According to Ilja, increasing the proportion of children who walk or cycle to school consists of a combination of creating a safe and attractive route to and from school and actively encouraging walking and cycling to school through campaigns and activities.

The design and maintenance of the physical environment

For children to walk and cycle to school safely (and independently), a route—such as a footpath or separate cycle path—that both parents and children perceive as safe and pleasant is essential. Ensuring well-maintained greenery and little litter in the streets is a determining factor. The safety of the school environment is a basic prerequisite.

However, there is still considerable room for improvement:

  • 40% of parents rate the school environment and the route to school as unsafe.
  • Only 16% of the busy cycling routes to and from secondary schools meet the CROW requirements.

STOP principle

The STOP principle is one of the ways to design a neighbourhood or community in a way that encourages walking and cycling. The principle prioritises pedestrians (Stappers) over cyclists (Trappers), cyclists over public transport, and public transport over private cars.

When creating a safe route more generally, you can consider:

  • A dense network of cycle paths and footpaths.
  • Separate footpaths and cycle paths to school.
  • Safe crossing points and intersections.
  • Sidewalks that are wide enough for people to pass each other safely, including with a pram, wheelchair or walking frame.
  • Sufficient bicycle parking spaces at school.

According to Ilja, municipalities can play an important role in encouraging walking and cycling to school:

  • By ensuring proper maintenance and management of the school environment.
  • By designing the school zone and the routes to and from schools as safely as possible.

The role of the social environment

Research shows that the social environment also plays an important role in encouraging walking and cycling to school. It is therefore important to reach and convince that social environment (parents and the school) of the added value of walking and cycling to school. With a route that meets the design principles, the municipality or school can use activities or campaigns to draw additional attention to the importance of walking and cycling to school.

Orgware

In addition to adapting the physical infrastructure and setting up interventions and programmes to get more children to walk and cycle to school, it is important to ensure that you create the right frameworks and secure the structure. This means that the parties involved endorse the objective and work together towards it: the orgware.

The school and municipal policies must be in line with what you are trying to achieve. Those involved, including teachers, parents and children, must be part of the process of developing that policy. This starts with making agreements between the municipality, the school, the parents and the children. The school's parent council must be involved, and teachers must address the subject in class.

The municipality also has an important role here. If it turns out that certain places in the school zone are unsafe or untidy, the school and municipality will need to take action. The Schoolyard Scan can be used to gain insight into this. It is important for a municipality to include the encouragement of active travel in its policies. If schools and neighbourhoods request changes to the design or maintenance, these can usually be addressed relatively quickly.

Read here the full article by Ilja on the Alles over Sport website.