The number of children walking to school in the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area has declined, again, according to a new Metrolinx report.The report incorporates data from the Transportation Tomorrow Survey, conducted every five years going back to 1986, and aims to visualize trends in active school travel, namely rates at which children and teens are biking or walking to school. It found the rate at which 11- to 13-year-olds walk to school decreased to 36.9 per cent in 2016 from 39 per cent in 2011. For 14- to 17-year olds, rates of walking dropped to 25.5 per cent in 2016 from 28 per cent in 2011. In 1986, kids who walked to school made up 55 per cent and 36.4 per cent in those age groups, respectively. And, though rates of children being driven to school changed only slightly over the last five years, it has more than doubled since 1986. And “the distance at which people would prefer driving (their kids to school) is getting shorter,” says Ron Buliung, a professor at the University of Toronto Mississauga and lead author of the report released Wednesday.The report says the threshold at which driving became the dominant mode of transportation over walking shrank to 1.6 kilometres in 2016 from 2.2 kilometres in 1986.Read more: Opinion | Edward Keenan: Stop driving children to school. It could be a lifesaverStep by step, schools push to get kids walkingWhen should kids walk to school alone?“(That’s) kind of concerning, because we’re getting into driving at distances that are entirely walkable,” says Buliung, noting “walkability” is relative based on factors such as disabilities and work schedules.With the school commute making up 20 per cent of morning traffic, the overall trends are affecting road congestion, according to Metrolinx.“Some parents want to drive their kids because they have the perception that it’s not safe to walk,” said Anne Marie Aikins, spokesperson at the transit agency. That decis ...
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