What is Active School Travel?
Using any human-powered active mode of transportation to commute to and from school including, but not limited to:
- Biking
- Walking
- Scootering
- Inline skating
- Skateboarding
- Via wheelchair
What are the benefits of Active School Travel?
The benefits of active school travel can be attributed to five broad categories: physical health, mental health, environmental health, academic success, and increased traffic safety. More specifically, children who actively commute get more total daily physical activity. With enough intensity active school travel can contribute to improved cardiovascular fitness. Evidence indicates that active school travel is connected to healthier body weights and body composition.
Children who actively commute report greater levels of happiness and conversely report lower levels of stress and anxiety. Reducing the number of individual families commuting by motor vehicle decreases greenhouse gas emissions resulting in cleaner air in school zones and a healthier environment.
Active school travel contributes to healthy brain development and academic success, particularly among girls. Students who engage in active school travel have higher grade point averages, and in particular, cycling has been related to higher grades in mathematics.
Learn more about Active School travel in Thunder Bay
EcoSuperior and the Thunder Bay District Health Unit have received funding from the government of Ontario and Green Communities Canada to deliver active school travel initiatives in Thunder Bay. This program has been coined Walk or Wheel (WOW) TBay. WOW TBay intends to deliver sustainable active school travel education and initiatives in our community. Over the 26 month funding period, four schools will work with facilitators from Ecosuperior and TBDHU to evaluate existing conditions for active school travel and develop a comprehensive school travel plans. Two schools will participate throughout the whole WOW TBay program, while a second round of two schools will join the program in 2019. School travel planning committees will be established and will work with facilitators and the established Municipal Stakeholder committee comprised of individuals from:
Let’s get more children walking or wheeling to and from school Thunder Bay!
For Further Information
Call the Physical Activity Program: (807) 625-5900
or toll-free 1-888-294-6630