Scottish Cities
Active travel to school by mode, Scottish Cities
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The numbers of children travelling to school actively (by bike, on foot or skating/scootering) have declined since 2008 in Aberdeen, Dundee and Glasgow. Nevertheless, while the numbers of children walking to school have reduced, there have been rises in cycling and skating/scootering. Edinburgh had the highest level of active commuting in 2022 with 64% of children travelling to school actively. Edinburgh also had the highest proportions cycling (4.4%) and skating/scootering (5.7%).
Walking to school, Scottish Cities
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Approximately half of all children walk to school. However, the numbers of children walking to school have declined since 2008 in all four cities with the exception of Edinburgh. Dundee has the lowest level of children walking to school among the selected cities (44%).
Cycling to school, Scottish Cities
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The numbers of children cycling to school have increased since 2008 in all four cities, but dropped acorss all cities between 2021 and 2022. In 2022, approximately 4.4% of children were cycling to school in Edinburgh and 3.2% in Glasgow.
In Edinburgh in 2022, more children skated or scootered to school (5.7%) than cycled (4.4%).
Notes
Active travel as defined here is any kind of travel to school involving significant physical activity and includes walking, cycling and scootering/skateboarding.
The Sustrans Hands Up survey has been carried out in most councils in Scotland since 2008. However not all schools in a local authority participate and not all pupils in every school surveyed take part. This may bring unforeseen biases into the results and may compromise some of the comparisons.
For more information go to the Sustrans website.
Additional Resources
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ResourceThursday, 6 December 2012
Going to Gothenburg: Reflections on a Study Visit
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ResourceWednesday, 18 May 2011
Hands Up Scotland 2010
Results from the largest national dataset to look at mode of travel to school across Scotland -
ResourceFriday, 1 October 2010
Moving in the right direction?
Findings from a review of transport policy in Scotland -
ResourceSaturday, 21 August 2010
Active Travel - Video
Qualitative research has been undertaken in order to better understand how and why people currently travel as they do and to explore the scope for encouraging growth in alternatives to car travel. -
ResourceTuesday, 1 September 2009
Attitudes toward active travel in Glasgow
Findings from a qualitative research project exploring how and why people travel in and around Glasgow -
ResourceThursday, 1 November 2007
How can transport contribute to public health?
A briefing paper discussing the evidence regarding the potential of transport to improve health, reduce inequalities and improve sustainability