School Streets for Safe and Sustainable School Trips

With the arrival of large numbers of pupils within a short time frame, schools are a significant contributor to morning and afternoon peak traffic. A particular challenge arises with parents driving their children to school, often dropping them off as close to the entrance as possible. This behaviour can create unsafe road conditions and can have broader negative consequences, stemming from increased local air and noise pollution and reduced physical activity, all of which can adversely affect children’s physical and mental development.

One promising solution to this is the implementation of ‘school streets’ which involves restricting motorised access on the streets surrounding a school. The most notable benefits include enhanced road safety due to the reduction of vehicle traffic and the promotion of modal shift to more active and sustainable modes of transport. 

Since the 2010s, various cities within the EU, including across Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, and Italy have adopted school streets using a range of different approaches. A notable expansion was observed following the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Context

How children travel to school today contrasts with the situation 20 to 30 years ago, when children typically walked, cycled or used public transport to get to school. Several factors have contributed to a higher number of people choosing private car as their default mode to travel to school, including:

• Urban sprawl: over the past decades, cities have expanded into less dense, more dispersed suburbs.
• Mono-functional developments: many new urban areas prioritise single-use zoning, such as residential or commercial only.
• Increased convenience and perceived safety concerns: Using a private car provides parents with greater flexibility in terms of managing their family’s daily trips, while also addressing perceived concerns about road safety and security when children travel to school alone. 

This results in a traffic peak in the vicinity of schools for a 15-30 minute period at the start and end of the school day, which creates unsafe access and egress conditions for pupils and contributes to congestion that negatively impacts others in the community. 

Furthermore, car trips to school also contribute negatively in other ways, such as: 

• Increased air and noise pollution: Today, around 91% of the world’s population live in areas where air pollution exceeds WHO guideline limits, typically in urban areas. Children are particularly vulnerable, since their stage of physical development means they are less able to cope with polluted air. 
• Low levels of physical activity: Car trips to school reduce opportunities for physical activity through walking, cycling and scooting, which is important for children’s physical and mental development. 
• Lower sustainable mobility behaviour patterns: children being driven by car are less likely to develop a sustainable mobility behaviour while growing up as well as in their adult life, since mobility patterns of children and young people have a strong impact on their mobility behaviour as adults. 

Therefore, action needs to be taken to stop the trend of increased car trips to school from continuing; to improve road safety conditions for pupils and to safeguard better and healthier conditions for children. 

In action

What are school streets?

School streets can be defined as “car-free areas outside schools [where] roads are closed to vehicles (or have severely restricted access) - normally just for a short period at the start and end of the school day.” 

Typically, school streets restrict access to motor vehicles for short periods of time (15 – 30 minutes) during drop-off and pick-up times. During these periods, only active travel modes – walking, scooting and cycling - are allowed. Exceptions are permitted in some cases for residents and businesses located within the designated school street zone. 

Road closures can be enforced using removable barriers, monitored by CCTV cameras or supervised by police and/or other staff, either paid or voluntary. Traffic signs or specific information boards may provide details on the enforcement times. Implementation of school streets is sometimes complemented by the designation of specific drop-off points for parents who need to bring their children to school by car, enabling the children to walk the last part of their journey to school independently or in the company of a parent or teacher. Additionally, dedicated space for school buses and public transport is often provided near the school street.

The emergence of school streets in Europe

The first school streets were seen in the Italian city of Bolzano back in 1989. Since the 2010s, school streets have spread to other cities in Europe. This has often been due to several EU-funded initiatives and projects, and as a response to the impact of poor air quality on children’s health. A video case study from the EU Urban Mobility Observatory called “Bolzano: school streets” first promoted the concept beyond Bolzano, followed by the Intelligent Energy Europe (IEE) project STARS. The Horizon 2020 project Metamorphosis helped cities like Milan or Vienna to implement school streets.

The largest expansion of school streets occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when schools reopened after lockdowns with the need for social distancing. All in all, the number of school streets implemented globally increased from approximately 200 in 2019 to around 1,200 in 2021 (across 150 cities in 15 countries)¹. 

The examples presented below show that there are a range of different approaches to school streets that can led from a local, city-wide or regional level, and can be either a temporary or permanent measure. 

