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Bike It Southampton & South Hampshire 2017/18 Summary Report

Sustrans have been working with Southampton City Council to deliver Bike It activities across a number of schools within the city since April 2012.

This year, Southampton and South Hampshire school pupils have shown great progress in mode shifting to active travel modes and away from car use. Teachers and school staff have repeatedly praised the knowledge and awareness the pupils have gained this year.

Project aims and results

1) To increase the level of cycling to school to 20% of all young people, or to double regular cycling levels where the baseline level of regular cycling is lower than 10% of pupils

  • From baseline to the end of year one, the number of pupils cycling to school each week nearly doubled from 8.8% to 17.1%. This increase was hard to maintain in years two and three post-engagement, but post year three schools still saw a .28 percentage point increase in weekly cycling from baseline levels.


2) To reduce the number of young people travelling to school and college by car - with a shift to active travel modes or use of public transport

  • When pupils were asked how they usually travel to school, Southampton and South Hampshire school pupils were consistently more active than the South East in general. Levels of active travel for Southampton were between 59.8% and 67.7%, in comparison to between 51.9% and 55.9% for the South East in general.

 

3) To create a culture of cycling at project schools that can be sustained once the Project Officer has departed and to raise awareness of the benefits of active travel

  • Bike It officers have delivered a broad range of activities over 230 sessions aimed at creating a culture of cycling and active travel at project schools. These activities have reached almost 17,000 pupils, nearly 830 staff and more than 450 parents.

Summary

Engagement levels are high with excellent feedback from participants and levels have shown an increase from baseline across all schools. The focus will now be on the second aim and ensure that the benefits of active travel for school children reach those most in need.