TfL urging children to walk and cycle to school

TfL is urging children to walk and cycle as they return to London’s schools, as well as providing hundreds of extra buses and reintroducing the system of signed ‘School Service’ buses.

Its efforts to reduce the risk of infection on the network continue, including the enhanced cleaning regime deployed at the start of the pandemic and the enforcement of face coverings.

Those who are able to walk, cycle or scoot to school are again encouraged to do so, with TfL continuing to work with the boroughs to create the extra space needed to make walking and cycling safer and easier. More than 300 School Streets have been created across London, which involve timed restrictions on motorised traffic outside schools to make walking and cycling safer and easier, as well as enabling social distancing.

Nearly 100 kilometres of new or upgraded cycle lanes are also either complete or under construction across London so far.

TfL is engaging with more than 3,000 schools, London’s boroughs and the Government to prepare for the increased demand on the transport network, where capacity remains reduced because of social distancing. Schools are being asked to stagger start and end times and encourage walking and cycling.

A pan-London campaign will run across radio, outdoor advertising and digital advertising to advise schoolchildren to walk or cycle to school and remind them of the School Services.

Cycle routes and more cycle parking are being created to facilitate cycling, while TfL’s online Cycle Skills course is a useful resource for new and existing cyclists, including children. The measures will be kept in place at least until the end of the current term and will be kept under review. Plans for the summer term will be confirmed closer to the time.

Read the March issue of BikeBiz below: