1. Walking School Buses in Sudbury: Lessons Learned and Recommendations
Presented by Zoé St Pierre, 4th year Environmental Studies student

2. Table of Contents Intro The Literature Lessons Learned Recommendations
The Sudbury Pilot Project
The Literature
Similarities
Differences
Lessons Learned
Recommendations
Bibliography

3. The Walking School Bus (WSB)Pilot Project
3 Schools
École Notre-Dame-de-la-Mercie (Coniston)
Lansdowne Public School (Sudbury)
Many involved parties
Earth Care Sudbury (City of Greater Sudbury)
Children’s Services (City of Greater Sudbury)
Sudbury Student Services Consortium
Transit and Fleet Administration (City of Greater Sudbury)
HKCC
Laurentian University

4. How It Worked Sudbury Student Services Consortium planned the routes.
The City of Greater Sudbury received HKCC funding to run 3 WSBs.
They were offered to various schools in the area, some declined whereas others were very interested in the project.
Lansdowne Public School, Notre-Dame-de-la- Mercie & Foyer-Jeunesse were selected.
Selected- there were enough children who could walk (really wanted to target the population that by School Board policy could walk but don’t), also that there was a safe route for walking

5. Variables How did they decide which schools to pick?
Percentage of students in the area.
Percentage of students who did not walk to school but could be walking.
Students who were between the ages of 5-10.
Which schools had the safest routes (crosswalks, sidewalks, stop signs, etc.)

6. How It Worked
“Drivers” were hired by the City of Greater Sudbury were trained accordingly.
The first walk was in June 2016 and lasted until the end of the school year
I followed in an alternating pattern of AM-PM routes at both schools as third party observer
Given the limited presentation time I will only be able to talk about the reviewed literature and not the data collection.

7. The Literature I explored 20 different articles and I saw:
Some very different models
Some very similar models
I saw similarities between reviewed literature but also between articles and my own observations.

8. Similarities
Difficult to keep many children organized (Collins et al., 2010; Marshall et al., 2010).
Friendships were developed among children outside of formal classroom setting (Sussman et al., 2009; Kearns et al., 2003).
The recruitment of children proved to be difficult (Sussman et al., 2009; Moodie et al., 2009).
The walking school buses promoted a feeling of safety for the kids along with a sense of reassurance for the parents (Marshall et al., 2010; Kearns et al., 2003).
A very prevalent reoccurring theme throughout almost every article

9. Differences Models Climate Measures
Some were run on a (almost) full volunteer basis with only 1 or 2 hired staff (Collins, 2005).
Some projects focused on a specific impact and measured it during their study.
Climate
Most WSBs occurred in temperate and mild, or warm and sunny climates (Auckland, New Zealand; Christchurch, New Zealand; Australia; Seattle, USA; California, USA; Texas, USA).
There is precedence from Ontario including Peterborough and Hamilton
Measures
Some projects actually measured the participating children’s BMIs, weight and overall health (Moodie et al., 2009).
Some projects measured the fine particulate matter in the air (Adams, 2016).

10. Positive Impacts of WSBs
Health
Social
Environmental

11. Health
WSB’s are a low cost program that can help implement daily physical activity in a child’s day (Sussman et al., 2009).
It is a cost-effective measure to prevent and fight childhood obesity among primary school kids (Haby et al., 2009).
“Two-thirds of children live within a 30-minute walk of their school (Green Communities Association 2004) but over 21 percent travel passively, sitting in a vehicle” (Hunt 1998)” (Wurtele, 2005).
They are developing habits that will lead to long and healthy lifestyles, providing them with independence and a confidence in their mobility (Kingham & Ussher, 2007).

12. Social
With the right communication approaches, WSB programs can bring communities closer (Mendoza et al., 2009).
Social gatherings between parents from the neighbourhood (Mendoza et al., 2009).
WSBs encourage children to make friendships with other kids in an informal setting that is different from that of a classroom (Sussman et al., 2009).
Being outside at least twice a day provides kids with a type of environmental education that they can learn a lot from in an informal, adventurous setting (Kingham & Ussher, 2007).

