The Walking School Bus experience
We asked seven local councils/shires to share their experiences and insights about how their Walking School Buses have become self-sustaining beyond VicHealth funding. They show that the Walking School Buses are alive and well and still operating strongly in many communities.
Enjoying the autumn leaves in the City of Moonee Valley.
Photo: Arlene Sachon Photography
These councils – representing urban, outer urban, regional and rural populations ranging from 24,000 to 144,000 people – shared their experiences and insights about their Walking School Bus programs:
- Bayside City Council
- Moonee Valley City Council
- Moreland City Council
- Nillumbik Shire Council
- Surf Coast Shire
- Rural City of Wangaratta
- Wellington Shire Council
You will find information about establishing a Walking School Bus or a less formal walk to school group in the main
Walking School Bus section
. There you will discover information suitable for parents, schools, communities, local councils and supporting agencies who want to establish and sustain a Walking School Bus Program in their area.
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Why is the Walking School Bus important?
A Walking School Bus Program benefits children and schools as well as the wider community. It offers positive and healthy travel choices to children, and builds the skills, health and experiences of people in local communities.
Photo: Nillumbik Shire Council
Councils report that a major benefit of a Walking School Bus Program is its contribution to community building. In Moonee Valley City Council, which has 26 Walking School Bus routes in operation, the bus "created a culture of people reconnecting to their community, neighbourhoods and schools”. In Wellington Shire, which has 35 trained leaders, “the Walking Bus is an integral part of the community in which it operates”.
According to the Bayside City Council, volunteers said that social interaction is the best aspect of the program. Volunteers used words like “companionship", "friendship" and "mixing” to describe how a simple walk to school can connect members of a school community. Children find that the Walking Bus offers social opportunities . Many enjoy walking with and making new friends, and being outdoors.
“You see interesting things. You have a partner to talk to. We always wave to the train.” – Sarah (age 7), Cheltenham Primary School
But it’s not only about connecting with the school community. Councils report that the program promotes broader community connectedness. Participants get to know their neighbours, and increase their knowledge and experience of the local area.
Surf Coast Walking School Bus
The Walking School Bus also gives children and volunteers the opportunity for regular exercise. Bayside City Council reports that the program “helps start the day on a good note and promotes good life-long habits”. In the Rural City of Wangaratta, the program is seen as a way to “increase the health of our community in the long-term”.
For the Surf Coast Shire, a successful Walking School Bus is just one part of a wider strategy that encourages as many people as possible to adopt a healthy lifestyle.
Councils recognise that the program also promotes safety and, in some cases, eases parking and traffic congestion around schools, and raises community awareness of sustainable travel options.
In Moreland City Council, which established 11 Walking School Bus routes and 4 Ride to School routes, participating schools valued the program as “an important sustainability initiative”, which “raised the profile of walker,s making it safer for other students to walk to school”.
For Nillumbik Shire, where the communities range from typical urban settings to remote bush properties, the Walking School Bus “reinforces the importance of maintaining a safe environment –social, built and natural”.
Councils also acknowledged the valuable lessons the children are learning about road rules, which will help them to become independent and continue to walk or ride to school without adult supervision.
“It’s not just about active, healthy kids. One of the positives has been the involvement of grandparents and other adults who may not have thought they could be involved.” – Chad Foulkes, Project Officer, Surf Coast Shire
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How does the Walking School Bus Program affirm council objectives?
The Walking School Bus Program contributes to councils’ key objectives of fostering community connectedness, contributing to health and wellbeing and encouraging environmental sustainability.
Photo: Wellington Shire Council
The program is generally part of a wider strategy to encourage as many citizens as possible to adopt a healthy lifestyle, for wider, communal environmental benefits, as well as personal health benefits.
For many councils, the Walking School Bus Program is an explicit part of their Municipal Public Health Plans and features in other plans, strategies and frameworks, from transport and community wellbeing to the environment.
The program has successfully highlighted the commitment of many councils to partnerships and community building, and has reinforced the importance of integrated planning when managing and maintaining a safe social, built and natural environment for residents. It has also alerted councils to maintenance and infrastructure needs.
Read “It’s more than just walking”
This research report (August 2007) showcases the value-adding impact of the Walking School Bus Program on local environments and communities.
Departments within council, such as engineering, human resources and community services, are working together to support the Walking School Bus Program. This builds teamwork, and contributes positively to community engagement and the council–community partnerships.
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What are some of the models for delivering the Walking School Bus Program?
A Walking School Bus needs a supporting agency to work with the school and parents to help implement and run the program. In many cases, this is the local council. Councils have different levels of involvement. Some run the whole program, while others have a peripheral and technical involvement (such as conducting compulsory route audits).
Cheltenham Primary School Walking School Bus (Bayside City Council).
Photo: K Joss-Knight
Most councils are funding the ongoing employment of a Walking School Bus project officer. The role varies from 1 day to 3½ days (full-time equivalent) and in some councils is offered as a job share.
