Background to the Research

• The Transport, Planning and Policy Group of TRAC at the University of Ulster were commissioned to undertake research into safer journeys to school. School transport falls within NICCY's remit and the impetus for this research came from children and young people who expressed concerns to NICCY about lack of seatbelts, the '3 for 2' rule, overcrowding and bullying on buses. Concerns were also raised about the absence of footpaths and cycle paths and congestion at school buildings.
• The Consumer Council wanted to hear the views of young people and parents on current school transport provision and to identify reasons behind current transport and travel choices. The DRD became involved in relation to parental resistance to independent school travel for children and young people.
• This report outlines the views of children and young people who travel to school by a variety of modes of transport. It also identifies the views of parents who often decide how their children travel to school.
  

Research Approach

• Stage 1 of the methodology was a literature review and identification of secondary data.
• Stage 2 involved twelve peer-to-peer workshops about travel to school in schools across NI (primary, post-primary and a special school).
• Stage 3 consisted of focus groups with young people and parents, particularly from organisations representing the more disadvantaged sections of NI society.
• Stage 4 was an electronic questionnaire survey of key stakeholders in the statutory and voluntary sectors.
• Finally, stage 5 involved a large scale quantitative survey of children, young people and parents, which provided data on the travel behaviour of 1,394 children and young people.
  

Main Findings

Literature Review

• Mode choice and increased journey length are closely related, as studies have shown that, as parents choose to transport their children by car, traffic levels and journey times increase.
• Many studies have shown that some parents refuse to let their children walk or cycle to school alone because of misapprehensions about safety and security.
• The detrimental effects of these choices have been researched and include impacts on physical and mental health, personal, social and cognitive development and environmental concerns.
• Schools across the United Kingdom are increasingly adopting school travel plans.

Key Issues for Pupils

• The key issues of concern are the same across all age groups, school types and locations. Road safety was the concern rated the highest by pupils (57%) along with safety on public transport (52%).
• The main pupil concerns were: standing on school buses; seating on school buses and the '3 for 2' rule; lack of seatbelts on school buses; behaviour of other young people on school buses and while walking or cycling to and from school; behaviour and attitudes of bus drivers; heavy traffic and congestion, especially close to the school; traffic speeds; traffic noise; the time taken to make journeys on foot, by bus or in the car; the distances to be travelled to and from school; walking and using footpaths safely; the provision and maintenance of safe footpaths and cycle lanes; and crossing roads and the provision and availability of safe crossing points or crossing patrols.
• The behaviour of other people and fear of strangers was rated as more of a concern by parents than pupils.
• Pupils with disabilities/special educational needs noted problems with securing wheelchairs in place on Education and Library Board vehicles and contract hire taxis.

Key Issues for Parents

• The key issues of concern identified by parents include: traffic congestion, especially outside school gates; the provision of footpaths, especially in rural areas and alongside busy roads; the state and general repair of footpaths; the provision of crossing points and patrols especially at busy routes close to schools and in both urban and rural areas; safety concerns while walking - as a result of traffic concerns and worries about personal security in some areas; the provision of cycle lanes and associated facilities; the availability of seatbelts on school buses; the enforcement of wearing seatbelts on school buses; issues of standing and overcrowding on school buses, mainly on those provided by Translink; and the behaviour of other young people, especially on board buses and while walking or cycling to and from school.

Key Issues for Youth Organisations

• Those issues identified by the parents are also noted to have been identified by the discussion groups with the youth organisations, with the addition of the following: concerns about bullying and sectarianism; poor behaviour and attitudes of bus driver towards young people; concerns about child protection issues in taxis and on occasions when small numbers or even individuals are on a school bus with the driver; and the provision and safety of transport for disabled pupils e.g. securing wheelchairs etc.

Key Issues for Other Stakeholders

• Overcrowding on school buses.
• Behaviour of school pupils.
• Seating arrangements and provision on buses.
• Standing on buses.
• Provision and enforcement of seatbelt wearing.
• The '3 for 2' rule and capacity issues.
• Bullying.

Recommendations/Conclusions

• The report ends with a series of recommendations: establish a steering group; review operation of statutory walking distances; review costs of operation; reduce car based journeys to school; improve estimation of demand for school transport assistance and provision; remove '3 for 2' and standing on school buses; improve physical infrastructure; introduce flexible school hours; and introduce measures to tackle inappropriate behaviour on school transport.
• It is concluded that the information in this report must not be ignored and steps must be taken to improve the safety arrangements of children and young people travelling to school.
• The three organisations who commissioned this research urge the government to set up a group to review the findings of this research, highlight a series of actions and set a timetable for changes to the current systems, putting children's rights to travel safely to school at the core.