In Canada's largest metropolitan regions, school travel by children and youth as automobile passengers increased substantially between 1986 and 2001: for 11- to 15-year-olds the per capita increase was 83 percent. According to a 2009 Metrolinx household study, over sixty percent (64 percent) of children being driven to or from school in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area live within two km of their school, and over half (56 percent) of these overall automobile trips are being made solely for the purpose of dropping off and picking up a child at school (i.e. not part of a commute to and from work or other destination). Innovative solutions that encourage the use of active transportation modes beginning in childhood are important in reversing the increasing trend towards traffic congestion and autodependency in communities across Canada. School Travel Planning (STP) is a school-based transportation demand management (TDM) approach that engages students, families, schools, and communities in a process to improve their local travel options and conditions - with the goal of influencing individual behaviour towards greater use of active and sustainable modes for the daily school trip. Project and program results provide important baseline evidence for health practitioners, municipal planners and engineers, law enforcement, school districts and other community stakeholders interested in enhancing active travel and influencing school travel behaviour. For the covering abstract of this conference see ITRD number E220308.
Abstract