It’s almost September: Pack your lunch, backpack, and make a plan for getting to school!

With the fall fast approaching, now is a great time to think about how you and your family will get to and from school for the year. An active routine that includes walking or wheeling to school has many benefits! Children who walk, wheel or ride a bus for transportation, even just some of the time, are likely to become adults who walk, wheel or use transit. 

It takes on average 10 minutes to walk 800m – that’s about two or more blocks from your school. Comparatively, even though it takes 3-4 minutes to drive that distance, once you factor in traffic at drop off or pick up and getting your family in and out of the car, it all adds up to a longer trip! Walking and wheeling builds sustainable lifelong habits, gets you out in the fresh air and can take a shorter amount of time than you think. 

By using active transportation to get to school, children build positive attitudes toward active and sustainable transportation – benefiting themselves and the planet! 

There are lots of ways you can make your trips active.

Walk or Wheel with a Buddy 

It’s always more fun to walk with a friend or another family. Find another family through your school’s social media groups or school council. You’ll get to know more of your school community and children can learn to be more independent. 

To get started, check out these tips for fitting walking and wheeling to school into your routine. 

Walking School Bus or a Bike Bus 

Get a group of families and try out a walking school bus or a bike bus together. Bike buses and walking school buses work in a similar way – they meet at set times/locations (sometimes just once a week) to walk and cycle to school and pick up folks along the way. There are usually one or more adult leaders along with the children’s caregivers. These “buses” create extra safety from group visibility, build confidence for kids, and are a ton of fun! 

Learn more about Walking School Buses and Bike Buses.

Walk-A-Block 

If you live too far away from school, or your schedule makes it challenging to walk, bike, or scoot the whole way, consider parking within a 5 to 10-minute radius of the school and walking the rest of the way. Even walking 5 minutes to school instead of driving to the drop-off area reduces congestion and air pollution around the school, improves school zone safety, and promotes physical activity. You can find Walk-A-Block map for OCDSB and OCSB schools here, and at these links for CECCE and CEPEO schools.   

Make It a Game 

Whether you walk all or part of the way to school, all those steps add up, and it’s fun to see how far you can walk over the course of the school year! Students can use the Hop! app to track how many steps and kilometres they walk this school year while learning about the positive impact walking has on the environment. The app’s engaging illustrations, group challenges, and milestones help students to choose walking first.  

We know it may not work with everyone’s lifestyle to make every trip an active one, but even making one trip a week using active transportation can make a big difference!   

Curious to learn more? Check out more School Active Transportation resources here!