Active School Transport among Children from Canada, Colombia, Finland, South Africa, and the United States: A Tale of Two Journeys
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Setting
2.2. Participants
2.3. Measurements
2.3.1. Active School Transport
2.3.2. Distance to School
2.3.3. Parental Perception of Crime
2.3.4. Correlates
2.4. Statistical Analysis
2.5. AST Policies
3. Results
3.1. School Transport
3.2. Factors Associated with AST by Income Level of the Country
3.3. AST Policies
4. Discussion
Policy Implications
- Distance: Distance is a key determinant for school-siting policies that aim to create dense school networks and encourage active transportation by the location of schools at reasonable distances from residential neighborhoods. Through the design of school-siting and land use policies, policy-makers can manage the strong influence that distance can have on the engagement in AST. This could be a relevant strategy for settings that are experiencing urbanization and growing processes. Extreme distances can be addressed by multimodal transportation strategies that combine motorized travel and AST, such as bike-friendly features in public transportation infrastructure or safe routes for walking from bus stops to schools.
- Safety: policy-makers can contribute to address the parents’ concerns about crime perceptions through the identification of potential risks and the design of safe routes for children living at walkable distances from the schools. Strategies that involve adult accompaniment along the trip to school can encourage the involvement in AST. These strategies are pertinent for HIC settings where safety is inversely related to AST and for UMIC settings where an inverse association was not observed, but safety improvement can contribute to making AST a sustainable behavior.
- Car-ownership: policy-makers cannot restrict car-ownership, however, motorized transportation can be made less convenient for short trips through policy. Initiatives such as parking restrictions around schools and traffic management strategies can discourage the use of motorized modes and replace those trips with active options.
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Socio-Demographic Characteristics | Ottawa (Canada) | Bogota (Colombia) | Helsinki, Espoo & Vantaa (Finland) | Cape Town (South Africa) | Baton Rouge (US) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
World bank classification a | High income | Upper-middle income | High income | Upper-middle income | High income |
Gini index (year) a | 34.0 (2013) | 50.8 (2016) | 27.1 (2017) | 63.0 (2014) | 41.5 (2016) |
Total population at the city level | 812,129 | 7,674,366 | 1,005,275 | 3,433,441 | 228,590 |
Population density (inhabitants per km2) | 317 | 4310 | 2739 | 1530 | 2960 |
Motor vehicles per 1000 inhabitants b | 605 | 58 | 534 | 159 | 809 |
Estimated road traffic death rate per 100,000 population c | 6.8 | 15.6 | 5.1 | 31.9 | 11.4 |
Crime rate | |||||
Robbery rate per 100,000 population d | 58.8 | 197.5 | 30.8 | 101.4 | 102 |
Socio-Demographic Variables of the Sample | Ottawa (Canada) | Bogota (Colombia) | Helsinki, Espoo & Vantaa (Finland) | Cape Town (South Africa) | Baton Rouge (US) | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
n = 541 | n = 912 | n = 487 | n = 312 | n = 593 | n = 2845 | |
Age a | 10.5 (0.4) | 10.5 (0.6) | 10.5 (0.4) | 10.2 (0.7) | 10.0 (0.6) | 10.3 (0.6) |
Sex | ||||||
Male (%) | 42.7 | 49.6 | 47.5 | 44.3 | 43.2 | 46.0 |
Female (%) | 57.4 | 50.4 | 52.5 | 55.7 | 56.8 | 54.0 |
Highest parent education | ||||||
<High School (%) | 2.0 | 31.8 | 2.9 | 37.7 | 8.6 | 17.0 |
Complete high-school or some college (%) | 27.8 | 50.8 | 54.9 | 45.9 | 43.2 | 45.0 |
≥Bachelor degree (%) | 70.2 | 17.4 | 42.2 | 16.4 | 48.2 | 38.0 |
Number of motorized vehicles in the household | ||||||
None (%) | 3.8 | 75.8 | 9.4 | 37.5 | 8.3 | 32.5 |
One (%) | 38.3 | 21.5 | 45.2 | 32.4 | 30.5 | 31.8 |
Two or more (%) | 57.9 | 2.7 | 45.4 | 30.1 | 61.2 | 35.7 |
Crime perception score a | 2.0 (0.7) | 3.4 (0.7) | 1.6 (0.6) | 3.1 (0.8) | 2.4 (0.8) | 2.6 (1.0) |
School transport characteristics | ||||||
Mode of transport to school | ||||||
Walking (%) | 34.9 | 71.6 | 54.7 | 49.4 | 10.1 | 46.3 |
