How to set up a 'walking bus'

Introduction

As soon as you have decided that you would like to set up a 'walking bus', it would be advisable to decide who in the school will take the lead on this. We would then suggest that you take the following actions and probably in the order that they are listed.

There are already more than 500 'walking buses' in England and many more schools will be setting up 'walking buses' using the new Department for Transport grants, so you will not be alone.

Contact your local authority

Contact the school travel adviser or road safety officer in your local authority and they will be able to tell you who you need to speak to. All local authorities have at least one school travel adviser funded by DfT/DfES through the Travelling to School project. Many local authorities provide support to schools wanting to set up a 'walking bus' and they may offer to help you to set up yours. Local authorities have a responsibility to work towards reducing local traffic and they should be supportive of initiatives such as 'walking buses'. This guidance is intended cover all situations, the typical situation where the local authority can offer help and the more unusual situation where it cannot. If your local authority has produced its own guidance for setting up a 'walking bus', then you should follow that guidance rather than the guidance set out here. If your local authority cannot help, then you could speak to Sustrans, Living Streets, Friends of the Earth or other schools in your area that have 'walking buses'.

Contact parents

If you haven't already contacted parents/carers, we would suggest you do this next. Send a simple letter setting out the benefits for children and parents to all parents. Ask them to contact you if they would be interested in their child(ren) taking part in a 'walking bus' and also if they would be prepared to act as volunteers. You might also like to consider whether or not you are going to make incentives available to children who take part in the 'walking bus'. These do not have to be large, expensive items and stickers, pencils and fluorescent shoelaces have been successful. Whatever you provide it should be something that is compatible with a healthy lifestyle. You could also organise events/competitions for volunteers to maintain their interest and tell them about these at this stage. You are likely to need some parents/carers who already walk to school to help establish a nucleus of volunteers.

Identify a route for the bus

You will the need to identify a route for the bus. The route will obviously be influenced by where the children who want to use the 'bus' and the volunteers live and it should not be too long; ideally no longer than a mile. You will need to identify a 'driver' and a 'conductor' for the bus. Drivers usually guide from the front making sure the way ahead is clear and safe, conductors usually follow at the rear to make sure no one falls behind and there is no misbehaviour. Any other volunteers should be interspersed within the bus and should hold the hands of younger passengers. You will need to think carefully about adult to child ratios, which should not exceed 1:8 for junior school children and 1:4 for infants. If the route is too long some children will have to leave home earlier than they would have done otherwise and a large number of children on the 'bus' will mean that more volunteers will be needed. The route will also need to be safe to use so you should, wherever possible, avoids roads that are difficult to cross and roads with very narrow footways or no footways at all.

Arrange a risk assessment of the route

Once you have decided where the route should go, you will need to arrange a risk assessment. You should contact the local authority and ask them if they are able to carry this out for you. This is sometimes done by a road safety officer walking the route together with the volunteers. If the local authority is unable to do this, they should be able to tell you who can. An independent consultant will charge about £250 for assessing a route. It is good practice to show all parents whose child(ren) will be taking part the risk assessment once this has been written up. It is important that volunteers are aware and capable of identifying new risks that may develop over the time the bus operates

Arrange a meeting at school

Once you have received all the replies you think you are going to receive, set up a meeting at school to discuss what you are proposing in more detail and give everyone the opportunity to ask questions. It would be a good idea to invite the school travel adviser or someone else from the local authority to your meeting and also a parent from another local school who already takes part in a 'walking bus' scheme. Find out at the meeting who would be willing to act as volunteers and when they would be available. Make sure that everyone fully understands the training they will be required to undertake, that they will need to be CRB checked and their responsibilities if they are unable to take their turn on the rota. It is also advisable to get parents to sign a parental consent form before any child is allowed to join the bus. Try to persuade one of the parent volunteers to act as a co-ordinator for each route.

Draw up a rota

Draw up a rota and circulate this to all volunteers. You will need to ensure that everyone is content with the rota and knows what is expected of them if they find that they are unable to do their allocated turn. You will also need to make sure that you obtain and keep a record of the name, address, telephone number of all volunteers and pass on this information to your local authority and insurer where this is different.

Arrange insurance

You will need to arrange insurance for the 'walking bus' in case an accident occurs. Many parent teacher associations take out insurance with the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations and there is no additional cost to provide cover for 'walking buses', provided a full risk assessment of the route has been carried out. Legal liability insurance can sometimes be provided under the terms of the local authority's Public Liability Policy, providing cover in relation to legal liabilities incurred towards participants in the scheme, provided they are accompanied and supervised by authorised volunteers. It does not necessarily provide Personal Accident Insurance. The local authority may be prepared to provide cover under its own Public Liability Insurance provided it is satisfied with the arrangements, set up and organisation of the bus and is notified of details and changes associated with the bus as required.

Arrange CRB checks

All adults should be cleared through the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) to at least the Standard Level, before being involved in any capacity with a 'walking bus'. Your school should have a policy and procedure to follow about CRB clearance or your local authority should be able to help with this. If not, you can obtain guidance from http://www.crb.gov.uk/

Arrange road safety training for the children and volunteers

Ask your local authority if they are able to provide this. Training for volunteers normally involves walking the route with a Road Safety Officer. Volunteers should be trained in how to deal with large numbers of children crossing a road. You will also need to establish a procedure for training any new volunteers with your local authority.

Children could be asked to sign a 'pupil promise' where they agree to follow the instructions of the volunteers and behave appropriatley. Drivers and conductors should be encouraged to talk to the children about crossing the road at approriate times on the route and encourage them to look and listen for traffic too.

Order tabards

You will need to order tabards that are both fluorescent and reflective for every child and volunteer. You may like to have some wording on them to indicate that it is a 'walking bus' or even design your own logo. Your local authority should be able to tell you where you can obtain the tabards and may even offer to contribute towards the cost. Otherwise, you may find a local business that is prepared to pay for the tabards in return for having their name displayed on them. You will obviously need to ensure that they are an appropriate sponsor. Older children can protest against the wearing of tabards and have been known to drop out as a consequence. Being seen is an important element of safe walking and some flexibility may be considered. Other alternatives such as armbands or caps could be acceptable or they could be given different coloured jackets with an element of responsibility over aspects of the bus, such as behaviour or the register.

Decide when your 'walking bus' will start

Decide when your 'walking bus' will start and ensure that you stick to this. It is a good idea to start at the beginning of a school term and also when the weather is likely to be fine. The bus does not have to operate every day of the week or at both the start and end of the day. However, parents/carers are more likely to be interested in a reliable consistent facility and this may help with recruitment retention and longevity.

Draw up rules, guidelines and a timetable

Draw up rules, guidelines and a time-table and circulate these to ensure that everyone is happy with these. You will need to make sure that everyone agrees how children (and adults) are expected to behave and what happens if they do not. You will need to keep an up-to-date record of which volunteers are supervising which route and when and make this available to all volunteers so they can organise a relief if necessary. Volunteers will also need to keep a record of which children are supposed to be using the bus and when and whether they actually do so. You could also aim to set up some 'safe houses' where children can be sent if they are not met from the 'bus' on time. You will need to ensure that whoever is providing the insurance cover for the volunteers is content with the rules and guidelines. It is also advisable to get all volunteers to sign to say that they have received a copy the rules and guidelines and that they have accepted these.

Publicise the 'walking bus'

Try and get your local newspaper, TV and radio to cover the story of how you have set up the 'walking bus'. This should encourage the children and the parents and may result in others doing the same. You can also promote the 'walking bus' in school assemblies and in letters to parents.