Ghent, Belgium, 2012 

Ghent, in the Flemish Region of Belgium, was one of the first cities to implement school streets outside of Italy. In 2012, the city introduced the scheme on two streets, and it subsequently spread to other cities, supported by sustainable mobility networks and regulatory measures, such as a 30 km/h speed limit in areas around schools. The widespread adoption of school streets across Belgium gained momentum in 2018, with the formal inclusion of school streets in the Highway Code. This was combined with a nationwide campaign, “Ready for the School Street”, that supported the establishment of school streets with information and funding, resulting in more than 170 school streets being implemented.

Vienna, Austria, 2018

School streets were first introduced in Vienna with a pilot project. In 2018, the city launched its first school street at a primary school in Vereinsgasse, a densely built area. The pilot ran for two months and tested two variations: one month using a removable barrier to block access to motorised traffic, and one month without the barrier, using only traffic signs announcing the school street’s rules. Surveys before and during the pilot collected data to evaluate the concept’s practicality. Results proved that the scheme with a barrier was more effective at restricting car access compared to the use of traffic signs alone. Consequently, Vienna decided to adopt removable barriers for their school street schemes. 

Today, Vienna has 10 school streets in operation. The concept was further developed with the creation of new road designs that remove motorised traffic permanently and transform streets into public spaces for walking, cycling, playing and socialising. 

Paris, France, 2019 

In Paris, school streets were introduced in 2019 to improve local air quality as part of the “rues aux écoles” (streets for schools) programme. This initiative was part of a set of measures implemented by Mayor Anne Hidalgo to reduce vehicle traffic in the city. Since then, the number of school streets has rapidly grown to over 210. 

In contrast to most cities, Paris has made many of its school streets permanent pedestrian areas by adding planters with vegetation and trees. Paris connected the idea of school streets to a larger set of city-wide objectives which include combatting the urban heat island effect, air and noise pollution to support its the roll-out. In addition, a quarter of the schemes must be located in underprivileged neighbourhoods. 

Baden-Württemberg, Germany, 2021 

In the German region of Baden-Württemberg, school streets are one element within a broader programme to revive town centres. The programme empowers local communities to use street furniture and visualisations, and the results have been a combination of barrier installations for school streets and spaces being created for parents to socialise.  

Complementary measures

School streets can be part of broader school travel plans to support modal shift from car to active mobility. They can be combined with other school mobility measures, such as:

• Dedicated school trip routes;
• Walking and cycling ‘buses’ to school (organised groups of children traveling together)
• Gamification elements such as the Traffic Snake Game or Cycling May
• Travel diaries documenting children’s perception of their school journey to identify needs for improvement. 
• Road safety proficiency training or cycle training to give children and parents or teachers confidence to make the switch to active modes.

Moreover, the SAFER TO SCHOOL Guidelines by the Slovenian Ministry of Infrastructure presents solutions for road traffic design at schools to improve road safety for pupils.  

Results

Main benefits of school streets

The first and most visible result of school streets is the reduction of motorised traffic around schools. An Edinburgh Napier University review on 16 studies concerning the impacts of school street closures carried out in 2020 found evidence that school streets did reduce the number of vehicles across the road closures and neighbouring streets. The report confirms that school streets trigger an increase in children walking, cycling and scooting to school without creating road safety problems. A study on school streets in Flanders, Belgium, carried out by the Flemish Provincial Institute for Hygiene, the Flemish research centre VITO and the Flemish Institute for Healthy Living, also found positive effects. On average, school streets contributed to more active school commutes, better air quality conditions, less noise during the school street scheme as well as better health of the airways of pupils in terms of inflammation parameters and airway elasticity. Both studies found that the majority of parents are supportive of school street schemes.

Looking at school streets in Austria, there are also benefits documented by a “Verkehrsclub Österreich” report. In the case of one Salzburg-based primary school, there was an increase of scooting to school from 1% to 18% linked to a mixture of measures focused around installation of a school street. In addition, Vienna’s first school streets, in Vereinsgase, saw a decrease in car traffic of up to 68%. Data published by the Civitas project FLOW on the first school streets, in Bolzano, suggest that school streets keep up to 4,000 cars off the road during the peak traffic period.

