School District 46 (SD 46) in partnership with Transportation Choices Sunshine Coast (TraC), will use the Vision Zero Grant to expand on the Best Routes to School active transportation map program started with Gibsons Elementary School PAC. Nine additional elementary school PACs on the Sunshine Coast will work with SD 46 to upgrade or create maps that identify safe routes for cycling and walking to school. The Best Routes to School Maps will encourage safe, active travel and ultimately increase the number of children walking and/or cycling to school in Gibsons, Roberts Creek, Sechelt, and Pender Harbour.

Children are some of the most vulnerable road users. Identifying the safest routes for cycling and walking to school via Active Travel maps is an innovative and low-cost method of encouraging active transportation. Hence, School District 46 and Transportation Choices Sunshine Coast (TraC) are proposing to expand SD46’s Best Routes to School active transportation map program to provide each of 9 elementary schools on the Sunshine Coast with their own map. The success of Gibsons Elementary school map was well-received by parents and other PACs are now requesting maps for their school. A study conducted in 2018 on active school transportation in Gibsons found that parents, students, teachers, and other stakeholders all agreed on the value, benefits and need for more active travel opportunities in our community. Heatmaps from the study showed common routes and parent, staff and student feedback highlighted challenge and opportunity points (e.g., walking school bus meeting spots, high traffic streets or poorly marked crossings).

Parents and PACs indicated that engineering upgrades plus improvements through education and encouragement was necessary to achieve more active school travel. Our desired outcome is to increase the number of parents and children choosing more active forms of transportation for school travel and normalizing this choice. Our key project activities are to:

• profile active travel prominently using multiple communications channels – clearly branded
• update four existing maps by adding safe cycling options to each
• produce five additional maps
• consult with individual PACs and TraC to update draft maps
• distribute personal print active travel maps to students and staff
• make digital Travel Maps widely available,
• offer Bike safety training and,
• support a walking school bus pilot at one SD46 school.

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Maps  can be viewed at:  https://sd46.bc.ca/families-and-students/active-travel/    

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