13. Environment
Two examples from Ontario of studies that showed travelling passively affects the health of kids (and other people) in the community who travel actively.
Having so many children travelling in (most often) single passenger vehicles not only causes adverse effects on health for themselves (from low levels of physical activity), this pattern leads to traffic congestion and poor air quality around many schools for other kids and residents (Wurtele, 2005). *Peterborough, ON

14. Environment
The built environment affects route choice for children walking to and from school, and that these routes have a high amount of vehicle traffic which will consequently affect the air quality for children walking or cycling to school. This study explored alternative routes for children walking to school and they were significantly less polluted (Adams, 2016). * Hamilton, ON

15. Environment
WSBs are great for the environment, even much more than public transportation and carpooling (Kingham & Ussher, 2007).
These types of projects could have positive influences on future urban planning of cities in terms of city walkability and neighbourhood liveability (Kearns et al., 2003; Boarnet et al., 2005).

16. Lessons Learned
The volunteer based systems have been the most successful across all continents
Communication is key
Positive impacts on:
Health
Community
Environment

17. Recommendations
More communication between organizers, schools, parents and children
Some examples:
bulletin boards with “walk to school and pedestrian safety materials”
walking school bus information in school newsletters
arranged classroom presentations on pedestrian safety by Police Officers
organized “weekly walk to school days” and,
an annual walk to school community celebration, WSB’s provide a sense of reassurance and safety for the whole community (Marshall, 2010).

18. Recommendations
A reassessment of the routes a few weeks into the projects
Include Urban Planning committees and engineers from the city to help with the planning and safety of routes, example from California
Run on a full or semi volunteer based system
To start in September
Talk about example from States

19. Bibliography
Adams, M. D., Yiannakoulias, N., & Kanaroglou, P. S. (2016). Air pollution exposure: An activity pattern approach for active transportation. Atmospheric Environment, 140(Complete), doi: /j.atmosenv
Boarnet, M., Anderson, C., Day, K., McMillan, T., & Alfonzo, M. (2005, February). Evaluation of the California Safe Routes to School legislation: Urban form changes and children’s active transportation to school. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 28(2), doi:
Collins, D., & Kearns, R. A. (2010). Walking school buses in the Auckland region: A longitudinal assessment. Transport Policy, 17(1), doi: /j.tranpol
Collins, D., & Kearns, R. (2005). Geographies of inequality: child pedestrian injury and walking school buses in Auckland, New Zealand. Social Science & Medicine, 60(1),

20. Bibliography
Kearns, R. A., Collins, D. A., & Neuwelt, P. M. (2003). The walking school bus: extending children's geographies?. Area, 35(3), 285.
Kingham, S., & Ussher, S. (2007). An assessment of the benefits of the walking school bus in Christchurch, New Zealand. Transportation Research Part A: Policy & Practice, 41(6), doi: /j.tra
Marshall, J. D., Wilson, R. D., Meyer, K. L., Rajangam, S. K., McDonald, N. C., & Wilson, E. J. (2010). Vehicle Emissions during Children's School Commuting: Impacts of Education Policy. Environmental Science & Technology, 44(5),

21. Bibliography
Mendoza, J, A., Levinger, D, D., Johnston, B, D. (2009, May). Pilot evaluation of a walking school bus program in a low-income, urban community. BMC Public Health, 122(9). doi: /
Moodie, M.,Haby, M., Galvin, L., Swinburn, B., & Carter, R. (2009, September). Cost-effectiveness of active transport for primary school children - Walking School Bus program. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 63(6). doi: /
Wurtele, S., & Ritchie, J. (2005). Healthy Travel, Healthy Environments: Integrating Youth and Child Perspectives into Municipal Transportation Planning. Children, Youth and Environments, 15(2), Retrieved from