TravelSmart to School
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The TravelSmart to School program works with primary schools to promote walking, cycling, public transport and carpooling for school trips.
More than 14,000 students from over 190 schools in metropolitan Perth and regional centres have already participated in the TravelSmart to School program.
The program aims to:
- Raise awareness about the impacts of high car use and encourage the use of transport alternatives
- Provide students with the skills and motivation to travel more independently, increase their physical activity levels and improve air quality while reducing greenhouse emissions
- Build school, student and community capacity to develop and implement Sustainable School Travel Plans.
Read more about Schools and results. |
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How the program works
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Currently the TravelSmart to School program is in a period of redevelopment to be relaunched in 2010 as a pilot project. The pilot will trial a new focus of working more closely with schools over a longer period with the aim of building school, student and community capacity to develop and implement Sustainable School Travel Plans. The new pilot will be limited to a small number of selected schools and local governments. During 2010 it is anticipated that many of the materials developed for the pilot project will be available to other schools for their general use.
For more information please contact the Department of Transport TravelSmart to School Program Development Office.
The TravelSmart to School Program has a Sustainability Roadshow which integrates with the Australian Sustainable Schools Initiative - WA. This provides an opportunity for schools to include TravelSmart to School as part of their sustainability initiatives.
In 2008, 62 schools completed the program, achieving an 10% average reduction in car trips and saving 2,900 kilograms of greenhouse gases over a one-week period. Find out more about the TravelSmart to School results.
School Travel Plans
Sutainable School Travel Plans are community driven strategies designed to support the change from car use to active transport modes for the school journey. Children and parents are encouraged to become more physically active by walking, cycling and using public transport. |
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The current situation for schools is that most students use cars to get to and from school. The aim for Sustainable School Travel Plans is to reduce car trips, decrease traffic congestion and air pollution around the school, improve safety, improve physical fitness, promote active transport (walking, cycling, and scootering), additionally to create a healthier community and environment.
A Sustainable School Travel Plan outlines how an individual school will generate and encourage active transport change by detailing objectives, concerns, initiatives, incorporated into an action plan with timeframes suitable for the years ahead. Each Travel Plan is different and personal to the school. In order to be successful a Sustainable School Travel Plan must be supported by the whole school community i.e. parents, teachers, students and local government. Sustainable School Travel Plans have been implemented in Victoria and are compulsory for all schools in the United Kingdom. In WA, South Perth Primary School is the first school to complete a Travel Plan.
If you would like your school to reduce car travel for the school journey, please contact the Department of Tansport's TravelSmart Program Development Officer.
School Travel Plan Pilot Project
The Awesome Walk-Some Program
South Perth Primary School is the first school in Western Australia to develop and implement a TravelSmart Sustainable School Travel Plan. South Perth Primary parents, students, teachers and the Deputy Principal worked with the City of South Perth, Viva Health and the Department for Planning and Infrastructure to initiate and develop the School Travel Plan. The winning name from the school naming competition was the Awesome Walk-Some Program.
South Perth primary school leapt at the opportunity to have the first Sustainable School Travel Plan in the state, as the school experienced severe traffic problems and road safety issues around the school at peak times. Between 150 and 200 cars drop off students at peak times; this equates to 66 % of students travelling by car to school. The school also felt this program could assist in addressing the falling physical activity levels among students.
The Awesome Walk-Some Program aims to reduce car travel to the school by 10 % by 2010. The Awesome Walk-Some Program focuses on initiatives that encourage walking, cycling and public transport rather than relying on the car, and profiles strategies that the school community can implement. It builds on other TravelSmart programs South Perth Primary School has participated in over the years, such as the Walking School Bus and the TravelSmart to School program.
The Premier’s Physical Activity Taskforce and the WA Local Government Association, through the Lotterywest grant scheme, supported the Awesome Walk-Some Program.
One of the actions emerging from the Awesome Walk-Some Program is “Walk to School Wednesdays”. Students are encouraged to walk or ride to school every Wednesday. This activity is enables students to increase their physical activity and care for their environment.
Awesome Walk-Some Program (pdf 1MB)
The benefits
- Less traffic congestion and improved road safety around your school.
- Less demand for parking spaces.
- The TravelSmart to School Kit makes it easy for teachers to use TravelSmart to School curriculum based activities to reach their learning outcomes.
- Increased profile and involvement of your school in the local community.
- Cleaner air - up to half of the pollutants emitted on short car trips are caused by ‘cold starts’.
- Savings in greenhouse gas emissions.
- Improved fitness and health for those who make the changes.
- Students learn how to travel safely and independently, developing a healthy habit for life.
- Students who walk or cycle to school are more alert and learn better.
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Want more information?
For more information on TravelSmart to School, contact the TravelSmart team at the Department of Transport.
