<< Back to Road Safety
Walking school bus
Auckland
City has road safety co-ordinators that are available to assist with
setting up a walking school bus for your school.
Contact us for
more information.
Walking school buses help children walk to and from school
safely. Parents are rostered to walk with a group of children who are picked up and dropped off
along a designated
route by a parent "driver" and "conductor".
Walking buses usually begin at 8.30am, but this is dependent on the length
of the route and the bus stop that the children get on at. Routes vary
in length, normally a maximum of 1.5 km and / or 30 minutes walk.
The walking school bus has several clear benefits:
- safer, healthier, more active children
- practical road safety education for children
- extra time for parents
- less traffic around schools
- environmentally friendly, energy efficient transport
- sponsorship of the scheme means no cost to schools or parents.
The scheme is very simple to organise, operate and sustain, and is
very successful in Auckland
City schools. Walking school buses promote stronger, safer communities and offer
companionship for children and parents.
Find out more about walking school buses:
Volunteer to be a conductor
If you think you'd like to get involved and volunteer to be a conductor, contact
your Primary School directly, or contact
us and we'll put you in touch with the school's Walking School Bus
Co-ordinator.
Schools that are involved
Existing walking buses:
- Avondale Primary School
- Balmoral Primary School
- Bayfield School
- Blockhouse Bay Primary School
- Churchill Park School
- Cornwall Park School
- Diocesan School For Girls
- Edendale Primary School
- Ellerslie School
- Epsom Normal Primary School
- Freemans Bay School
- Gladstone Primary School
- Glendowie Primary School
- Glen Innes Primary School
- Good Shepherd School
- Hay Park School
- Hillsborough Primary School
|
- Kohimarama Primary School
- Lynfield YMCA
- Marshall Laing School
- Maungawhau School
- May Road School
- Meadowbank Primary School
- Monte Cecilia School
- Mt Eden Normal Primary School
- Newton Central School
- Onehunga Primary School
- Oranga School
- OSCAR St Heliers
- Our Lady of the Sacred Heart School
- Owairaka Primary School
- Pt Chevalier Primary School
- Parnell Primary School
- Ponsonby Primary School
|
- Remuera Primary School
- Richmond Road School
- Royal Oak Primary School
- St Dominics Primary School
- St Francis Catholic Primary School
- St Heliers Primary School
- St Ignatius
- St Josephs Grey Lynn
- St Josephs Onehunga
- St Kentigens Primary School
- St Thomas School Auckland
- Three Kings School
- Victoria Avenue Primary School
- Waiheke Primary School
- Waterview School
- Wesley Primary School
- Westmere Primary School.
|
Currently being set up:
- May Road School
- Fairburn Road School
Auckland City can help
Auckland City is committed to promoting road safety and will do all it can to
help you set up a successful walking school bus in your local area.
Auckland City can also assist with acquiring the resources needed, such as
'bus stop' signs, bag tags and sashes.
People who supervise and take part in walking school buses - including those
pictured below with Mayor Hubbard, were rewarded with a fun day out at Western
Springs Park.
International safety award for
Auckland City
A walking school bus from
Newton Central school helped Mayor Dick Hubbard celebrate the part Auckland City
played in winning a prestigious international award on 14 December 2006.
The "Iwalk" award was
presented to Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA) in October to
recognise Auckland's innovative walking school bus and Travelwise programmes.
Auckland City is the first council to hold the award for a month before it is
passed to another council in the Auckland region.
Walking school buses and the
Travelwise programme are ways in which Auckland City seeks to encourage children
to walk to and from school and create healthier, safer and more sustainable
communities. More than 2200 pupils have been involved in Auckland City's walking
bus initiative since the council established the first walking school bus in New
Zealand in 1999.
Auckland City is committed to
improving road safety around schools, and to support the walking school bus
programme, has introduced infrastructure such as speed bumps and pedestrian
refuges.
Kindy caterpillar programme
Mt Albert
Kindergarten has trailed the council's new Kindy Caterpillar programme, which
aims to get children learning road safety rules from an early age. Think walking
school bus with trainer wheels.
When the
children turn five, they can then make an easy transition to a walking school
bus, having already learnt fundamental road safety procedures, such as using
zebra crossings or pedestrian refuge islands.
Children
registered on the kindy caterpillar get their own bus tickets, which are clipped
by a volunteer parent bus driver each time they walk the route. They also
receive a free drink bottle, an umbrella in winter, and a sunhat in summer.
As part
of setting up a kindy caterpillar, Auckland City offers safety support including
a trial walk of a proposed route identifying hazards such as over-hanging
vegetation or potholes that need repairing. Only when road safety officers are
happy with safety standards, does a route become approved for use.
Auckland Kindergarten Association has shown its full support for the initiative
and is encouraging kindergarten members to register their interest with Auckland
City.
Updated November 2007
