes

Final study report to be available at www.metrolinx.com/schooltravel/study


Elementary school students are primarily travelling to and from school by foot, automobile, and school bus

Nearly one tenth of students are travelling differently on their trip to school versus home from school, with the most common combination being driven to school and walking home


2% 3%1% 1%1% 1%

37%

21%

34%

2%4%

40%

21%

29%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

Driven Carpool School Bus Public Transit Walking Cycling Other

To school Home from school



29%

21%

18%

43%

36%

40%

36%

2%

3%

2%

1%

21%

21%

19%

20%

41%

41%

3%

1%

2%

8%

10%

37%

40%

76%

78%

28%

32%

7%

9%

1%

1%

1%

3%

3%

34%

3%

2%

1%

1%

4%

1%To school

Home from school

To school

Home from school

To school

Home from school

To school

Home from school

Driven Carpool School bus Public transit Walk Bicycle

Overall

Live within 1 km of child’s school

Live between 1 and 2 km of child’s school

Live more than 2 km from child’s school

Findings: Metrolinx GTHA School Travel Household Attitudinal Study

Nearly 60% of overall parents say their child's school is close enough that they could reasonably walk or bike

Over 50% of parents whose child is currently driven see the option of their child walking or biking to school as convenient and appealing

Over 40% of parents whose child is driven would be interested in considering a different mode of school travel


What is School Travel Planning?

A School Travel Plan is both a document & a process:addresses issues of sustainability, safety & health associated with ‘the school run’ using a community-based approach

Considers school travel as part of overall municipal & school board transportation policies/ plans

Sets specific implementation targets & measures progress

Involves all relevant stakeholders (school board, schools, government, NGOs, parent groups, families, students)

Supports local, regional & national priorities (e.g. health, climate change)

The STP Process

SET-UP(Jun)

DATA COLLECTION*Baseline (Sept/Oct)

*Final (May)

ACTION PLANNING(Oct – Dec)

IMPLEMENTATION(Oct – Jun)

THE STP DOCUMENT

Year 1

Year 2

STP Municipal Stakeholders

Municipal STP

Steering Committee

Relevant School

Districts

Transport-ation

Engineers

Land Use Planning

Police / Bylaw

Services

Municipal Councillor

sMayor

Local Non Profit

Organiz-ations

Public Health

School Travel

Planning Facilitator

STP Measures – 5 “E”sEnforcement • “Eyes on the Street”

• Police, bylaw officers, community watch

Engineering • Involvement in school site planning & design

• Multi-modal school & neighbourhood assessments

and retrofits

• Municipal transportation engineers & planners

Education • Workshops on travel choice, safety, skills

• Curriculum-based opportunities

• Public Health, police, STP facilitators

Encouragement • Programs - Walking School Bus, Bicycle Trains,

Walk a Block, Walking Buddies

• Events - iWALK, Walk/Wheel on Wednesdays

• Public Health, teachers, STP facilitators

Evaluation • Surveys (family, students), walkabout, traffic counts

• Steering committee/school reviews

Data Collection

Classroom Survey Family Survey Neighbourhood Walkabout Traffic Observations

Data Collection Tools

Classroom Survey: To/From School

Results of Classroom Survey

Family Survey

• Includes Sustainable Happiness questions

Q12. The way my child usually travels to school contributes to his/her:

physical well-being, e.g. healthy heart, bones and muscles

emotions and overall well-being, e.g. happiness, relationship with friends

well-being of our community, e.g. students get to know neighbourhood

environmental well-being, e.g. less pollution

School Travel Planning Project:

FAMILY SURVEY – Baseline

<Insert school name>

Neighbourhood Walkabout

All stakeholders participateElected officialsObserve key issues as a groupTake photosDiscuss short- and long-term actionsAssign responsibility for actionsInput to plan

Traffic Observation/CountConducted over 3-5 days

Count vehicles arriving/leaving, persons onfoot, on bicycles, other

STP Success StoriesShatford Memorial, Nova Scotia:

• Town population: 400

• School population: 78 students

• Barriers: traffic speed, outdated crosswalk, traffic violations, poor access to safe routes

• Successes: road improvements, crosswalk review planned, connector trail…

New Westminster, British Columbia

Municipal Committee project lead

Proactive approach including mapping of best walking routes to each school

St. John’s, Newfoundland

April 2020: Provincial advisory committee formed

June 2010: STP Facilitator hired

September 2010: Pilot test at 7 St. John’s schools begins

Pilot project will include bicycle

13 out of 18 elementary schools participated in 2010 IWALK –highest ever

September hurricane slowed down process!

St. Andrew’s School, St. John’s

Walking Aids

Curb cuts/stop lines

Yellow route markers

Adult crossing guards

Walking route signs

Reflective vests for walk leaders

A walkable/bikeable school community can be a strong indicator for health and

happiness of the students.

In Closing

http://www.saferoutestoschool.ca/schooltravel.aspPswd: stptools2009


Active School Travel in Canada

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