Walking to school hits all-time low

Published on Thursday 30 April 2009 22:55

FEWER children are walking to school in Scotland than ever before, new figures show.

A poll of 400,000 pupils found less than half were walking to classes, but more than expected were cycling.

Campaigners said the Scottish Government needed to "redouble its efforts" to encourage more children out of their parents' cars on the school run.

The survey by Sustrans, a walking and cycling development group, showed 48.3 per cent of pupils walked to school.

That compared with 53 per cent recorded by the Scottish Government in a survey in 2007.

Sustrans' school travel manager for Scotland William Methven said: "There is a need for society to redouble its efforts. We know obesity levels in children are going up and there are also the issues of climate change and congestion on our roads.

"Whatever statistics we look at, it's not a pretty picture as far as car use is concerned."

The Sustrans poll, of more than half of Scotland's pupils, also showed 2.8 per cent said they cycled – three times as many as the total in official figures. A total of 27.6 per cent travelled by car – compared to 22-23 per cent in recent official figures – and 18.7 per cent by bus.

Sustrans said the first Scotland-wide survey showed the scale of the challenge to reduce the school run.

The group plans to repeat the poll annually to monitor progress.

Mr Methven said the number of pupils cycling was encouraging, but remained far below the 20-30 per cent levels of countries such as Holland and Denmark.

He said: "The figure is higher than expected, but we have a long way to go."

Sustrans received 3.8 million from the Scottish Government last year for measures such as new cycle paths to take pupils away from busy roads.

Cycle loan and bike discount initiatives have also been launched, along with cycle training and maintenance classes, and more cycle storage areas.

Sustrans said its research showed such schemes had doubled the use of cycling and walking routes around schools.

Transform Scotland, which campaigns for greener transport, called on ministers to boost funding since the research provided "unequivocal proof" that it boosted cycling and walking.

Colin Howden, its director, said: "It's clear Sustrans has put the Scottish Government's money to good use. However, I don't see any more money in the pipeline from the Scottish Government for this type of work.

"Given how successful Sustrans' programme of projects with schools has been, the Scottish Government should consider continuing and scaling up its funding for this type of work."

A Scottish Government spokesman said it was encouraging to see that over half those surveyed had travelled to school "sustainably".