Project officers oversee and advocate for the Walking School Bus Program. The role includes supporting school-based volunteer coordinators, training and supporting volunteers and developing and distributing resources to support the operational needs of the program. They help compile travel-to-school surveys each term and contribute to council planning. They also help with information and ideas for schools about funding to support the program, and promote the program at community events.
In Moreland, for example, the Sustainable Transport Officer took responsibility of the Walking School Bus Program. They compiled a status report for every school with an active Walking School Bus which included information about the school, routes, maps, rosters, volunteer contact details, participant information, and other active travel programs. They also created an information pack for new schools. Retaining staff, ensuring continuity and links with schools, and maintaining good administrative records can be a challenge so all of these things can help.
Some schools with existing staff in roles such as student wellbeing officers were able to set up and maintain Walking School Bus programs using council materials, but without significant council support.
In some councils the Walking School Bus Program is run by existing staff in family services, risk management and occupational health and safety.
Sometimes a community-based organisation such as a local health centre, neighbourhood house or leisure centre coordinates the program. In this case, the supporting agency is responsible for facilitating uptake of the program within schools and delivering volunteer training.
In Nillumbik Shire, for example, the Walking School Bus Program is delivered in a partnership between council and Nillumbik Community Health Services. Funding, insurance and route audits are provided by council, with the Community Health Service employing the Walking School Bus coordinator. They regularly review their service model to ensure the ongoing success of the program.
In Wangaratta, the Walking School Bus Program began as a partnership between the council and The Centre for Continuing Education. The program is now run entirely by The Centre, which operates from three locations and has forged strong partnerships with local government, businesses, schools and community groups. The Walking School Bus is linked into The Centre’s Volunteer Referral Centre – Community Skillsbank, which is able to source volunteers quickly and easily.
Download
The City of Moonee Valley has produced a useful step-by-step guide for working with schools to develop and implement a Walking School Bus.
Walking School Bus – Step-by-step guide
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Other strategies and resources help to sustain a Walking School Bus
Support volunteers
Attracting and retaining volunteers is a major annual challenge, and critical to the success of the Walking School Bus Program.
Photo: Rural City of Wangaratta
Tapping into a broader community base for volunteers has been effective for some councils. The Surf Coast Shire uses its links with community houses to encourage grandparents, aunts, uncles and neighbours and other adults to volunteer on the Walking School Bus Program.
Some councils are looking at ways to streamline induction programs. At Bayside City Council, for example, Walking School Bus project officers and HR staff are working on a memorandum of understanding to enable schools to be more independent and flexible in registering and training volunteers.
All councils are helping their volunteers meet the minimum requirements, such as ensuring their volunteers have completed a ‘Working with Children’ check. Volunteers at most councils also receive free first aid training and are covered by council’s public liability insurance.
In some councils, a specific policy sets out the rights and responsibilities of volunteers, covering such issues as the right to a safe workplace, for example.
Identify ‘champions’ of the Walking School Bus Program
Many councils know the value of investing in training the best volunteers they can find. They are also reaping the benefits of identifying ‘champions’ of the program. For Nillumbik, which has 100 Walking School Bus volunteers, the “energetic and passionate people on the ground” are encouraging parents to register their children and have faith that the Walking School Bus is a reliable and safe service; they are keeping the kids engaged and they are coming up with ideas for rewards when they have completed 100 walks.
“As I walk the routes with our children I see elderly folks happily greeting the Walking School Bus as it passes their homes in the mornings, and at school assemblies school principals eagerly present 50, 70, 100 or even 250 Walk Certificates.” – Jim Goode, Walking School Bus project officer, Wellington Shire Council
Support schools and families
Many councils have strengthened their Walking School Bus Program by supporting local schools and nurturing relationships with principals, teachers and parents. For Moonee Valley, the program has provided opportunities for newly arrived migrants to get involved in their school environment and feel more included in their community. One of the spin-offs is that they have an entry point into schools that can be used for other purposes.
Wellington Shire offers “as much support and information as possible so that they become agents for the Walking School Bus in their own community”.
Many councils are developing and refining resources. At Bayside, for example, their collection includes backpacks, clipboards, first aid kits, armbands, reflective vests, reminder cards and emergency response plans for each school.
To cover these costs, many councils seek funding and general support from local businesses and service groups.
They are also supporting other active methods of travelling to school such as cycling. Some councils encourage schools and families to commit to regular, informal ‘walk or ride to school’ days.
Audit and publicise Walking School Bus routes
To ensure Walking School Bus routes are safe and appropriate, councils are involving traffic engineers and/or VicRoads in the auditing of routes. Heavy traffic, poor footpaths and other built environment challenges, for example, must be taken into account. Some councils enable volunteers to easily raise issues or lodge complaints through a ‘customer request system’. In Bayside, up-to-date route maps are displayed in school foyers and included in the Walking School Bus backpacks worn by ‘drivers/conductors’. Some councils have made significant alterations to crossing design and traffic light timing as a direct response to the needs of the Walking School Bus. This benefits the general public as well.
