Action 1: Starter kit for walk-train and bike-train
The action has been renamed to walking school-bus and cycling school-bus.
The focus at the beginning of the year was on doing external monitoring of how other municipalities in Sweden work with actions like walk-trains or bike-trains. Through that experience templates and approaches concerning the pilot group and the launching of materials at the municipal webpage have begun to be established. So far two templates have been produced. “Get started with the bus” consists of a checklist with questions aimed at the group who wants to start a walking or a cycling school bus. “Advice and rules for bus passengers” consist of a list of rules of conduct for the passengers and the chauffeur.
To find a pilot group information about the action were sent to each school in Gävle, both private and communal. Another channel was through the sustainability representatives at each principal area. During the spring of 2020 it was only three guardians who had contacted the municipality with an interest in participating, each from different schools. An effort has been made by Livsmiljö Gävle to see if anyone who lives close to these three stakeholders are interested but with no results of yet. We therefore have decided to postpone the pilot-launch until mid-spring 2021 and focus on implementing the starter-kit and launching the action on the website distributed by the municipality.
Action 2: School zones
Three schools were pinpointed in the beginning of the year to be the pilots for school zones in Gävle 2020: Ulvsäterskolan, Solängskolan and Staffanskolan. Meetings with each school at the local principal level together with the property manager of the school (from Gavle Fastigheter) resulted in a problem statement concerning the traffic situation around the school. Internal meetings with traffic planners, landscape architect and traffic engineer resulted in proposed measures. Together with the principals and property managers we decided upon measures at Ulvsäterskolan and Solängskolan. At Staffanskolan we have not come as far. Information to the guardians about the measures, the purpose and a map were then sent by emails through the principals. The measures were implemented in the summer school brake at both schools. At Solängskolan the main objective is to prevent guardians from parking on a very active pedestrian and bicycle path when they leave their children at school. This has been done by a fence and bollards. At Ulvsäterskolan the main objective has been to clarify the traffic situation for motorist and thereby make it safer for those children who walk and cycle to school. This has been done by making a longer distance for parking bans at the turnaround, establishing more short-term parking spaces (instead of round-the-clock parking), adjusting the turnaround with a more curved formation (former square design in one corner), putting up bollards alongside the entry-point to the school (were only taxis and the like are allowed) and also clarifying the drop-zone with paint and putting up a temporal sign about the meaning of the drop-zone. One week after the two schools started representatives from Gavle Fastigheter, Livsmiljö Gävle, the schools and the parking service stood at the schools just the time were the guardians and children arrived. We distributed information, hand-outs and talked about the implemented measures and the positive aspects of children walking and cycling to school. The communication was highly appreciated by many guardians, the schools in question and the children.
The effects of Covid-19
The Covid-19 pandemic has affected the opportunities we have had for efforts in the form of information and communication since the schools have had their doors closed for outsiders. We would have liked to participate in for example parent meetings and school’s open house gatherings to inform about the actions but that have not been possible since the pandemic started. The channels for the municipality to inform citizens have also had the greatest focus on the pandemic and therefore have had no space for communication about school mobility. The pandemic may also have made guardians less susceptible to other information than the pandemic.
Other school mobility related actions:
• Another local action plan with more measures then the ones presented in the local action plan presented in the School Chance project have been decided on in the municipal council, the highest decision-making body in Gävle municipality, in June 2020. This includes among others a communication concept concerning school mobility and guidelines to implement when planning the traffic situation around schools.
• Presentation of School Chance project for traffic planners and others in the Sörmland Region, spring 2020.
• Presentation of action plan and progress report to the” Bike more” community (representatives from municipalities in Gävleborg Region), autumn 2020.
