Nearly 20 per cent of traffic on UK roads during the morning rush hour is on the school run and it is increasing every year.
The number of children traveling to school by car over the past 20 years has doubled. Recent research has shown that trips to and from the school gates waste thousands of hours of parents’ and other road users’ time. The school run leads to directly to as many as 40 deaths and 900 serious injuries a year, and contributes over two million extra tonnes of harmful carbon dioxide annually to the atmosphere.
To tackle these problems, this paper argues that we should introduce a dedicated school bus network of the type used in North America, whilst examining the educational, environmental and social benefits that would result from a network of dedicated school buses in the UK.
This is a joint report written in partnership with Policy Exchange and the Sutton Trust.