Bicycle, roller-blade, skateboard, scooter (%) | 0.6 | 1.8 | 24.4 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 5.1 |
Bus, train, tram, underground, or boat (%) | 38.1 | 18.7 | 13.3 | 5.4 | 34.5 | 23.3 |
Car, motorcycle, or moped (%) | 26.5 | 7.3 | 7.6 | 44.3 | 54.3 | 25.0 |
Other b (%) | 0.0 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.3 |
Distance-related variables | ||||||
Average distance to school (km) a | 2.8 (4.2) | 2.4 (3.7) | 1.5 (1.7) | 2.9 (3.9) | 4.6 (5.1) | 2.8 (4.0) |
Median of the distance to school (km) | 1.5 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 3.3 | 1.3 |
Distance distribution among active and nonactive travelers | ||||||
< 1 km (%) | 36.8 | 56.6 | 50.0 | 38.1 | 19.1 | 41.7 |
1 km ≤ Distance < 1.5 Km (%) | 13.2 | 10.6 | 20.9 | 12.0 | 11.6 | 13.2 |
1.5 Km ≤ Distance < 2 Km (%) | 10.9 | 5.5 | 12.3 | 11.3 | 7.9 | 8.8 |
≥2 km (%) | 39.2 | 27.4 | 16.8 | 38.7 | 61.4 | 36.2 |
Distance distribution among active travelers | ||||||
< 1 km (%) | 70.0 | 73.0 | 60.6 | 64.4 | 80.0 | 68.7 |
1 km ≤ Distance < 1.5 Km (%) | 17.1 | 10.6 | 21.8 | 12.5 | 4.6 | 14.3 |
1.5 Km ≤ Distance < 2 Km (%) | 4.2 | 4.9 | 12.2 | 11.3 | 3.1 | 7.3 |
≥2 km (%) | 8.8 | 11.5 | 5.4 | 11.9 | 12.3 | 9.6 |
Average distance to school among active travelers (km) a | 1.3 (2.9) | 1.4 (2.7) | 1.0 (0.8) | 1.7 (3.2) | 1.0 (1.6) | 1.3 (2.4) |
Active travel among children living at <1 km (%) | 67.2 | 94.6 | 95.9 | 84.9 | 44.8 | 84.5 |
Covariates | Sites in Upper-Middle-Income Countries a | Sites in High-Income Countries b | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
OR | 95% CI | p-Value | OR | 95% CI | p-Value | |
Highest parent education | ||||||
<High School | 4.83 | (2.84–8.21) | < 0.001 | 0.89 | (0.45–1.78) | 0.741 |
Complete high-school or some college | 4.21 | (2.58–6.85) | < 0.001 | 1.35 | (1.01–1.81) | 0.040 |
≥Bachelor degree | Ref. | Ref. | ||||
Age | 0.80 | (0.61–1.06) | 0.126 | 1.96 | (1.49–2.58) | < 0.001 |
Gender (ref. male) | 1.27 | (0.89–1.79) | 0.176 | 0.97 | (0.74–1.28) | 0.838 |
Crime perception | 1.33 | (1.06–1.66) | 0.014 | 0.37 | (0.31–0.45) | < 0.001 |
Number of motorized vehicles (ref. none) | ||||||
None | Ref. | Ref. | ||||
One | 0.24 | (0.16–0.35) | < 0.001 | 0.42 | (0.24–0.72) | 0.002 |
Two or more | 0.14 | (0.08–0.26) | < 0.001 | 0.38 | (0.22-0.65) | 0.001 |
Distance to school | ||||||
<1 Km | Ref. | Ref. | ||||
1 km ≤ Distance < 1.5 Km (%) | 0.12 | (0.07–0.20) | < 0.001 | 0.29 | (0.21–0.42) | < 0.001 |
1.5 Km ≤ Distance < 2 Km (%) | 0.13 | (0.07–0.23) | < 0.001 | 0.15 | (0.10–0.22) | < 0.001 |
≥2 Km | 0.03 | (0.02–0.05) | < 0.001 | 0.02 | (0.02–0.03) | < 0.001 |
Location | Description | Target | Sectors Involved | Impact Evaluation |
---|---|---|---|---|
Ottawa, Canada | The Ottawa Student Transportation Authority (OSTA) is responsible for all school transport initiatives and policies at the city. Regarding active school transportation (AST), OSTA provides services that support and promote the core principles of the School Active Transportation Charter. Specific actions include: (1) Assisting schools in providing safety conditions for students through management of vehicle, pedestrian, and bike traffic around schools. (2) Assessing potential hazards in all walk zones and assigning transportation services to those children who walk and face a very high risk to their safety. (3) Recommending the best routes for AST, through maps that identify unsafe intersections to avoid. (4) Submitting infrastructure improvement needs or service requirements to the appropriate departments at the city. (5) Coordinating School Travel Planning initiatives, like Active and Safe Routes to School program, that involve school communities engaged in the development of action plans for removing barriers to AST. (6) Coordinating Walking School Bus initiatives, in which children are encouraged to walk to school accompanied by a paid leader of the program. AST programs and policies are also supported by the Ottawa School Active Transportation Network, which involves OSTA, School Boards planning, Ottawa Police Services, City By-Law, Ottawa Public Health, Ottawa Public Works, Green Communities Canada, and Ottawa Safety Council [48]. School board