Children’s active trips to school: a review and analysis

Abstract

This paper provides a review of academic articles in English and some in Spanish, concerning active trips (walking and cycling) to school. It was found that decision on transport mode to travel to school can be rather complex, which is affected by environmental, social, economic, and geographical factors. Experiences from existing programmes and policies highlight the importance of complementing engineering approaches with education to increase active trips and to improve safety. ‘Proactive trips’ programmes should consider parental concerns and time constraints. Active trips provide benefits for children and parents, yet an attendant risk of being involved in traffic accident exists. There is a notable dearth of research into children’s active trips to school (ATS) for tropical environments, and analysis of the economic impact of ATS is minimal. Practices highlighted in this paper can be implemented in countries with conducive active trips infrastructure such as Singapore.