HEALTHY STREETS Resources
Here is some inspiration for how you can use our London data to strengthen your campaign for school streets, safe routes to school and more sustainable school travel in your area. Please do get in touch with us for advice and ideas.
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Celebrate active journeys to primary schools.
Children's journeys are overlooked in our street design and transport system. But in every neighbourhood there will be hundreds of young children walking and cycling to school. They are unheard voices! Use our 'Overview' Dashboard to get an estimate of how many pupils are using sustainable modes in your area. Celebrate these active journeys - broadcast them to your councillors and community. Give them a voice! Check out inspiration on our social media pages here and here and here, and our blog here.
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Make the case for school streets, school zones and safe routes to school
The numbers of young children ALREADY walking and cycling makes a powerful case for safe and healthy routes to school. All these children are currently battling road danger and pollution on their journeys. Use our 'Overview' Dashboard to estimate how many pupils are travelling sustainably in your area. Ask your council or school community - why don't they have have zebra crossings? safe cycle routes? school streets? Check out our social media feeds here and here and blog for more inspiration.
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Highlight the problem of school run car trips
The school run itself creates a significant number of car trips which flood the road networks. Use our 'Overview' Dashboard to identify how many pupils are driven to school in your area. You can convert this into how many car trips this creates by taking the number of pupils driven and multiplying it by 1.2 for the morning drop off and then doubling that number for the afternoon drop off. E.g. in Lambeth there are approx. 5,000 pupils driven to school [see our 'Overview' dashboard for Lambeth]. This creates (5000 x 1.2) morning car trips + (5000 x 1.2) afternoon car trips = 12,000 car trips per day. More info on here on the logic behind this and more campaign inspiration here.
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Make the case for sustainable solutions - journeys under a mile.
Layers of travel solutions are required to solve the school run. Different distances require different solutions. You can use our dashboards to work out how far pupils are travelling to your school, ward or borough and how many might be driving these short distances to inform your campaigns.
For example, a bike bus might help to encourage families with short journeys of under a mile to get to school sustainably?
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Make the case for sustainable solutions - journeys over a mile.
For primary school journeys over a mile in length, the driving rate in London increases from 7% to 65%. You can use our dashboards to work out how many pupils in your school, ward or borough might be driving these distances. Use this to inform your activity and strengthen your campaigns. For example, we feel cargo bikes are a very promising option for journeys in this distance range which can be too dangerous for young children to cycle themselves. For more inspiration check out some of our social media posts here and here and our Cargo and Cakes events here.
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Identify solutions for different school types.
Primary school driving rates increase the further the distance pupils are travelling. Schools with large catchment areas are therefore likely to have the highest driving rates. Use our 'School Type' and 'Overview' dashboard to find out what the school mix is in your ward or borough. Use this to inform your activity and strengthen your campaigns. For example, where there are a high number of independent primary pupils, you could research what sustainable options they provide for young pupils travelling 1-3 miles to school. Some independent schools invest in chaperoned school-bus services for young pupils. More inspiration on our social media here.