Why not aim higher?
I'd say it was closer to 80% in my day.
As I understand it, there I much more freedom to choose your child's school these days and so the travel distances have gone up, and walking and cycling may be practical for less. I was, perhaps, unusual but not unique in travelling by train to school - Petts Wood to Sydenham Hill and then to Sevenoaks, totally beyond walking distance - but walking to and from the stations. On rare occasions, I cycled to Sevenoaks but even in those days the roads were far from cycle friendly. I have vague recollections of there being Mum's or Dad's taxis used for some at both schools, but as I used other entrances, I have no idea of volume.
Just on Thursday afternoon, I saw the 555 bus arrive at the top of our street and drop off half a dozen school children from Corsham. This is a double deck school service and I understand it is very fully loaded - to the extent that there is no encouragement to market it further though general public may use it if they wish. Other buses and coaches pick up from Melksham Market Place and it's educational to see the volumes picked up there on a school day for various other towns on both early service buses and special school runs.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said: "Too many people would like to walk, wheel or cycle more often but don't feel they have safe and convenient options to do so."
"This is about creating healthier communities, helping households keep more money in their pockets and building a transport network that works better for everyone."
Dead right. It needs to be safe and practical. Our local
secondary school has recently had a "new" path opened from the new build estates to the school, at massive expense (many consider it over-engineered) and that save a long walk around 3 sides of a square, including o a shared cycle and walking path on the side of the A365 which is really far too narrow for the traffic it was taking. Interesting, I write "new" - there has been a public footpath across the fields since before the school was located there, but it was rarely used by any school child; I can recall just one occasion when out walking the dog, mid-winter - seeing a boy using it, and stepping in and through the mud getting his shoes and trousers covered.
Drop off time may be an issue; pick up time is worse with all the parents arriving early to be there and close to save the little darlings having to walk too far. Car parking is inadequate for pickup, and unrestricted roads close to the school become linear car parks for a while.
The
primary school which is about half a mile from our home (and was in my ward when I was a Town Councillor) has a serious issue. It's on a residential cut-de-sac off the main road into / out of town - loads of "no parking" bollards and there is - now - a new pelican crossing over the main road, so that people park in the housing opposite with the residents there less than thrilled. Talk of yellow lines, work being done on getting more children to walk, etc. The pub on the corner which has a large car park and the school community don't get on - I don't know the history in detail - but there's a chain across at school times and a large virtually empty tarmac area that should really be dual-use
IMHO▸ .
Other primary schools, such as the newer one in the East of Melksham estates, have similar problems with not only healthy getting to school but safety with all those cars and frustration from the residents (who knew the school was / would be there when they bought / rented). I recall an approach from one of the school teachers looking to introduce her class to bus use and asking me where she could take them. But the nearest and only practical bus stop only has services at 10:15 and 12:15 and they only go to the Town Centre - there are 3 return services in the afternoon that *will* go round past that stop if there are passengers on board to be dropped off.
