Reducing cars on Nelson and Tasman District roads

In Nelson, seven primary schools involving 60 children have walking school buses. That’s potentially 60 less cars clogging the road and causing traffic jams at school gates, says Krista Hobday, Safe Journeys to Schools Coordinator for Nelson City Council.

‘Survey findings and just talking to kids show they love walking to school. They have a great time and make new friends,’ Krista says. ‘They get all sad when it rains and they can’t walk. It can be harder convincing parents that it’s a great way for kids to travel to school.’

Krista liaises with schools in Nelson to encourage children to walk or cycle to school. This year, she’s also working in the Tasman District and introducing the Walking Wednesdays Challenge in nine Tasman District schools in terms one and two.

‘I was really pleased with the response from those schools wanting to get involved,’ she says. ‘The Challenge is a good starting point for introducing walking school buses into a school. The Feet First – Walk to School Week is another good way to get more students and parents walking.’

Walking school bus champion

Last year, Krista also organised the Walking Wednesdays Challenge in five Nelson primary schools. ‘Kids love a challenge. They also love rewards. I stood at the school gate on Wednesday mornings handing out stickers to the walkers. The kids who were dropped off in cars often looked a bit sheepish when they got out.’

Three Tasman schools already have walking school buses, including Brightwater School. ‘Parents are really keen on the concept and there’s one teacher in particular who champions the bus. Brightwater’s been a real success story. They have one meeting place about 15 minutes from the school, and it runs to and from the school every day of the school week.’

For some rural schools, however, walking school buses don’t work. The schools may be located on busy highways without footpaths and so it’s not safe to encourage the children to walk to school. Or many of the students are bussed to the school and traffic congestion can be less of a problem.

Promoting walking and cycling

One of Krista’s main goals for 2007 is to get more children walking and cycling to school, and more parents and community members involved to ensure the initiatives continue to grow and become sustainable.
 
She uses a number of ways to promote the walk to school initiatives. These include:

• speaking at school assemblies and in staffrooms
• getting stories and photos in the school newsletters
• running stories and photos in Nelson City Council’s fortnightly newsletter, which is distributed to all households
• encouraging the print and radio media to get involved and feature stories.

‘Kids are great and lots of fun to work with,’ she says. ‘It’s easy to provide incentives and rewards – simple things like stickers, certificates and class prizes – to keep them motivated and enthusiastic.’

Page created: 1 May 2007