Schools survey will help to make travel healthier

The county was the biggest participant in a regional study in which children were asked the simple question "How did you get to school this morning?"

The results will be used to encourage healthier and more environmentally-friendly ways of making the daily journeys.

The aim of the survey, which was coordinated in North Yorkshire by the county council, was to gather background information, to build up a picture of the ways in which children at present make their way to school.

In the Yorkshire region as a whole, more than 260,000 pupils from hundreds of schools responded and the most feedback came from North Yorkshire.

The county's school travel awareness officer, Geoff Gardner, said that 217 of the authority's schools had completed the forms.

"This information will be used to develop the school travel plan, an initiative to encourage alternative ways of getting to school, such as walking or cycling," he said.

With about 20,000 bus passengers every school day, the north of Yorkshire has the highest proportion of trips by bus and accounts for one third of all school bus journeys in the region.

The survey revealed that fewer primary school pupils walk to school in North Yorkshire than anywhere else, a factor linked to the largely rural nature of the county.

"The message must be that the lack of opportunities for walking to school should be replaced with other daily exercise activities," said Mr Gardner.

The survey also showed that secondary schools in the county are the second highest when it comes to using bicycles, an area which the School Travel Plan intends to build on.

The county has applied successfully for funding to appoint five part-time school travel awareness coordinators.

They will help schools develop and implement ideas and initiatives from the School Travel Plan, the benefits of which would include improved health and fitness among youngsters, and reduced traffic congestion at school gates.