policies determine the eligibility for bus services based on the distance between home and school as follows: kindergarten students located at ≥ 0,8 km, grades 1 to 8 located at ≥ 1.6 km, and grades 9 to 12 located at ≥ 3.2 km or more from their home school [48]. | Parents or guardians, students, school communities | OSTA, School Boards planning, Ottawa Police Services, City By-Law, Ottawa Public Health, Ottawa Public Works, Green Communities Canada, and Ottawa Safety Council | School Travel Planning initiatives have been evaluated in Canada. Mammen et al. reported pooled data from several cities across Canada, but no specific data was provided for Ottawa. This evaluation found that after 1 year of implementation, there was no increase in AST. However, given the school-specific nature of the program, this approach may not be appropriate to evaluate its impact [49,50]. |
Bogotá, Colombia | The main AST policy in Bogotá is the School Mobility Plan, which was designed and enforced by the School Board and the District Department of Transport. This plan comprises guidelines for motorized and nonmotorized school transport. Each school must design its own Mobility Plan and propose strategies to promote active and sustainable mobility. The specific actions of this policy regarding AST include: (1) Assigning children to the closest schools to their homes, in order to promote active commuting. (2) Improving infrastructure prioritizing safety conditions for pedestrians and cyclists. (3) Implementing programs to promote safe walks to school among students living at 2 km or closer. (4) Implementing the program "Al Colegio en Bici", a comprehensive program to promote biking in public schools that includes a bicycle loan system, supervision, and education strategies. The education strategies comprise training in road safety, cycling skills, traffic rules, and a participatory design of safe routes [51]. Based on the distance between home and school, and considering vulnerability of children, bus services, or transport subsidies (money transfers or bus card) can be provided. Eligibility for motorized transportation benefits is defined as follows: ≥ 1 km for kindergarten children and ≥ 2 km for children from 1st to 11th grade. | Parents, community, students | Education, planning, mobility, sport and recreation, urban development, security road and maintenance and security department [51]. | No impact evaluation |
Helsinki, Finland | Helsinki Region Transportation (HRT) is the main authority in charge of the transport policy and mobility plans. The main policy document to guide specific actions to promote AST in Helsinki is the School Mobility Plan [52]. Each school is independent in the design and development of their mobility plan. However, the common purpose is to increase the use of walking, cycling, or public transport and make commitments in sustainable practices. Mobility plans also aim to increase the independent mobility among schoolchildren, as well as the safety in walking and cycling trails. Overall, the plan should include (1) identifying mobility problems or characteristics of the environment that make active commuting to the school difficult. (2) Assigning responsible persons for the implementation, including the school principal. (3) Formulating a mobility study at the school level. (4) Establishing objectives and achievable goals for the plan. And (5) Proposing an action plan, with specific initiatives like walking or cycling school buses, mobility lessons, or bicycle service days at school. Public transportation is encouraged through the entitlement of a Helsinki Region Transport travel card for children living at further distances based on the following criteria: children from 1st to 6th grades with journeys ≥ 2 km or adolescents from 7th to 9th grade with journeys ≥ 3km. For shorter distances, the use of the journey planner for cycling and walking is encouraged [52,53]. | Parents or guardians, students, school communities | Transport and education | No impact evaluation |
