Page 119 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 13 February 2019
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The ride or walk to school program was developed by the Health Directorate in 2012. Since its inception the number of schools participating has increased, with over 80 schools now registered in the program. Ride or walk is designed to promote an active travel cultural change within school communities. The program is a free service which is delivered in schools by the Physical Activity Foundation.
The program aims to build the capacity of schools to actively support and encourage students to ride or walk to school. Schools participating in the program can access accredited teacher professional learning, lesson plans, curriculum resources, bikes and equipment to deliver safe cycle lessons, tailored route maps, bike maintenance workshops, and a range of resources to promote active travel throughout the school community. An evaluation of the ride or walk to school program found that students at schools participating in the program were more likely to use active travel as their usual mode of travel, and teachers reported increased confidence in students undertaking acting travel as a result of the program.
In relation to the government’s record level of investment in public transport, the government will deliver an integrated public transport network ahead of the start of term 2 which will give students across Canberra more options to get to and from school by bus and light rail.
Every school in Canberra will be serviced by the new bus network and there will be more buses servicing schools in the new network. The new integrated public transport network will be different. The government has already announced a number of other measures to help support and encourage students to use public transport to get to and from school.
These include: deploying customer service assistants at key transport interchanges to help students and other customers to use the new network; publishing detailed route information and maps for every individual school showing the different bus and light rail services that students can use to get to and from school, and the walking routes from bus and light rail stops at or near each school; and employing a dedicated staff member in Transport Canberra to focus on improving engagement with schools and encouraging more students to use public transport to get to and from school.
As I mentioned previously, an additional five crossing supervisors have been deployed to support schools with the new integrated public transport network. The government is doing a lot to improve road safety around schools through investment in active travel, public transport and specific road safety measures. It is a strategic and holistic approach that is required to address this issue.
The location of the school, the age of the school or suburb in which it is located, the concentration or spread of the student population, the functions of the local road network, enforcement and regulatory measures such as signage and the active travel infrastructure all contribute to traffic management and safety considerations for schools.
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