Active travel

Active travel gets children moving every day. Active travel involves walking, cycling, scooting or other active ways of getting to or from school, for the whole journey or as part of the journey along with other travel modes, such as public transport.

What is active travel

Being active on the way to and from school contributes significantly to a student's daily physical activity and increases social and community connectedness. It also has many other benefits including:

increasing social interactions with family and friends
fostering school and community connectedness
supporting mobility independence and familiarity with the neighbourhood
reducing road and public transport congestion and pollution.

Schools can support active travel by:

encouraging parents to support their children to actively travel to school
providing facilities that support active travel to and from school for students, staff and families (e.g. bike racks, bike shelters)
offering bicycle education programs and guidance on safe routes to school
working with families and local councils to provide safe and convenient routes to schools.

Case Study: Active Schools - Impact Story - Creswick North PS - Bike Track(opens in a new window)

Case study: Active Schools - Impact Story - Cobram Secondary College - Pedal Empowerment Program(opens in a new window)

Strategies and approaches

These strategies and resources provide suggestions for how schools can support active travel.

Strategies
- Promote and encourage active travel
- Raise awareness amongst staff, students and parents about the benefits of active travel and ways to overcome known barriers using positive, structural language
- Run promotional events at your school that promote active forms of travel
- Create school drop-off zones located within walking distance from schools that help students to use active travel for part of the school journey.
Resources
- Promotional events may include Walk to School(opens in a new window), Walk safely to school day(opens in a new window), Ride2School(opens in a new window), and National Ride2School Day(opens in a new window)
- Bicycle Network has a step-by-step guide (PDF, 3.3MB)(opens in a new window) to embedding active travel in your school.
Strategies
- Prepare students to travel actively and independently
- Deliver a comprehensive road safety education program as part of the Health and Physical Education curriculum(opens in a new window) or Geography curriculum(opens in a new window)
- Discuss safe routes to schools and support students to feel confident in engaging in active travel to school
- Talk with students about the benefits of active travel from sustainability, health and social perspective
- Deliver bicycle education programs.
Resources
- VicRoads(opens in a new window) (The Department of Transport)
- Bike Ed(opens in a new window)
- The Change to the Walking(opens in a new window) program from Victorian Walks
- Bicycle Network's Ride2School(opens in a new window) program
- Bicycle Network's Great Vic Bike Ride(opens in a new window) school camp option for primary and secondary school students
- Victoria University technical paper on active school travel (PDF, 2.7MB)(opens in a new window) which provides information on the benefits of active school travel.
Strategies
- Work with the local council to create a supportive built environment around schools to facilitate safe active travel (e.g. streets closed to cars, one-way traffic, designated cycle lanes, widened footpaths, reduced speed, etc)
- Work with the local council to identify needs for school crossing supervisors.
Resources
- The Municipal Association of Victoria(opens in a new window) can support schools to work out the best local council contact
- Bicycle Network's Ride2School(opens in a new window) program works with schools and councils to implement street closures for cars to enable safe travel environments for students.
Strategies
- Support students to travel actively
- Improve school infrastructure that supports active travel (e.g. covered, safe storage for bicycles and scooters that is accessible and visible).
Resources
- The Ride2School(opens in a new window) program works with schools to help identify their barriers and implement initiatives to address them, such as bike parking
- Funding is available through Department of Transport (VicRoads(opens in a new window)) Community Road Safety Grants to support Bike Ed and active travel to schools
- Victorian School Building Authority(opens in a new window) should be contacted by schools looking for support and funding opportunities when planning to improve school infrastructure.

Active travel resources

Active schools in action – ACHPER Victoria

The Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation (ACHPER) website offers active schools resources, case studies, podcasts and more.

Education

Updated 6 March 2024

Active travel

On this page

What is active travel

Strategies and approaches

Active travel resources

Active schools in action – ACHPER Victoria