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Just under half of school pupils in Scotland travel to school in an active way, according to the latest ‘Hands up’ survey.
49 per cent said they travelled to school by walking, cycling, using a scooter or skateboard.
Nearly 440,000 children aged under 16 from 1,987 schools in every local authority in the country took part in the survey.
Scottish school children were recently encouraged to saddle up with through the trial of the I Bike project in two local authorities.
National director of Sustrans Scotland John Lauder said: “It is hugely encouraging to see half of pupils in Scotland travelling in an active way. Walking and cycling to school is an easy way children can be active as part of their everyday routine.
“However, these figures can be improved through cost effective initiatives that are easy to make happen in schools across the country. Recent figures from our two year pilot project – ‘I Bike’ which is running in Edinburgh and Perth – have shown that encouraging kids to get on their bikes can, on average, double cycling levels. It’s initiatives like this that we believe can help us move closer to the vision of ‘10 per cent of all journeys being made by bicycle in 2020’, set in the Cycling Action Plan for Scotland.”
Lauder added: “The SNP now have a once in a generation opportunity to turn rhetoric into action and deliver the excellent active travel policy commitments they made whilst in a minority government, particularly the Cycling Action Plan for Scotland.”