Cape Town, South Africa | Cape Town’s Transport and Urban Development Authority (TDA) is responsible for the local transport policies. The main policy to promote AST in the city is the Non-Motorized Transport (NMT) Policy and Strategy. This document aims to create safe environments for pedestrian and cyclists in order to increase AST as a desirable and acceptable mode of transport. Specific actions related to schools and learners in this policy include: (1) promoting scholar patrols, (2) implementing bicycle/pedestrian paths and other NMT infrastructure in school priority zones, (3) introducing walking and cycling bus programs and (4) including learner safety programs as part of the school curriculum [54]. However, is important to highlight that the school transport policies are focused on the provision of motorized school transportation based on the extreme distances that most of the children walk to school and challenges that children face on their way to and from school [55,56]. Specific criteria for Western Cape province establishes that children who live at 5km or further from their school are eligible for school transport provision [55]. | Community, Students | Transport, education, and urban development | No impact evaluation |
Baton Rouge, U.S.A | The Louisiana Department of Education regulates the School Transportation for Louisiana. The main guidelines for school transportation are provided on the Louisiana School Transportation Specifications and Procedures Bulletin. However, this document is focused in motorized transportation to school and specifies that children whose home is located further than 1 mile from the school should be provided with free transportation, and children living within 1 mile can also be eligible for bus transportation in case of hazardous walking situations [57]. A more supportive policy for AST is the Complete Streets policy at the state level in Louisiana, led by the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD). This policy aims to create an integrated transportation network that provides access, mobility, and safety to the users of different transport modes, including active modes, in Louisiana [58]. One of the expected benefits of the implementation of this policy is increased road safety and active transportation among children. In partnership with the DOTD, school travel initiatives like Safe Routes to School (SRTS) are funded with the objective to improve the health of kids and the community by making walking and bicycling to school safer, easier, and more enjoyable. SRTS programs comprise five components: education, encouragement, enforcement, engineering and evaluation, and include specific actions, such as: (1)Teaching safety skills, (2) Creating awareness among students, pedestrians, and bicyclists, (3) Helping children to follow transit rules and (4) Improving driver behaviors [59]. | Parents, Students, Schools | Transport, education, and planning | Safe Routes to School impact has been evaluated but not in Louisiana |
© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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González, S.A.; Sarmiento, O.L.; Lemoine, P.D.; Larouche, R.; Meisel, J.D.; Tremblay, M.S.; Naranjo, M.; Broyles, S.T.; Fogelholm, M.; Holguin, G.A.; et al. Active School Transport among Children from Canada, Colombia, Finland, South Africa, and the United States: A Tale of Two Journeys. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 3847. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17113847
González SA, Sarmiento OL, Lemoine PD, Larouche R, Meisel JD, Tremblay MS, Naranjo M, Broyles ST, Fogelholm M, Holguin GA, et al. Active School Transport among Children from Canada, Colombia, Finland, South Africa, and the United States: A Tale of Two Journeys. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2020; 17(11):3847. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17113847
Chicago/Turabian StyleGonzález, Silvia A., Olga L. Sarmiento, Pablo D. Lemoine, Richard Larouche, Jose D. Meisel, Mark S. Tremblay, Melisa Naranjo, Stephanie T. Broyles, Mikael Fogelholm, Gustavo A. Holguin, and et al. 2020. "Active School Transport among Children from Canada, Colombia, Finland, South Africa, and the United States: A Tale of Two Journeys" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 17, no. 11: 3847. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17113847