Active Travel England announces school journey package

Up to two million more children will have access to walk to school and cycle training programmes over the next two years, thanks to a multimillion-pound investment by Active Travel England.

The £60 million package is designed to help parents have more confidence to walk or cycle with their kids on the school run by funding initiatives that give more children better road skills and aim to help make it easier for parents to choose greener travel options.

The funding includes £50 million to expand Bikeability cycle training to a million more young people. This scheme has already delivered training to more than four million children since 2007.

A further £5 million will support walk to school programmes aimed at hundreds of thousands of pupils in schools across England, via the charity Living Streets.

Chris Boardman, active travel commissioner, said: “Giving kids transport independence and enabling them to walk, wheel or cycle on the school run is what they want, and what we want for them.

“This £60 million funding package will help put the joy back into journeys and create a generation of young people who feel confident to make healthier and greener travel choices.

Also included in the package is £4 million to extend Cycling UK’s Big Bike Revival programme to March 2025. The scheme has already engaged more than 80,000 people of all ages, helping them learn cycling basics and feel more confident while pedalling.

Meanwhile, an additional £500,000 will fund an extension to the Modeshift STARS and Active Travel Ambassador schemes.