School Travel Plans and Safer Routes to School Martin Belcher

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School Travel Plans and Safer Routes to
SchoolMartin Belcher

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Travel to School - some facts

• Primary school children
• 53 walk to school in 1997/99 (67 in 1985/6)
• 38 taken by car (22)
• Average journey length 1.5miles (1.1miles)
• 10 travel to school on their own (21).

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Travel to School - some facts

• Secondary school children
• 42 walk to school in 1997/99 (52 in 1985/6)
• 21 taken by car (10)
• Average journey length 3.1miles (2.3miles)
• 2 cycle to school (6).

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Travel to School - some facts

• Between 8.00 and 9.00 cars taking children to
  school accounted for 10 of total traffic
• At 8.50 the proportion is 18.

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Travel to School Strategy

• Local authority sets a policy for travel to
  school (contained in Local Transport Plan)
• School produces a School Travel Plan - to
  influence travel mode
• LA and school initiate a Safer Routes to School
  project - to make school journeys safe.

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Travel to School Policy

• Local Transport Plan Guidelines
• Phased with targets/monitoring
• Integration with other policies
  (walking/cycling/public transport)
• Joint working and coordination (road safety
  education/health education/environmental
  education and plans for physical works)
• Evidence of partnership approach
  (schools/parents/residents etc)
• Links with independent schools.

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School Travel Plans

• All schools encouraged to produce School Travel
  Plans in -
• Tomorrows Roads Safer for Everyone (DETR)
• Encouraging Walking (DETR)
• Detailed advice on School Travel Plans
• School Travel - Strategies and Plans (DETR -
  School Travel Advisory Group)
• A Safer Journey to School (STAG).

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School Travel Plans

• PPG 13 Transport
• new and expanded school facilities which should
  be accompanied by a school travel plan which
  promotes safe cycling and walking routes,
  restricts parking and car access at and around
  schools, and includes on-site changing and cycle
  storage facilities.

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School Travel Plan - Aims

• To set out a package of measures for reducing the
  number of car trips made to school by parents and
  staff
• To improve safety on the school journey
• Improve health and fitness
• Reduce congestion/pollution.

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School Travel Plan - contents

• Local transport policy objectives (school travel
  strategy in LTP)
• Consultation (children, parents, staff,
  governors, local community)
• Details of the school (numbers, catchment,
  transport policies)
• Summary of current journey data and safety
  problems (questionnaires, surveys, accident data)
• Proposed initiatives (encouragement, education,
  engineering)
• Policy on monitoring and review.

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School Travel Plan - key points

• Sell the idea to the school - not something that
  sits on a shelf
• The school must have ownership of the plan
• A school champion is essential
• There must be a commitment from all interested
  parties.

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School Travel Plan - what needs to be done

• Set up lines of communication (working group with
  a school champion)
• Decide how to consult
• Establish existing journey patterns (by
  mode/distance)
• Establish existing road safety (and personal
  safety) concerns
• Identify barriers to travel by foot, cycle and
  public transport
• Work out ways to overcome these barriers.

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School Travel Plan - what needs to be done

• Decide who can best achieve the work (school,
  education department, transportation department,
  others)
• Identify groups most likely to change mode
• Set targets for changes in travel mode
• Identify funding sources (private/public)
• Produce the travel plan
• Monitor regularly.

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School Travel Plan - Case StudyBridgewater School

• Large comprehensive school
• 1700 pupils (150 staff) on two sites
• Travel survey to determine existing travel
  patterns, desirable travel modes, barriers to
  changing mode
• Brain-storming of ideas
• Consultation
• Plan production.

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Target groups to change mode

• Staff living close to the school - walk and cycle
• Staff prepared to car-share
• Pupils who want to cycle
• Parents who drive children to school on their own.

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Safer Routes to School

• Safe Routes
• Safer Routes
• Safer Journeys.

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Safer routes to school

• Sustrans definition of a safer route to school
  project-
• aims to enable children to walk and cycle to
  school through the introduction of area-wide
  traffic calming and the creation of networks of
  safe walking and cycling routes to school.

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Choosing a safer routes project

• Measurable criteria
• Challenge approach putting the onus on schools
  to come up with ideas and justifications
• Combination of the above.

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Choosing a safer routes project

• Measurable criteria
• accidents/casualties
• number of car journeys to school
• number of pupils within a distance from school.

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Choosing a safer routes project

• Challenge approach
• commitment from the school
• perceptions of problems
• benefits to the wider community
• funding sources
• political pressure.

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Organising a safer routes project

• Key points
• Work together
• Set clear aims and objectives
• Be realistic in terms of the scale of the project
  
• Be prepared to work to short timescales
• Think about monitoring.

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Organising a safer routes project

• Working together
• Schools - teachers/pupils/governors/parents
• Road safety officers
• Traffic engineers
• Police
• Public transport operators
• Others?

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Safety Audit / Risk Assessment of a Safer Route
to School

• Check accident data first
• look at 3 years data
• any accidents involving children?
• any accidents at school start or finish times?

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Safety Audit / Risk Assessment of a Safer Route
to School

• Treat as a Stage 3 Safety Audit
• visit the site
• use a check list
• Leicestershire 12 rural routes
• Hammersmith 28 urban routes
• Walking bus routes to/from childrens centres.

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Developments/Contacts

• DETRs 111 travel plan bursaries
• DETR free consultancy advice on travel plans
• FirstGroups US yellow school buses (Surrey CCs
  initiative)
• LAST (Local Authority School Travel Forum) -
  Marcus Rogers (Bucks CC)
• Sustrans - newsletters/website
• Pedestrians Association - Walk to School.

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Information on the web

• www.buckscc.gov.uk/transport
• www.brent.gov.uk
• www.dorset-cc.gov.uk/saferoutes.htm
• www.travelwise.org.uk
• www.schools.detr.gov.uk/primary
• www.youngtransnet.org.uk
• www.sustrans.org.uk

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Summary
School Travel Policy
Safer Routes Projects
School Travel Plans