School Travel Planning

On 1 July 2006 EECA handed over its School Travel Planning programme to the New Zealand Transport Agency. Please contact the New Zealand Transport Agency for more information on school travel plans.

School travel planning aims to encourage more families to use environmentally friendly transport options to get to and from school.

Programmes include walking, school bus or cycle training, and infrastructure changes such as pedestrian crossings, traffic calming and cycle lanes.

School travel plans deliver a range of benefits, including:

• improved health and road awareness
• reduced emissions and other environmental benefits
• economic benefits of spending less time in cars.

Growing vehicle congestion at the front gate, worries over road safety and concern about low physical activity levels are all signs that a school might benefit from a travel plan.

Projects in England, Canada, Belgium and Australia have managed to reduce car travel by around 10 per cent in the first year, and five per cent in following years.