A survey of 4209 junior school children at 18 schools in Oxfordshire provided information on the mode of travel for journeys to and from school. The schools surveyed served rural areas, small towns and urban fringe estates. Explanations were sought in terms of distance travelled, household car ownership, and the age and sex of the respondent. More than two-thirds of the pupils walked to school and nearly one-fifth travelled by car. In the afternoon, car use dropped by one-half and walking increased correspondingly. One quarter of the pupils were accompanied to school by an adult in the morning but only one sixth were escorted home in the afternoon. Distance had the most significant effect on modal split: four-fifths of the pupils who lived less than 0.8 km from school travelled on foot. Of those pupils living more than 1.6 km from school 94 per cent used the school bus or a car. In those households where there were no cars 3 per cent of children travelled to school by car whilst in those households which had at least two cars, one-third travelled by car. In addition very young children were more likely to travel by car than were the older ones. Other variables had only a limited effect on modal split. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting