SCHOOL WALKING ROUTES PILOT PROJECT
December 2002
NEED FOR THE PROJECT
This pilot project was initiated as a direct result of the research conducted by Greenest City during 2000
and 2001:
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Small Steps/Large Rewards: A Community Based Social Marketing Research Project (June 2001),
Informa Market Research.
Ontario Walkability Study: Trip to School: Children’s Experiences and Aspirations (May 2001),
Greenest City and York University’s Centre for Applied Sustainability.
Parent Attitudes and Travel Behaviour Regarding the Trip to School: Opportunities for Sustainable
Mobility (June 2001), Dr. Catherine O’Brien, Post-Doctoral Fellow, York University.
One of the key barriers to participation in ASRTS programs identified by the above research was traffic
and pedestrian safety. Respondents in the focus groups felt that if there were “safe routes” for their
children to walk or cycle to school more families would choose this form of transportation.
“If everyone in our neighbourhood walked there would be four times as many kids walking. Then I would probably
let then walk by themselves.” Focus Group participant, Small Steps/Large Rewards project.
During June 2001 research was conducted into how other ASRTS jurisdictions had handled the barrier of
pedestrian friendly infrastructure. Examples of the use of designated routes to school were found in the
following programs:
 Safe Routes to School, Transportation Alternatives, The Bronx, New York
 Safe Routes to School, Christchurch, New Zealand
 Way to Go! School Program, B.C., GVRD safe routes project
 Safe Routes to School, SUSTRANS, U.K.
 Various U.S. projects including Spokane, Washington; Oakland, California; Atlanta, Georgia.
Greenest City’s ASRTS Toronto project had facilitated about 45 neighbourhood walkabouts at schools.
This process is similar to traffic safety audits carried out by the Police for their Parent Safety Program
(kiss ‘n ride). Held at a time of day when traffic issues are at their worst at the school site, the parents and
principal lead a walk of the school zone. This walk is attended by the local City Councillor, Police, School
Board reps., City traffic engineers, Public Health Nurses and Greenest City. A complete description of the
neighbourhood walkabout can be found on Greenest City’s Web site. The combined results of these
neighbourhood walkabouts strongly indicated that infrastructure and fears of traffic safety are key reasons
why parents drive their children to school. The results also highlight the need for common approaches to
deal with these safety issues in communities where schools are located. A detailed list of approaches for
creating safer school zones, prepared by Greenest City, can be found in the Appendices.
Greenest City realized that the resources do not currently exist to implement all the recommendations
identified through the neighbourhood walkabouts and our research projects. So we broke down the items
and decided that designating school walking routes at Toronto schools would be a good place to start.
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PARTNERSHIP WITH CITY OF TORONTO FOR PILOT PROJECT
The Transportation Services Division of the City of Toronto formed a School Parking and Traffic
Operations Harmonization (SPATOH) committee during 2001, made up of traffic staff from all four districts
and Toronto Police representatives. The purpose of this committee is to standardize parking and traffic
operations at school sites across the City. Greenest City presented the idea of a School Walking Route
sign pilot project at the SPATOH October ’01 meeting. At the November meeting of the Transportation
Operations Managers Meeting (TOMM) the School Walking Routes sign project was approved in
principle. This set the stage for work to begin on implementing the sign pilot project for the spring of 2002.
The next steps were to identify potential pilot schools and create a sign. Greenest City created an image
of a child’s feet in motion and this was approved by SPATOH and TOMM. The final wording selected was
School Route, with the graphic placed strategically in the middle of these two words. See sample of sign
in the Appendices.
PILOT SITE SELECTION
It was agreed that we would try to have one pilot in each City district, except District 1 (former City of
Toronto) where Maurice Cody Public School was pre-selected. Selecting these pilot schools proved to be
quite a task. Here is the process we followed:
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First we identified the criteria for a pilot school (refer to the Appendices for a copy of the criteria).
Both school boards had to be contacted to inform them of the pilot project and seek their approval to
proceed. This was done by Greenest City via email.
Working with Transportation Services staff and Public Health Nurses involved in the ASRTS project,
and using the criteria we developed, we identified a number of schools in each district that might be
potential pilot schools. (Refer to Appendices for a complete list of these schools.)
Greenest City then contacted every school identified and spoke with each Principal. In some cases as
many as five telephone calls had to be made to contact the Principal. The pilot project was explained
and if the Principal expressed interest, information about the pilot project was emailed or faxed to the
school.
After the initial phone contact was made some schools decided not to proceed further. At this point
we realized that of the five Catholic schools on our original list none were able to continue to the next
phase, due mainly to large numbers of students being bussed or a lack of common walking routes to
the schools.
Meetings were then arranged with the schools to provide them with detailed information about the
project and answer their questions. These meetings were held with Principals and in many cases
Parent Council representatives attended as well. In a couple of cases teachers were also involved.
o District 1 – Maurice Cody P.S.
o District 2 – 1 school still interested
o District 3 – 4 schools still interested
o District 4 – 6 schools still interested
At this point schools were asked to survey the students to determine the most common routes to the
school. On the reverse side of the student survey was a map of the school catchment area. These
maps were provided by City staff from District 4. See the survey attached in the Appendices.
Greenest City photocopied the surveys for the schools to reduce the school expenses.
Greenest City arranged for the completed surveys to be couriered to our office and we then analyzed
the results and mapped the significant routes to each school. The surveys were then returned to each
school along with the results of the analysis. (See sample map in the Appendices.)
These results were then given to Transportation Services staff who conducted site visits at each
school to take a closer look at the identified routes and, based on these visits, selected the pilot
school.
The final schools that were selected were:
o District 1 – Maurice Cody P.S.
o District 2 – Westmount P.S.
o District 3 – Shaughnessy P.S.
o District 4 – Terry Fox P.S.
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The schools that were not selected were notified by telephone by Greenest City staff and were each
sent a Polar Bear Adoption Kit and Pizza Pizza gift certificates for a future school Pizza Party as a
thank-you.
APPROVALS OF OTHER STAKEHOLDERS
Before proceeding, further approvals needed to be obtained from the following individuals:
 Toronto District School Board
 City Councillor representing each school
 School Trustee representing each school
 Police Division representing each school
The TDSB approved via email. The school trustees were contacted via phone and email. Trustee Shelley
Laskin, Maurice Cody P.S., included information about the sign project in her community-wide newsletter.
The TDSB Communications Department distributed the April 10 media release (see below for details of
media event) and the pilot project backgrounder to all TDSB school trustees and superintendents.
Greenest City arranged for meetings with the four Councillors:
 District 1 – Michael Walker
 District 2 – Rob Ford
 District 3 – Paul Sutherland
 District 4 – Sherene Shaw
Each Councillor was encouraged to send out a letter to the residents who live along the designated
routes to the school, notifying them of the sign pilot project and explaining the project’s rationale.
Greenest City provided each Councillor with a sample letter (see sample letter in the Appendices).
Councillor Walker arranged to have his letter sent out through his office. Councillor Ford requested that
Greenest City pay for the photocopying of the letter and distribute them. Councillors Sutherland and Shaw
photocopied the letters but requested that Greenest City distribute them.
“The City of Toronto is committed to providing safe and efficient routes for Toronto’s motorists and pedestrians.
The School Walking Routes project will help us achieve that goal. It’s a wonderful example of cooperation between
parents, educators, the city and concerned groups like Greenest City who want to help improve safety, the
environment and the lives of our children.” Toronto City Councillor Michael Walker.
The Toronto Police Division for each school was phoned and faxed information about the pilot project and
all agreed to provide support on a best-efforts basis for the months of May and June.
 Maurice Cody P.S. – 53 Division
 Westmount P.S. – 23 Division
 Shaughnessy P.S. – 33 Division
 Terry Fox P.S. – 42 Division
Officers from Divisions 42 and 53 attended events in April, May at Maurice Cody and June at Terry Fox
and parking enforcement from Division 33 have provided support at the school during drop-off and pickup times.
MONITORING AND EVALUATION
Greenest City hired four Traffic Observers for May and June. The main responsibility of these Traffic
Observers was to assist City staff to conduct baseline traffic observations, and visit each pilot school once
per week to observe behaviour of pedestrians and drivers along the designated routes. They also
delivered the Councillor letters in early May and conducted parent surveys (sample attached in
Appendices) at the end of June. The Traffic Observers were trained by City staff, and Police Reference
Checks were conducted prior to their hire. Data collected during the pilot phase (May 13 – June 21) was
input to Excel spreadsheets created by the Traffic Observers and approved by City staff. The results of
these observations will be available by the end of July but analysis of the final results will not be available
until later in the year.
