Children’s active trips to school: a review and analysis

Abstract

This paper provides a review of academic articles in English and some in Spanish, concerning active trips (walking and cycling) to school. It was found that decision on transport mode to travel to school can be rather complex, which is affected by environmental, social, economic, and geographical factors. Experiences from existing programmes and policies highlight the importance of complementing engineering approaches with education to increase active trips and to improve safety. ‘Proactive trips’ programmes should consider parental concerns and time constraints. Active trips provide benefits for children and parents, yet an attendant risk of being involved in traffic accident exists. There is a notable dearth of research into children’s active trips to school (ATS) for tropical environments, and analysis of the economic impact of ATS is minimal. Practices highlighted in this paper can be implemented in countries with conducive active trips infrastructure such as Singapore.

Keywords:

• children
• active mobility
• non-motorised transport
• trips to school
• influencing factors

Acknowledgements

This study is conducted as part of first author’s PhD research project; the research is supported by Singapore Ministry of Education Academic Research Fund Tier 2 [Grant Number MOE2014-T2-2-097].

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education - Singapore Academic Research Fund Tier 2 [Grant Number MOE 2014-T2-2-097].

Notes on contributors

M. C. Rojas Lopez

M. C. Rojas Lopez – Miss Rojas Lopez, Maria Cecilia received bachelor of Civil and Environmental Engineering from National University of Kaohsiung, Taiwan in 2014. She is currently pursuing her PhD on active mobility in Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Her research focuses on pedestrian and cyclist safety issues, users’ behaviour, and demand modelling.

Y. D. Wong

Y. D. Wong – Associate Professor Dr Wong Yiik Diew is a faculty member in Nanyang Technological University where he conducts transportation courses. Dr Wong’s principal R&D interests are in green & sustainable mobility; road safety engineering & practices; driver & traveller behaviours; pedestrian safety & accessibility; and bicycle transport & infrastructure.