School concentration and travel: the case of the Netherlands

Enne de Boer and C.D. van Goeverden, Delft University of Technology

Keywords

School concentration, school travel, modal choice, sustainability

Abstract

School travel is a severely neglected travel motive in transport planning. It accounts for a good part of bicycle and public transport movements. Unfortunately independent school travel is gradually decreasing and car use, especially as a passenger, is increasing. This is shown in Dutch data and incidentally in foreign ones.

School travel should be at the core of sustainable transport policies for several reasons. The most important reason is without doubt the educational value: developing the ability to travel by non-motorised and collective means of transport.

To enhance sustainable school travel it is need to analyse the causes of adverse developments. The most important cause is growing travel distances, which are leading to increasingly motorised travel. This is the result of various influences: the creation of larger institutions, (re)location decisions and changing tastes in type and social climate of schools. The Dutch evidence concerning institutional development is presented.

There certainly are efforts to turn the tide. The national council for education is pleading for the downscaling of institutions to improve social control (i.e. to reduce outbursts of violence). Institutions for secondary and higher education are being located more often at railway stations. Traffic safety organisations seek to ban the dangerous moped and they are campaigning for walking and cycling to school. Especially the walking campaigns are common all over Europe.

There is a need for a more coherent sustainable school transport policy. It should be rooted in urban planning and transport planning, but an elaboration in day-to-day school operations is essential too.