The impacts of the school run are getting worse

Levels of active travel to school have stayed static and more pupils are being driven to school now than there were 20 years ago! I believe the underlying issue is the lack of rich, actionable, school-run specific data, which is resulting in ineffective one-size fits all solutions being implemented - these do not address specific place-based transport requirements.

Here's 4 key impacts from the lack of data, that I have witnessed across the sector:

1. Councils do not have the evidence-base to design and implement high impact solutions to address the school run challenge - rendering inefficient much of the government and developer spending that targets sustainable travel to school.

2. Transport assessments for new developments focus solely on the workplace commute, discriminating against the transport requirements of families (in particular women).

3. There is an over-dependence on exclusively promoting walking and cycling to school - key parts of the solution but often regarded as impractical for younger children and longer journey distances. The current approach has left rural areas behind. The latest survey from NTS showed the lowest levels of walking to school in rural communities since records began 20 years ago.

4.     Many councils require schools to have travel plans (unfunded and labour intensive) before they invest on active travel and road safety improvements in and around the school site. This is creating health inequalities as our research suggests that schools in less affluent areas are only half-as-likely to have a travel plan.

With the help of DfT and Innovate UK, we are developing HomeRun STEP to help solve this major issue and put the nation on the path to achieving a sustainable school run.