Canada Walks Director Jacky Kennedy introduced School Travel Planning to Canada.

The results are in: School Travel Planning (STP) is a cost-effective way to increase walking and cycling to school. What’s more, it provides economic, health and environmental benefits.

School Travel Planning is designed to take active school travel to the next level by comprehensively addressing barriers and incentives that affect behaviour.

The first benefit-cost analysis of STP projects in Canada was released in January 2014 and is a collaboration of Green Communities Canada, Metrolinx and the University of Toronto. Key findings, extrapolated for a full school year, show the 19 STP projects studied are estimated to have:

• reduced 192,224 vehicle kilometres travelled;
• reduced 41.7 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions and 1.7 tonnes of air pollutants;      and
• increased  physical activity, including 1.3 million minutes of walking, and 2 million      minutes of cycling.

Translated into dollars, this increase in walking and decrease in driving shows:

• annual societal benefits of approximately $200,000;
• net benefits of $1.8 million is STP if maintained for 11 years; and
• an average benefit per student of approximately $221 over 11 years.

Based on the average benefits versus the average costs per student, if STP programming was delivered across Ontario the benefit-cost ratio would be 1.8. In other words, benefits are almost double the costs.

The STP model was introduced in response to studies showing the number of children being driven to school nearly doubled over the 20 year period between 1986 and 2006. Driving causes traffic congestion, safety concerns and increased air pollution around schools. STP promoted active and sustainable ways of getting to school at 71 elementary schools in Ontario between 2009 and 2012.

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