School travel behaviour in the Netherlands and Flanders

Studies on school travelling frequently deal with active travelling that is considered important in preventing obesity. Most research has been done in low bicycle countries where walking is the main active mode. The paper presents an analysis for the Netherlands and Flanders, two European countries with high bicycle use. The study analyses two aspects of school travel behaviour: home-to-school distances and modal choice. Both are analysed for primary and secondary school students. A descriptive analysis learns that in Flanders trip lengths to primary schools are significantly larger than in the Netherlands and that the bicycle is more frequently used in the Netherlands. Analyses of influencing variables for both home-to-school distance and modal choice demonstrate that 'hard' factors that define the objective conditions for school choice (crucial for home-to-school distance) and modal choice are most influential. They regard the locations of eligible schools and the qualities of the eligible modes. Just one other factor is significant in the explanation of home-to-school distances: car ownership. On the other hand, modal choice is influenced by several other socio-cultural factors, where age of the pupil, size of the household, and car ownership are most important. Most outcomes are in line with other studies. The observed high bicycle use demonstrates that the bicycle has the potential to account for a large number of trips and can even be the dominant mode in school travelling. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.