Getting to School: Factors affecting choice of active travel modes in the trip to school

Fiona Conlon

Getting to School – study aims • Explore children’s modes of transport to school in relation

to distance from home to school

• Describe nature of travel routes along or through arterial roads

• Examine the relationship between active transport and demographic variables

• Compare parents mode of transport to work with their children's mode of transport to school

• Explore the amount of exercise taken by parents and any relationship between their level of activity and their children‘s mode of transport to school.

• Explore car and bicycle ownership and use in relationship to active transport mode choices to work and school

Model communities • New Zealand Transport Authority funded Model

Communities:

• Urban environments where walking and cycling are offered to the community as the easiest transport choice

• Hastings

• New Plymouth

• Activating Communities to Improve Vitality and Equality (ACTIVE) Study:

• A quasi experimental study using the two model communities and two control cities, Masterton and Whanganui

ACTIVE study • The ACTIVE study collected data in face-to-face

surveys from four cities in annual surveys conducted

in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

• The evaluation is intended to assess whether the

model communities interventions in Hastings and

New Plymouth resulted in increased active travel.

• Evaluation undertaken by the NZ Centre for

Sustainable Cities

Getting to school -Methods • ACTIVE survey data from 2011 (baseline) and 2012

was explored for variables in the questionnaire to inform analysis of children's active transport to school

• Inclusion: children between 10 and 18 years of age; in full time education attending either primary, intermediate or college level and who walked, cycled, bussed or travelled by car to school and had a parent(s)/caregiver(s) living in the same house.

• Exclusions: children who did not have an adult in the same house who took part in the study (n=4)

Methods - continued • Use of Google Maps Street View to:

o To measure the distance between home and school by the most direct route

o To categorise arterial and non-arterial roads in each of the 4 cities and count the number of arterial roads traversed or crossed on their journey to school.

• Use of Te Kete Ipurangi (Ministry of Education) website school finder service was used to see if children were attending the school that was closest to them or were travelling further to attend a different school

Results • Total children in the study – 71

• Total adults of children – 84

• 37 (52%) of children used active transport

Mode of transport Total

Active transport Walking 29 (41%)

Cycling 8 (11%)

Car 21 (30%)

Bus 13 (18%)

Total 71 (100%)

Distance to school • Distance was the strongest predictor of active travel

to school – all other factors were not statistically significant (due to sample size)

• Of those that used active transport – 57% lived with 2km of school, 84% lived within 4km.

• Of those that travelled by car, 14% lived within 2km of the school, 62% lived within 4km

• Out of 25 children that lived within 2km of the school – 21 used active transport

School closest to home? • Attending the school closest to home was

associated with active transport

• 61% of children in the study attended the school

closest to their home

• 78% of those that used active transport attended

the school closest to their home

• 43% of those that used the car attended the school

closest to their home

• 38% of those that travelled by bus attended the

school closest to home.

Arterial roads* traversed or crossed

• A greater number of arterial roads traversed or crossed was associated with lower numbers of children using active transport to school

• Only 23% of all journeys to school involved one or less arterial roads to traverse or cross.

• Rates of active travel dropped off when arterial roads involved in the journey were 5 or more (this may due to increased arterial roads being more likely with greater distance to school)

• 76% of those using active transport compared to 62% of those travelling to school by car traversed or crossed up to 4 arterial roads.

• *Arterial roads – a road that predominantly carries trough traffic from one region to another, forming principal avenues of communication for traffic movements. (NZTA)

Ethnicity • 58% of European children used active transport to

school compared to 43% of Māori

• 33% of European children travelled to school by car

compared to 14% of Māori

• 9% of European children used the bus to travel to

school compared to 43% of Māori

• [Māori 30%, European 63%, other/not stated 6% -

there were no Asian or Pacific Island children in the

study]

Gender • There was little difference between boys and girls in

rates of active transport.

• Active transport was slightly more common among

girls (54%) than boys (46%).

• More girls used car transport to school (57%) than

did boys (43%)

Factors that influenced the

choice of route to school • The choice of route to school for those children that

used active transport was influenced more by the

quickest and most direct route rather than safety

concerns.

• 40% of those that walked or cycled reported that

the quickest, most direct route was important in

determining their choice.

• Personal safety was of importance to 29% of those

that walked or cycled to school

Parent’s mode of transport to work

• 79% of parents that worked, used a car to travel to

work; 19% used active transport

• At the 2006 census two thirds of people used a car

as their main means of travel to work

• 15% of the parents of children who used active

transport to school, used active transport to get to

work

Parents – rates of exercise • Children that used active transport to school were

more likely to have a parent/caregiver that either

did moderate or vigorous exercise.

• 45% of children that used active transport to school

had a parent that did moderate exercise

compared to 38% of parents of children who used a

car.

• 61% of parents of children that used active transport

did vigorous exercise compared to 17% of parents

of children who travelled to school by car

Car and bicycle ownership/access

• Car access was almost universal among adults

included in the study – 96%

• 70% of parents had access to a functioning bike,

but only 3 had used a bicycle to travel to work in

the previous week and only 11 had used a bicycle

for exercise.

• 79% of children had access to a functioning bike

but only 8 children used them for transport to school

Conclusions • Shorter distance between home and school is the

strongest predictor of the use of active transport to

school – may be associated with less arterial roads.

• Use of the car increases dramatically once distance

rose above 2km

• Many children (39% in this study) do not attend the

school closest to where they live.

• Children of parents who exercise/value exercise are

more likely to use active transport

Questions?