Free ranging our children: reversing the tide of children being driven to school

The paper covers the lessons learned from establishing a school travel plan programme in New Zealand. To encourage other travel choices and reverse this tide, the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) has undertaken a three year travel behaviour change programme which builds on EECA�s success in facilitating walking school buses nationally. The initial focus was on primary school travel plans, which were trialled initially by North Shore City Council in Auckland. The rationale is that if individuals establish active travel behaviour as children they are more likely to make active transport choices as adults. To implement school travel plans effectively, flexible funding is required to develop the plans and then make a variety of infrastructure improvements to the street environment, implement a walking school bus and promote active transport choices. The paper also looks at the progress of school travel plans internationally and the results of recent United Kingdom research on the benefits that can be achieved with these programmes. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E212706.