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At the beginning of May the pilot schools were provided with a sample letter to be sent home to parents
notifying them of the sign pilot project (sample letter provided in Appendices).
The signs were installed at each pilot school the week of May 6. The signs are to remain in place until the
end of June 2003, and a second observation will take place in the spring of 2003, but only for one week
this time.
During the parent interviews the Greenest City Traffic Observers noted that many parents who often walk
their children to and from school (more than 5 times per week) believe the biggest benefit to them is the
quality time the walk allows them to have with their child. Those parents that walked less than 5 times per
week responded that its good exercise, good for our health or it creates less pollution.
In November 2002 a second parent survey was conducted at all four schools. This time the survey was
sent home with the students and the results indicated overwhelming support for the School Walking
Route signs. Approximately 60% of parents were aware of the project andm Many parents indicated an
interest in setting up walking groups along their route. We will be pursuing this with each school over the
next year.
MEDIA OPPORTUNITIES
In May media releases were sent by Greenest City to the local media outlets for each school:
 Maurice Cody – Mid-Town Town Crier and North Toronto Post
 Shaughnessy – North York Mirror
 Westmount – Etobicoke Guardian and Etobicoke Life Publishing
 Terry Fox – Scarborough Mirror
 All schools – Rogers Cable
We are aware that the Mid-Town Crier and the Scarborough Mirror printed articles (see clippings in
Appendices).
The sign project was officially launched on April 10 at a media event held at Maurice Cody Public School.
Details of this media event can be found in the report to the Laidlaw Foundation. Greenest City hired The
Chapman Communications Group Ltd. to work on this media campaign with us and the media release
was sent out on the Canada News Wire on April 9. The following media coverage resulted:
 CTV News, April 10, noon and 6:00 pm
 Toronto Star, April 15, Walk to School One Step at a Time
 Glencoe-Alvinston Transcript, March 27, “Walking School Bus” idea studied
 Guelph Mercury, April 23, walk to school project kicks off tomorrow in city
 The Mid Town Crier, May ’02, Environmental group helping kids stay ‘active and safe’
The following guests attended the media event:
 Michael Walker, City Councillor – speaker
 Dr. Catherine O’Brien – speaker
 Jacky Kennedy, Greenest City, ASRTS – speaker
 Shelley Laskin, School Trustee
 Bruce Clayton, Supervisor, Traffic Engineering, District 2, City of Toronto
 Helene St. Jacques, Informa Market Research
 Toronto Public Health Nurse
 PC Wayne Vanderyagt, HQ, Community Policing
“It [the signs] may make parents feel safer, because obviously the more children you have walking the
safer it is.” Jean Stephens, Principal, Maurice Cody P.S.
On Wednesday, June 5, Clean Air Day, Terry Fox Public School held their own celebration event. The
following guests attended:
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Councillor Sherene Shaw
School Trustee Ron McNaughton
Five Officers from 42 Division
Frank Bozzo and Al Burrows, Transportation Services, City of Toronto
Diane Donaldson and Silence Lau, PHNs, Toronto Public Health
Greenest City staff
Each class had created banners related to walking to school,
safety and clean air and these were marched around the
schoolyard and into the gym. After almost 100% of the students
had walked to school, the Principal led an assembly in the school
gym. Councillor Shaw, Trustee McNaughton, Officer Moxley,
PHN Diane Donaldson and Sophia Chan from Greenest City all
congratulated the students on their efforts and spoke of the
importance of safe streets, physical activity and clean air. Three
students also read out their essays on walking to school.
Greenest City traffic observers interviewed parents about their
thoughts on the sign project. Stickers and fridge magnets were
provided to students by TPH.
FUNDING AND BUDGET
The funding for the signs was shared by Greenest City and City of Toronto, Transportation Services.
Greenest City covered the cost of materials and the City covered the costs of manufacturing and
installation. 100 signs were produced:
 Maurice Cody, District 1 – 25 signs
 Westmount, District 2 – 15 signs
 Shaughnessy, District 3 – 25 signs
 Terry Fox, District 4 – 20
 15 signs to be kept in stock for future use
Funding for Greenest City’s portion of the project was provided by the Toronto Atmospheric Fund and the
media event was funded by the Laidlaw Foundation.
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