Good practice:

School Bike Route Planner (internet/smartphone app)

The School Bike Route Planner App is a key communication instrument to foster bicycle use to school, to make it safer, reduce potential fear among pupils and especially parents, but also teachers. It can be used for teaching during lessons and at home to prepare for cycling to (a new) school. It aims in incorporating daily mobility behaviour and knowledge of pupils in the planning process of the dedicated school bike route network and thus gives insight in the field of traffic.
General objectives of the planner also target the long-term perspective and should sustainably counteract the growing lack of physical exercise among pupils and encourage a healthier lifestyle in general. Hence, pupils become multipliers towards school staff and family in promoting cycling.
The school bike route planner is based on a specifically developed and coordinated school bike route network. Originally focussed on secondary schools in the Frankfurt RhineMain region, it is currently being extended to the whole State of Hessen step-by-step. The network is open for all schools wanting to promote cycling for their pupils.
The routable network is being developed by professional planners under intensive participation of pupils and stakeholders, and is published digitally as internet and smartphone app, integrated in the Hessen Bike Route Planner. The app is easy to use, works like other familiar routing apps, and provides not only information on the routes itself.

• For schools and municipalities: no resources except time and personnel
• From public side: for long-term project management, professional
planners, development and operation
• Main effort: participation (mainly with pupils), promotion (various
communication channels)

• covers the whole Frankfurt RhineMain region with a network of almost 4000 Kilometers connecting 240 secondary schools
• Currently being extended to cover whole Hessen step-by-step
• routes had been drafted by support of planning professionals according to previously developed common quality criteria, before they were thoroughly checked and reworked by pupils during 110 school projects (developed according to age, school type and previous knowledge of the participating pupils)
• 33 Workshops

• ’outside’ access to schools for such projects remains difficult - better understanding of different ’mobility cultures’ at schools is necessary
• a lack of resources and interest and competition with other topics
• constant /increased communication and approach, using politicians as role models

The School Bike Route Planner, especially the participatory process of developing and finalising the bike routes can be easily transferred to other municipalities or regions, esp.:

• The way pupils participated in the route planning during dedicated
school projects.
• The criteria for suitable bike routes on existing infrastructure.
• The way to discuss the route and reach agreement among all relevant
• stakeholders such as parents, pupils, politicians, administration, police
etc.
• The use of the process and bike routes as a communication tool for
discussing mobility issues and promoting sustainable transport
binging the school and municipal ‘worlds’ together.

The routes should ideally be implemented in a routing planner (either using an own or suitable third-party app). The key design and functionalities are transferrable. If not (yet) available, the network can be displayed on classical maps. A guidebook is available (in German).