By Tim Schaefer

In the spring of 2023, Youth En Route (YER) a Calgary based advocacy group for active transportation (e.g., walking and biking), conducted a survey of Queen Elizabeth High School (Queen E) students to find out how they travelled to and from school. This was part of a set of engagements YER conducted with ten high schools in Calgary.

When asked the question: How do you usually travel to school? The Queen E students answered as follows:

43% Walk

36% Bus

18% Private Vehicle

3% Bike

These numbers are good when it comes to walking. Of all the 10 schools surveyed, Queen E student ranked highest in walking. The next closest High School only had 21% who walked and the average of the 10 schools was only 14%.

Before we celebrate too much, the good walking numbers are largely attributed to the catchment area for Queen E being relatively close by; it’s entirely within a 3 km radius of the school. Most other schools surveyed have much larger and fragmented catchment areas that are not great for walking numbers.

Circling back to the question, “How do kids travel to Queen E?”, the majority of students (54%) are taking motorized transport through either a yellow bus service, Calgary Transit or in a private vehicle. So there remains a significant opportunity for more students to walk and bike to school and realize the physical and mental health benefits it offers.

One question that bears asking is what are the reasons students choose the method they use to travel to school? The YER survey found the top two reasons for Queen E students were 1. Convenience and 2. Travel Time.

Making improvements to the routes kids take to walk and bike to school so they are convenient and fast can really help to encourage more kids to use active mobility. Safer streets with lower speeds, and better cross walks certainly make it more comfortable for kids to walk. Separated mobility lanes that allow kids to ride to school on bikes or scooters in a protected space from cars and trucks can also make a huge difference.

The Hillhurst Sunnyside Community Association Mobility team has been working with the City to identify opportunities and has been advocating for safer streets to allow more kids to choose walking and biking to school.

If you’d like to get involved and support these opportunities, please email planning@hsca.ca.

To read the YER report on Queen E, go to youthenroute.ca.