How to start a Walking School Bus

Read here for information on how to get the Walking School Bus Program up and running.

The set-up procedures are similar for establishing a Pedal Pod (Cycling School Bus).
If you don’t want to start a formal Walking School Bus, there are other ways to get children walking to school. Read about Starting an informal walk-to-school group.

• Who is involved in a Walking School Bus?
• Identify concerns and explore solutions
• Consult with the school community
• Promote the idea
• Role of the supporting agency
• Create your bus: 'drivers, 'conductors' and 'passengers'
• Roles of parents, children and volunteers
• Design and audit the route
• Create Walking School Bus kits
• Find and train volunteers
• The first trip
• Is the Walking School Bus too complex for you?   

Who is involved in a Walking School Bus?

Like any successful school program, the Walking School Bus involves a wide range of people in the community, including the council or supporting agency, parents, teachers and, of course, the children. Providing overall support for the program in your area is likely to be done by your local council or another supporting agency such as a leisure group, neighbourhood house or local health centre. Careful planning and good communication are vital ingredients to the program’s success – so too is a willingness to be flexible in making the program work.

The roles are summarised in this diagram of Walking School Bus partners  (PDF).
For case studies of how some made it all work, see the VicHealth publication Lively Neighbourhoods: Inspirational stories from Victoria's Walking School buses (PDF).

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Identify concerns and explore solutions

Assess the school neighbourhood before and after school. Gather a group to walk around the school, ideally both during the morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up. People who could be involved in doing an initial assessment for a school Include the principal or senior teacher, interested parents and their children, a local councillor, traffic engineer, police and supporting agency coordinator.

1. Conduct a simple survey of the number of cars dropping off children in the morning and picking up in the evening.

2. Create a list of potential or existing problems and simple solutions. Ask for ideas from everyone, not forgetting the children.

• Is there too much traffic? Are nearby roads clogged, and is it difficult to get a park nearby?
• Are there ‘near misses’ and pedestrian accidents due to excess traffic? Are impatient ‘through’ drivers (people not picking up children from school) speeding down school streets, and even through staffed school crossings?
• Is there excess pollution caused by parents idling their cars near the school?
• Are children unfit due to lack of exercise?
• Are parents afraid to let their kids walk to school because the traffic is dangerous? Or because of ‘stranger danger’, or because no-one else’s children walk to school?
• Does the school lack bike racks and ‘shelter sheds’ for bicycles?

3. Distribute the findings of your surveys to all participants.

Baseline surveys
Baseline surveys are a useful tool for making people aware of the issues, and for later evaluating the effectiveness of the Walking School Bus Program. Attaching a survey to the school newsletter is a good way to go about it.

1. Ask students how they get to school: walk, cycle, catch public transport, by car?

• Teachers could conduct a simple show of hands every day for a fortnight.
• Alternatively, make it a project for the children, with a graph, illustrations, and indications of the weather each day.

2. Do a survey of parents.

• Do they already walk their children to school, alone or with other parents?
• Does the weather/temperature affects their choice to walk or cycle. If so, how?
• Will parents become a ‘driver’ or ‘conductor’ of a Walking School Bus? Ask for ‘expressions of interest’ from parents. 
• Why don't their children don’t walk or cycle to school?

3. Compile the results of these surveys.

• Do a presentation at the school assembly, and attach a summary of results to the school newsletter.
• Keep the results, and compare with a similar survey to be done later in the year, after establishment of the Walking School Bus.  

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Consult with the school community

As with all new ideas, somebody has to get things started. In your area, it could be a parent, a teacher, a principal, a local council project officer or other interested person or group.

Some parents, teachers and council officers may very quickly see the benefits of a Walking School Bus; others may be reluctant to change the way things are.

The amount of initial work needed to get people interested will depend on your school community’s knowledge and understanding of the issues. Consider doing the following:

• Talk to the principal about the idea.
• Offer to provide a presentation to the school council or parents and friends association.
• Call a ‘special interest’ meeting to canvass the idea, or address the school assembly.
• Have a ‘walk to school day’.
• Meet with local council officers – who work in areas such as recreation, environment, transport, road safety, health promotion.
• Meet with local councilors.

Experience from around the world suggests that Walking School Buses are easier to start and keep going when they involve an active partnership between the school, parents and the local council/supporting agency. As you promote the idea the aim will be to gather a small group of supporters who will be able to help with some of the tasks and spread the word.