Read about how to design and audit a route
Read about the The Greenlight Project (Re-directing pedestrian priority at signalised crossings on major roads)
Collect data
Most councils collect data (from Walking School Bus coordinators and related initiatives such as Ride2School), to assess the numbers of children using active modes of travel to school. This is used both to measure the impact of the Walking School Bus Program and to inform council’s ongoing active travel initiatives and planning.
Oak Park Primary School Walking School Bus
Photo: Moreland City Council
The socio-economic status of different areas and municipalities does not necessarily indicate whether a Walking School Bus Program will succeed or fail. The Rural City of Wangaratta, for example, reported that Walking School Bus routes were more successful in low socio-economic or disadvantaged areas, where there was higher density public housing.
In the City of Moreland, however, the more disadvantaged areas tended to have lower density housing, an ageing population, a road network that favoured cars, and the closure of some schools. The City of Moonee Valley also reported less success with the Walking School Bus Program in areas where households had lower incomes. Higher income households, with a higher percentage of professionals, provided a greater pool of volunteers.
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Promote the program
Ongoing promotion of the Walking School Bus is critical to its success. At Moonee Valley, as for many councils, the program is promoted at festivals, in neighbourhood watch displays, in media releases and newspaper articles, and in newsletters for residents and schools. The council uses its Children’s Services department to distribute information to child care centres and kindergartens to inform parents of soon-to-be school-age children. Once a term, to reinforce road safety messages, they provide a free session (and sausage sizzle) at the local traffic school for all Walking School Bus children.
Wangaratta Rural City Council stresses the need for word-of-mouth promotion by the parents, who need to be encouraged to take a lead role in the program for it to succeed in the long term.
Many schools link independently to other activities that encourage participation on the bus.
In Nillumbik, schools often invite guests, such as local police, politicians and sports people, to join the morning Walking School Bus, which encourages participation. They have also engaged the Eltham Leisure Centre YMCA to greet children at the end of their Walking School Bus routes in winter with a cup of hot chocolate. In Surf Coast Shire, local businesses have donated healthy snacks for the annual walk-to-school day.
Read about the Walking School Bus mascot, logo and trademark
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How does the Walking School Bus Program connect to other active transport initiatives?
Even though a Walking School Bus Program can be a labour-intensive way of getting relatively small numbers of primary school students to walk to school, it is nonetheless an important sustainability initiative that can become self-organising. And, by connecting with other initiatives, it can provide an active travel solution for many primary students.
Moonee Ponds Central launches their Walking School Bus.
Photo: Moonee Valley City Council
In most municipalities, the Walking School Bus Program is seen as one component in a suite of active travel plans.
It links in Walktober Walk-to-School and Ride2School initiatives, and schools’ own independent travel programs, such as WoW (a once-a-week ‘walk or wheel’ whole school program, or Walk on Wednesday).
These initiatives are sometimes able to offer prizes, teaching resources and additional data on how children travel to school each month. This helps raise students’ awareness and interest in active travel.
The success and profile of Walking School Bus programs in the community also inspires and encourages all children to walk or ride to school more often.
Councils say that an effective active travel approach needs to be responsive to the school’s individual needs, ie its levels of parental involvement, students’ proximity to school, infrastructure (footpaths and crossings, for example) and what the school can accommodate. ‘One size’ does not fit all.
The Walking School Bus Program is also linked with other council/community initiatives including peer-walking groups such as pram-walking and toddler walking. As well as encouraging families to walk for recreation and transport, these groups may provide volunteers for the Walking School Bus.
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Where will the Walking School Bus Program be in 5 years?
Demographics, topography, road and public transport options, resources (both financial and human) and employment destinations of parents can play a significant role in establishing and sustaining a Walking School Bus Program.
Photo: Rural City of Wangaratta
Councils say that the Walking School Bus Program is likely to continue to grow and operate strongly in schools where it fits the environment and age of the children and is matched by enthusiasm and commitment from its schools, volunteers and children.
One council reflected that, over the next five years, it may be appropriate to change the focus of the Walking School Bus to become a lower primary school road-awareness program, and to work on changing parental attitudes about the risks of their children walking or cycling to school by means other than the Walking School Bus.
As children get older, they outgrow the Walking School Bus model. The goal is for independent, active travel to school by students who understand road safety. The hope is that more children will walk and ride to school on a regular basis, using less formal and more friendship-based arrangements to travel to school.
Councils hope that in a few years, more families may choose to use their cars less often and encourage their children to be more active. (Children are also likely to push for more sustainable modes of travel as their overall awareness of environmental issues increases.)
This is likely to be driven in part by the growing awareness in the community of the cost to the environment, the impact of fuel costs, and the importance of daily physical exercise to prevent chronic health diseases such as obesity, heart disease and type 2 Diabetes.
Schools, which play an important part in strongly promoting active travel for all children, will need ongoing policy support both within the school and through the relevant State Government departments.