Encouraging Active Commutes: Boosting Physical Activity and Streamlining School Transportation
I Bike School Project in Scotland Promotes Active Travel and Healthier Communities
The I Bike school project, an innovative initiative launched in 2009, is making strides in promoting active travel, improving health, and reducing traffic congestion across Scotland. Funded by SEStran, SWestrans, Aberdeen City Council, Perth and Kinross Council, The Gannochy Trust, and other organisations, the project is active in seven local authority areas.
The I Bike programme is currently active in Aberdeen City, Dumfries and Galloway, Edinburgh, Perth and Kinross, West Lothian, East Lothian, and the Scottish Borders. The project delivers various activities such as active travel breakfasts, assemblies, smoothie bike sessions, route mapping sessions, bike maintenance sessions, bike clubs, and more, aimed at encouraging children to adopt active travel methods.
Volunteers play a crucial role in delivering these activities and fostering a culture of active travel in schools. I Bike also engages with children and young people experiencing barriers to cycling participation, and addresses the drop in cycling from primary to secondary school and the gender gap in rates of cycling between boys and girls.
The evidence from cycling training programs and community cycling projects in Scotland supports that such efforts yield increased cycling participation, improved health, and reduced congestion. For instance, programs like Bikeability Scotland have increased children’s cycling skills and confidence, with about 90% of pupils in a Glasgow school cycling program riding independently by the end, up from 29% initially.
By encouraging cycling through school programs and community projects, children and communities gain physical activity, which supports better health outcomes such as increased fitness and reduced risk of lifestyle diseases. Active travel also fosters lifelong habits of exercise.
Encouraging children to cycle to school helps reduce car journeys, easing local traffic congestion during peak school run times. Community-led and school projects contribute to making everyday journeys more accessible and sustainable.
I Bike also provides support to school bike crews, learn to cycle sessions, bike skills sessions, led rides, led walks, and training for teachers. The project has a team of 7 schools officers and around 60 volunteers dedicated to making a difference.
Young people attending schools involved with I Bike or similar interventions are walking, wheeling, scootering, and cycling more than national averages. The project complements initiatives like Active Schools and the delivery of school travel plans, demonstrating its value in promoting active travel and healthier communities.
If all Scottish primary schools were able to access multiple interventions, an additional 18,000 pupils could be traveling actively to school every day. Potential volunteers or schools interested in the I Bike project can find more information by emailing ibike@our website.
The I Bike school project, with its focus on active travel, health-and-wellness, and fitness-and-exercise, aims to improve the lifestyle of children by promoting a culture of active travel in schools through various activities, such as bike maintenance sessions, bike clubs, and smoothie bike sessions. The project also encourages education-and-self-development by teaching children cycling skills, fostering lifelong habits of exercise, and addressing barriers to cycling participation.