Establish a committee
Especially if you intend to create more than one Walking School Bus route to school, consider establishing a coordinating committee, and have each route set up its own sub-committee. If you are doing one route only, you may not need a committee. Consider the following:

• Invite all interested parents to join the committee. Include those who attended presentations you have given, and those who have expressed interest in the Walking School Bus idea, whether as volunteers or having their children participate. The school coordinator (principal or senior teacher) should be a member of the committee.
• Divide the tasks between committee members: photocopying, contacting local council/supporting agency project officers, taking minutes, and so on.
• Define the best way of communicating with everyone; email is probably the easiest.
• Decide on the location, timing and frequency of meetings. 

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Promote the idea

Promotion of the Walking School Bus Program is important to raise awareness and secure support within the school community.
The initial promotion emphasises the benefits of the program, supports understanding of the general processes and encourages active involvement. Consider the following promotional strategies:

• Send a letter home from the principal – explaining the rationale for the school implementing a Walking School Bus Program.
• Put articles in the school newsletter – include information in other languages spoken by children at your school, if necessary.
• Promotional posters – design your own or involve the children in designing a poster, perhaps with a competition.
• Make presentations at school assembly.
• Conduct classroom activities – a range of classroom activities for various ages are included in the Walking School Bus Resources.
• Parent information session – this is a helpful way of involving parents right from the start and providing a forum for recruiting volunteers. The session can be as formal or informal as you like.  

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Role of the supporting agency

The Walking School Bus can’t operate without a supporting agency working with the school and parents to help implement and run the program. In many cases, this will be the local council; however, councils have different levels of involvement. Some will run the whole program, while others will only have peripheral and technical involvement (such as conducting compulsory route audits).

Elsewhere, agencies such as the local health centre, neighbourhood house or leisure centre coordinate the program. In this case, the supporting agency will be responsible for facilitating uptake of the program within schools and delivering volunteer training.

The council or supporting agency will also need to organise a ‘Working with Children Check’ (‘Police Check’ outside Victoria) for each volunteer and providing volunteer insurance cover. Route audits must be carried out by council traffic engineers and/or VicRoads engineers.

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Create your bus: 'drivers, 'conductors' and 'passengers'

There are many ways to go about setting up a Walking School Bus at your school. The one that will work best for you will depend on the number of people interested in getting involved.

Finding passengers means encouraging parents to let their children join a bus. Finding drivers and conductors means either finding parents who bring their own children along or finding other adult volunteers.

The Walking School bus has a ratio of 1:8. That is, there must be one adult for every 8 children walking in a bus. You will need to find enough volunteers to cover this ratio.

You will also need to reassure potential drivers and conductors that they will be provided with information before they start and ongoing support once the bus is up and running. See the Volunteers section below for more information.

Creating one bus at a time
Approach a parent you think would be interested – someone who already walks their children to school may be a good choice as they are doing it anyway and know a route. They probably already have a positive view of the benefits and can promote this to others. Work with them to find a group of families who live close by and who may be interested in forming a Walking School Bus.

If you are a parent yourself, the same approach will work but you will need to check that you have the support of the school.

A group of three or four children may be enough to start. This can be built on as the word spreads. When other families see the new Walking School Bus pulling into the school on a regular basis, they might want their children to join or even want to start their own.

Starting a number of buses at once
This method requires further effort to sort out where people live, who will volunteer and so on.

1. Hold an interest meeting to explain the concept and to canvas support for setting the various buses. You can commence collecting information on potential drivers and passengers and start work on likely routes and schedules with those willing to make the commitment. Getting parents along to meetings may not always be easy.
2. Test the level of interest in the school population and then hold a follow-up meeting. Asking the school community first may help you gauge interest and obtain information prior to meeting with potential drivers and conductors. This meeting can then focus on checking the options and agreeing to the schedule, driver roster and contact person for each Walking School Bus.
3. The advantage of asking first (through a written survey) is that it can obtain information from parents who may not be able to attend a meeting. Some parents may be more likely to express interest where they can consider the implications at their leisure. Don’t expect too many returned surveys – all you need is enough to start a bus.

Registration of participants
Parents who want their child to participate in the Walking School Bus should complete a registration form which includes a signed consent and notification of any illnesses, etc. Registrations are renewed at the beginning of each new school year. See the Child Re-enrolment form example in the Walking Bus Resources.

• Parents are responsible for notifying the Program Coordinator of any changes to circumstances that may affect their child’s participation in the program during the year.
• Participants’ details may be recorded on a Participant Register database.
• Participating children should sign a Passenger Pledge to confirm their understanding of the behavioural expectations.  

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Roles of parents, children and volunteers

Walking School Buses should be fun, flexible and safe for everyone. This means putting in place some sensible rules and normal road safety practices to help adult volunteers feel comfortable with their role as supervisors of the children on the Walking School Buses.

