Get to School Sustainably!

Lack of active mobility choices and a high rate of traffic accidents result in an unsafe urban environment for school children. Providing adequate walking and cycling infrastructure around school facilities is crucial to shift mindsets early.

Project "Get to school sustainably!" is intended to provide a comprehensive solution for school mobility in Zhytomyr, Ukraine. The pilot aims (re-)constructing the sidewalks near the school and installation of safe crosswalks. Furthermore, bike racks will be installed, and guidelines and instructions for cycling to school will be developed.

Project Description

“Get to school sustainably” is an infrastructure and capacity development project that aims at imporving the shifting modal split at Zhytomyr’s public schools towards sustainable modes of transport such as walking, biking and public transport. 

Our vision was to support schools and school-children to learn how to develop better choices regarding their mobility. The intention is to shape them to grow up into strong adults who know how to move around town in an environmentally friendly manner.

The project stimulates cooperation between very different stakeholders, who are not typically work together: children and traffic engineers, school administration and city council. As result of the project, accessibility to school will improve, number of traffic accidents will decrease, as well as positive image of cycling and walking will be created. Apart from mobility solutions for school, a better community for all will be created and what is important a positive example of how urban environment can improved will be set. 

Timeline

Sept-Oct 2019:

Modal split survey of 35 schools and selection of four schools for the pilot project: Veresy Secondary School, Secondary School No8, Zhytomyr Ecological Lyceum No24 and Secondary School No36.
Creation of a Mobility Camp with 30 participants consisting of children, parents, teachers and four School Mobility Committees

Nov 2019-May 2020:

Assessment of field research and audit of walking infrastructure.
Design and Tender of new infrastructure for the four selected schools.

July-Dec 2020:

Construction of 100 new bycicle parking spaces near the schools.
Realization of four Bicycle Schools with 94 students from grade 1 to grade 11 and nine adults.
Construction of intersections, pedestrian crossings, signs, etc.
Installation of digital speed displays to encourage slower driving.

May-June 2021:

Tactical Urbanism actions in Zhytomyr, Ukraine, near Lyceum №24. About 100 students took part in the art project of beautifying the children’s school way and pedestrian area in order to increase the attention of road users. The action lasted more than 10 days. Check out the video here: TUMI Challenge Zhytomyr, Ukraine – Tactical Urbanism Action

Project's Objective

The objectives of the project are:

to improve safety and ease of movement of school children on their way to school;
to make modal split of school trips more sustainable: decrease of trips done by car, increase share of cycling and walking; 
to provide school administration with tools to plan and improve mobility and to include children into decision-making process;

to develop a positive case for managing school mobility in Ukraine and spread it to other schools.

Key Solutions

Setting a baseline for modal split in every school in the city;
Selection of four pilot schools to develop a sustainable mobility plan, carry out a comprehensive diagnosis and develop a concept for a large infrastructure and a smaller infrastructure project to improve mobility around their school.

Main Outcomes

Mobility plans for four schools were developed;
The percent of school children who cycle to school has increased & Safety of four intersections has improved; 
Four school teachers received specialization in mobility planning for schools; 
School yard of one school is re-designed according to mobility needs of students and their parents.

Challenges and Learnings