Connected to the increase in active travel of pupils and the decrease in vehicles travelling to schools for drop-offs and pick-ups, school streets can contribute to higher physical activity levels among pupils. This in turn leads to improved skills of pupils in navigating traffic developed through independent travel and establishes new mobility routines. Strengthening children’s confidence to walk or cycle to school can also lead to active travel for other trips, as a literature review for Transport Scotland suggests. And active commuting to school can result in continuing active travel choices into adult life, as researched by Kaseva, K., Lounassalo, I., Yang, X. et al in Finland.

Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science and the University of Eastern Finland highlight another important effect. That of increased active modal shares and improvements in air quality levels around schools. Both can result in better school performance of pupils.

Challenges, opportunities and transferability

Thanks to the implementation of school streets in several countries and a high number of cities, early pioneers have gathered valuable experience that can help other cities avoid common challenges:

• Piloting: For legal or regulatory reasons, pilot projects are sometimes limited to one day or a few days. Such short durations do not give road users enough time to experience the benefits and adjust to the changes, making it difficult to gain approval for permanent schemes. Longer pilot periods are recommended to allow people to adjust.
• Enforcement: Relying solely on traffic signs without further measures to regulate access -such as a physical barrier, cameras, police or staff presence-, results in low compliance levels. Vienna’s Vereinsgasse pilot project saw a higher vehicle presence in the street during the pilot phase that did not use any barrier. 
• Reaction from local stakeholders: Without good and timely public consultation to consider the needs of all affected stakeholders in the design and implementation of the school street, the community may oppose its introduction due to concerns that traffic may be diverted to other already congested roads or local residents or businesses may face access challenges.
• Legal framework: the legal frameworks to establish a school street can vary significantly. Some cities, such as Bolzano and other Italian cities, regulate school streets by local decree. In contrast,  cities in the UK use traffic management orders or provisions in traffic law that allow traffic experiments. In countries like Belgium and, more recently, Austria, national traffic rules define school streets and their features.

Opportunities beyond the main benefits

The implementation of school streets can also offer decision-makers in towns and cities opportunities that go beyond the immediate benefits associated with road safety, air quality and improved health. These include: 

• Strengthening the position of children in urban development, putting children at the centre.
• Community building, by providing a platform for actively involving stakeholders, including schools, pupils, and parents. 
• Fostering community support, as advocating for the benefit of children can facilitate collaboration with volunteers, NGOs, and ultimately parents to support planning and implementation.
• A step towards creating spaces for people, by providing the opportunity to progressively move to a permanent car-free space for playing and socialising.
• Positive city image, as a city planned with and for children can be a strong factor for attracting residents and businesses. 
• Contributing to sustainable mobility and other urban policy fields, such as air quality, public health, climate change mitigation and development.

In depth

Many guidelines and good practice examples of school streets are accessible online:

1. School Streets: Putting Children and the planet first by the Child Health Initiative and the FIA Foundation, Aprill 2022
2. School Streets Factsheet by VCÖ (Traffic Club Austria), August 2023
3. School Streets Guidebook by 880 cities, Capital Regional District of British Columbia, City of Victoria, 2019 
4. School Streets to shape child-friendly cities by Clean Cities Campaign – Streets for Kids, 2022
5. Residents in European cities overwhelmingly support school streets, new survey by Clean Cities Campaign – Streets for Kids, 2022
6. Designing Streets for Kids by NACTO and Global Designing Cities Initiative, 2020
7. Reinventing School Surroundings by perspective.brussels, 2022
8. School Streets and Traffic Displacement by Sustrans with support of Road Safety Trust and Birmingham City Council, 2022
9. School Streets - Intervention Sites vs. Control Sites Full Report by Transport for London, 2021
10. UNICEF’s Guidance for Safe and Healthy Journeys to School During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond by UNICEF
11. POLIS Conference 2023 – session 1D. Safety, speed and schools, diverse presenters, November 2023
12. ELTIS Video Case Study Bolzano School Streets by the EU Urban Mobility Observatory, 2011
13. Paris School Streets: Safe for Children, Safe for Everyone by Streetfilms®, 2024
14. Website Safer Routes to School by Living Streets

Website Mums for Lungs on School Streets by Mums for Lungs

Author: Claus Köllinger

Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and do not reflect those of the European Commission. 

Photo Credits: ©  -  James Jiao, Valery Zotev, Claus Köllinger, LeManna, Irina Wilhauk - no permission to re-use image(s) without separate licence from Shutterstock.