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A bus without emissions

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walking-schoolbus

A walk-bus. Photo: Stockholms stad/trafikkontoret.

In many places in Sweden one pupil in four arrives to school by car. But to reduce pollution and carbon emissions, make the area around the school safer and give the kids better health there is another way to get to class: “Walking” school buses.
The idea is very simple: One parent passes the houses in the area where the children live, or they all meet at a central spot, and then they walk together to school. There are also “bike-buses”.
One of the advantages of this is also that each parent spends less time taking his or her child to school, and also gets to know the other children better.

When I talk to Fariba Daryani, who has worked to encourage more walk-buses in the Stockholm area since 2003, she tells me the concept has spread widely and that she is often asked to come and talk about the concept in other parts of Sweden.
– This is a very easy way to influence people’s ways of travelling, she says.

Nacka, a neighbouring municipality to Stockholm, has three tips on how to start a walking school bus:

  1. Contact the families of your child’s class mates that live close to you.
  2. Make a schedule and decide what to do if someone falls ill. Maybe there are older sisters or brothers who can help out or grandparents who can substitute?
  3. Decide a “bus stop” close to the homes, where all children can walk safely on their own.

Walk-buses is also one idea from the Chalmers architect students in Alingsås, who I wrote about a few days ago. They suggest that parents take a look at what the way to school looks like. Are the sidewalks broad enough for two kids walking beside each other? Are there other obstacles?

In the booklet Walk-buses this is what we did you can read more about how walk-buses have been created in the Stockholm area.

Sara Jeswani - Sustainability

November 10, 2010

  • Pol – Croatia

    It is a very good idea, somewhat similar to that of kindergarten outgoings. Maybe this approach could allow more social interaction and increase good sense responsibility as well.

  • sarajeswani

    Yes, I think these kinds of “small” changes have a bigger impact than we might think. If you can get your children to school without using the car it’ll probably seem a bit more realistic to go food-shopping without the car too, for example. And more people on the streets instead of just motor vehicles definitely changes the atmosphere of an area. I also think kids can be one of the most persistent agents of change in a family ;-)

  • Pol – Croatia

    I noticed that too. When people are faced with decision wether to walk instead of going by car they usualy comment how unfriendly it can be, due to heavy vehicle traffic and lack of people to make the proper atmosphere and sense of security on the streets (which depends also of the period of the year and time of the day). So some people opt to use a car even on very small distances, even such as 100 m. After some time it seems simply to become a habit.

    I am a bit stuborn and try to walk or use bicycle whenever this is viable, especially when distance is not more then 2 km (for walking) or 5 km (by bicycle) in a radius. However, this doesn’t mean i feel more comfortable then the others on the street. Already intermediate traffic can cause unrest and the problems of getting enough pure air to normaly breathe. I try to stay relaxed and enjoy as much as possible, but it is not always easy. Doing alone is simply not enough to make the difference.

    It is interesting however how this two things are interconnected and i don’t know if someone has made any research about where is the treshold of how much people should walk on the street, in the same time reducing the traffic to reverse the trend ? Of course, the other problem are many shopping centers located closer to suburbs then inside the populated areas and the city center. It is crazy but in my town there are already some 6-7 such shopping centers, mostly concentrated on foodstuff and competing with low prices. It is not rare then to see pretty bizzarre commercials in breaking times on national TV to make advertisment of things as the chieapest “bananas”.

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  • lindsaytamm

    Thanks for this great post!
    I recently finished working as an English teacher in rural Japan, where walk-buses are the total norm. In fact, the location of a school is often determined by whether or not students can walk there! Works well for those deep, snowy winters where walking to school is safer and easier than driving.

  • sarajeswani

    Interesting! Yes, I think it’s good to remember that the “norm” of every parent taking their own children to school by car is far from global. And not very old here Sweden either. My own mother and her sisters and brothers, who grew up in the countryside, often went to school by skis in wintertime!