Parents’ roles

• Take responsibility for their child’s safety on the way to and from the designated bus stops.
• Make sure their child is on time for the bus and collected on time.
• Ensure their child has been accepted onto the bus before they leave.
• Notify the bus driver or the school of any changes to their child’s regular travel pattern.
• Provide written consent before a child may use a bus.
• Ensure their child understands the bus rules.
• Ensure their child is dropped off at school or picked up from school if they miss the bus.

Drivers’ and conductors’ roles

• Guide the bus along the agreed route.
• Take responsibility for the safety and conduct of the children.
• Follow the authorised route.
• Ensure parents meet and collect younger children off the bus before it moves on.
• Organise a substitute if they cannot take their turn, or contact their nominated person who will find someone else to drive the bus that day.
  

Children’s roles

• Abide by the code of conduct and any other Walking School Bus rules.
• Listen to and respect the driver’s or conductor’s instructions.
• Arrive on time at their bus stop.
• Inform school staff and remain at school if they miss the bus after school.

Putting the rules on paper
The rules agreed to by the parents, children, teachers and the school should be written up for the operation of the bus. Potential areas for consideration include:

• reporting processes – who is responsible for the coordination of the bus, and what are the reporting requirements of the drivers and conductors?
• the process of authorising new drivers or conductors
• maintaining driver log books, which may include a record of passengers each day, and details of any unusual or reportable events or occurrences
• incident and accident management and reporting
• dealing with occurrences where the behaviour of a child does not meet agreed standards.

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Design and audit the route

The Walking School Bus needs to travel the safest and most convenient route for its passengers. Routes can vary in length but would usually be a maximum of 30 minutes or around 2 km.

Here is one way to work out a route:

• Sort the information you have collected from parents who are interested in using the bus – by passenger name and by street name.
• Get a map that shows street numbers and names so you can precisely locate each family interested in participating on a Walking School Bus. Maps may be available from your local council.
• Mark each child’s location on the map as well as the driver’s location (this may be the route’s starting point).
• Consider the location of children and drivers, decide potential route options, and identify potential bus stops – these may be someone’s house, a shop front, street corner or other suitable safe location.

Assess the Walking School Bus route and stops for any hazards and risks. This is best done by walking the route with two or three of the adults involved, as well as the council's traffic engineer. Council or VicRoads engineers must audit and approve the route.

Things to consider:

• Are there tripping hazards such as cracked footpaths, uneven nature strips or exposed tree roots?
• Are there adequate curb ramps at intersections for prams or wheelchairs?
• Are there parked cars or dangerous items on footpaths or nature strips that may obscure access?
• Are path surfaces appropriate?
• Is there good visibility on the footpath (e.g. no overhanging trees) and at corners and crossings?

Safety issues should be reported to the council. Should safety issues arise in the course of the program (e.g. overhanging branches), these should also be reported to council. See the VicHealth report: It's more than just walking! (PDF).

Drivers need to be particularly aware of any risks, and be given instructions on how to deal with them. Once the route is agreed to, confirm a roster of drivers and conductors and the bus is ready to roll.

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Create Walking School Bus kits

There are certain forms and materials that will need to be carried by volunteers when they are supervising a Walking School Bus. It is a good idea to create a kit or bag that volunteers collect before they do their run.

The kit may include:

1. clipboard containing the following forms: bus timetable, route map (photocopy of area map with highlighted route), passenger attendance sheet, accident/incident sheet, first aid flyer
2. safety vests for driver(s) and conductor(s)
3. armbands for passengers on the route; and basic first aid kit, which includes tissues and rubber gloves – be aware that some children are allergic to band-aids.

You may like to package the Walking School Bus kit into a backpack for ease of carrying. The number of kits will depend on the number of buses planned. A spare kit or kits is a good idea. Coordinators should routinely check the contents of the kits.

Program coordinators may like to make up name badges for volunteers to wear when walking with the bus.

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Find and train volunteers

Volunteers are recruited to supervise the children on the Walking School Bus. Parents and grandparents are likely volunteers.
It is also a good idea to look further in the community. Look for people in your area who have time and a likely interest in walking. For example:

• retired people looking for regular exercise
• sports club members
• walking groups/clubs
• senior school students (who may make great assistants and may be looking for community service credits)
• volunteers may be recruited informally by word of mouth or formally through expressions of interest or community advertisements.

Let volunteers know that they can volunteer on days that suit them. Many potential volunteers may be reluctant to commit if they think they have to walk every day.

