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All aboard the walking bus

On Thursday 18 March some 50 pupils from primary schools in Sale and Maffra will be joining together to form one long ‘walking bus’ – to mark the official start of Wellington Shire Council‘s latest physical activity and road safety drive for children

By Wellington Shire Council - 15th March 2004 - Back to News

Acting as the driver will be Wellington’s Mayor John Jago, as the pupils form themselves into a bus for a photo opportunity at 2.30pm, at the corner of Cunninghame and Elgin Streets in Sale.

The council’s ‘Walking School Bus’ pilot initiative - which has received $30,000 funding from VicHealth and $20,000 from the Wellington Primary Care Partnership - is initially being targeted at pupils from St Thomas’, Guthridge, Sale ‘545’ and Araluen primary schools in Sale. Maffra Primary School is also taking on the initiative as part of their Victorian Greenhouse Strategy Program.

Buses will take the form of convoys along specific routes, with children collected and added along the way. An adult volunteer will act as the driver at the front. Where there are more than eight passengers there will also be an adult conductor at the back.

The initiative is designed to help reduce the incidence of obesity by encouraging exercise, while also cutting traffic congestion around school drop off and pick up points and increasing awareness of community and road safety – all in a safe, friendly and supervised environment. In addition it should help lower road pollution, by reducing reliance on cars to ferry children to and from school.

Following this initial pilot program, the Council will be seeking further funding to expand the initiative throughout Wellington.

Said Wellington’s Mayor John Jago: "Children who always travel by car may not get the level of exercise they need and can miss out on learning how to cross roads properly, which increases the risk of road accidents. Also, the level of car traffic around primary schools in the morning and afternoon can pose a hazard."

"This scheme is a great initiative and is designed to help tackle the issues of health, congestion and road pollution in an imaginative way."

Source: www.gippsland.com

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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