Get one or a small number of buses going – this will attract interest and make the project visible. Hold ‘come and try’ or ‘bring a friend’ days to increase participation.

All volunteers must attend a training session which includes information about their role, the rules and procedures of the Walking School Bus, and road safety. The ‘Take a Walk in My Shoes’ video is available for loan from VicRoads; this is a video which shows how a child’s perception of traffic differs from that of an adult.

Volunteers also need to be given an information pack outlining their responsibilities and the bus procedures. The training is conducted by the council/supporting agency.

Volunteers are also required to complete a Working with Children Check application (a Police Check in states outside Victoria). The Working with Children Check is free for volunteers, valid for five years and is transferable to other volunteer positions which involve working with children.

Working with Children Check application forms are available from the local post office.

See the Resources section for the forms and resources available to help you recruit and manage your volunteers, including the Working with Children Check.

The resources you need to manage volunteers include:

• expression of interest letter
• volunteer register
• invitation to attend volunteer training session
• information for volunteers
• volunteer registration form
• volunteer availability form
• volunteer name badges.

Insurance
Walking School Buses need to make sure their volunteer drivers and conductors have adequate insurance to cover them for any injury they might incur in their volunteer role and any damage for which they might be held responsible.

Your council/supporting agency can offer coverage under its Volunteer Insurance Policy. This will mean your volunteers will need to register as a volunteer and adhere to conditions, such as undertaking a Working with Children (Police) Check and training.

For more information, contact your council, volunteer and/or community-based organisation, or one of the other schools in Victoria that have established a Walking School Bus.

Preparing volunteers to take to the road
Drivers and conductors need to have a sound understanding of road safety, duty of care and emergency procedures. They also need to model good habits and make it a fun trip.

When putting together your Walking School Bus, ensure participants:

• are familiar with the objectives and benefits of the bus
• understand what’s expected of them
• know the road rules (the police or the council road safety officer may be able to assist)
• have an understanding of safety and emergency procedures
• are given some tips on managing the bus so it is a safe and enjoyable experience for the children
• have a copy of the rules for your bus that have been agreed to by the school or council
• are registered under the Volunteer Policy of the council/supporting agency (if applicable).

Volunteer induction
The induction is a critical part of establishing a Walking School Bus, and provides assurance to parents, schools, council, police and all relevant parties that it will be run professionally and safely. The aim of the induction is to ensure the volunteers understand the values and philosophy, policies, procedures and practical operation of the Walking School Bus.

The content and delivery of the induction should be customised to the needs of the participants, time availability, and so on. The Walking School Bus Induction could include:

• familiarisation with the Walking School Bus rules – including policies and procedures
• training in specific issues such as duty of care, road safety, basic first aid and emergency procedures
• familiarisation with the Walking School Bus route
• on-the-job training – walking the route and practising skills in an existing or simulated Walking School Bus
• a walk along the route without children as a trial run is also advisable.

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The first trip

When you have your drivers, conductors and passengers and have worked out your rules, it is time to get walking. Make sure that everyone involved in the bus knows exactly what is going on.

Copy each child passenger’s information onto the ‘route information sheet’ along with the name, address and contact details of the driver. Then send a copy of Walking School Bus rules and the ‘route information’ sheet home with each child who is registered on the Walking School Bus route.

On many buses the children wear a sash, vest or bag tags. This can be sent home with each child or handed out by the driver or conductor and collected at the end of each trip.

Make the first bus trip a big occasion
A launch helps to raise the profile of the Walking School Bus Program and motivate the school community to get involved. Ideas for launching your Walking School Bus include:

• having a Walk to School Day with a breakfast
• incorporating the launch into a school fair
• hosting a special assembly with a visiting celebrity.

Things to consider when planning your launch include:

• notifying media
• involving appropriate local businesses – perhaps with requests for donations of food etc (offer to acknowledge them on program materials)
• organising councillors/local members of parliament/VIPs to attend
• displaying brochures and information about the program
• running a poster competition
• having some entertainment, such as the school choir
• inviting school/children’s community groups to have a stall: e.g., toy library, guides, scouts, VicRoads
• asking the fire brigade to bring a fire engine
• creating stickers and balloons for give-aways, or sourcing goodies for showbags.

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Is the Walking School Bus too complex for you?

If you’ve made it this far, you might think that all the procedures, checks and processes necessary to start an ‘official’ Walking School Bus appear to be very complicated. ‘I just want to get my kids to start walking to school,’ you might be saying to yourself. Setting up a Walking School Bus does involve a lot of time and effort. Consider trying less formal options.

• Read about Starting an informal walk-to-school group.