TR NEWS 237 MARCH–APRIL 2005 11 General education, in a grammar school or Primary or basic—5 to 12 years old; Secondary or midlevel education—12 to 18 years old. or higher education—18 to 24 Tertiary The basic school, which serves small settle- The special basic school, which serves chil- Students at the higher education level can travel Students at the higher education level can two types of primary schools: are There Children with other types of problems attend spe- with other types of problems Children complex struc- Secondary education has a more In contrast, Belgium historically has favored larger In contrast, Belgium historically has favored independently—most have a driver’s license and move is located. the school to the town where School System and Transport main levels: The Dutch school system has three Gymnasium—which teaches classical languages— years old; and ments, so that walking and cycling—independently or under guidance—become the dominant transport modes; and these with learning and behavioral problems; dren located in moderately sized regional schools are espe- transportation, organized centers and require cially for rural areas. in clusters and available cialized schools organized orga- centers. These require regional only in larger nized and sometimes specialized transport. sublevels, and curricula. levels, with different ture, The primary distinctions are schools and has a vast school transport system. schools and has a vast school transport cycling hesitates to promote Belgium, however, because of the high accident rates. he yellow bus is the icon of school trans- is however, to school, Traveling portation. not always a complex undertaking, defined by icons—school systems have Introducing “sustainable safety” policies. Economizing on public transport. Economizing on school transport. Raising standards for school transport quality. Decreasing access to school transport. Increasing local car mileage by 75 percent. Expanding cycling facilities for shorter and longer distances. The interrelationship is not static. The school sys- The interrelationship illustrates these The Dutch town of Zwijndrecht its For example, in the 1970s, Germany enlarged Changes in School Transport in Changes in School Transport The Netherlands Since 1985 many levels, corresponding to the ages of the stu- many levels, corresponding correlate dents, and the ages of the students, in turn, means of transport. with different of tem may change, along with the spatial distribution of aging struc- schools, which may change as a result or even consumer prefer- demographic shifts, tures, and security safety, traffic, ences. Ideas about transport, also may change. is dynamics. Dutch school transportation remarkable Union. The mem- of the European not representative and in school- in education policies ber states differ policies. transport related that the necessary bus transport schools, not realizing Ger- As a result, would cost billions of marks per year. many later left smaller schools alone and built cycle- which it the volume of bus transport, ways to restrict public transport. into transformed largely T

SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION

and School Transportation and School The Dynamics of School Location of School The Dynamics

ENNE DE BOER Illustrated with the Dutch Town of Zwijndrecht with the Dutch Town Illustrated The author is Associate and Transport Professor, Planning, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands. 12 TR NEWS 237 MARCH–APRIL 2005 FIGURE 1LocationsofschoolsinZwijndrecht.(RC=RomanCatholic;PCProtestantChristian;OrthoOrthodoxProtestant.) that are toattractstudentsfrom trying urban areas. transport israre, occurringmostlyinrurallocations Separately organized school travel bypublictransport. however, educationisthemostimportant motivefor students usepublictransport. Inlarger ruralareas, years, someswitchtomopeds.Lessthan30percent of and forestry—are offered onlyinafewlocations. vocational education—forexample,inshipbuilding sia are locatedinlarger centers;andspecialtypesof available inmodestlysizedregional centers;Gymna- secondary. at twosuccessivelevels:preparatory andsenior secondary education—evenwithout seniorsec- secondary dam. InZwijndrecht, and thedynamicsofprimary ernment centerofTheHague,and theport ofRotter- capitalofAmsterdam, thegov- includes thenation’s stad Holland,acircular zoneofurbanizationthat Zwijndrecht isatownof43,000insoutheastern Rand- Dynamics ofZwijndrecht university. preparing studentsfor highereducationandfor Students mainlyrely oncycling;attheageof16 educationareThe commontypesofsecondary Vocational orpracticalprofessional education older north sideofthetownandsouthside. development hascreated severalbarriersbetweenthe passengernetwork.This South, connectingtoFrance’s cargo rail line toGermanyandtheHigh-SpeedLink gium andsoutheastHolland.Underconstructionare a highway toBelgium;andthefour-track raillinetoBel- infrastructure: themainshipwaytoGermany; II. Thecityarea borders aremarkable international 250,000 inhabitants. bation, calledDrechtsteden, orDrecht towns,includes an islandbetweenbranchesoftheRhine.Theconur- ancient townofDordrecht, southeastofRotterdam, on (see map,above). tion andsolutionoftransport problems achallenge vocationalschools—makesthepredic-ondary-level nonreligious. The schoolshaveadministrativeboards— then-separate Zwijndrecht Island. are namedforsmallcastlesthatonce stood onthe cation: DevelsteinCollegeandWalburg College. Both educationandpreparatorysecondary vocationaledu- The townhastwocompetinginstitutionsforgeneral Secondary Schools Zwijndrecht wasdevelopedlargely afterWorld War Zwijndrecht isthelargest ofthesuburbs Develstein offers Protestant education. Walburg is TR NEWS 237 MARCH–APRIL 2005 13 ), and the 1 Zwijndrecht has separate cycling facilities along its has separate Zwijndrecht pro- others were cut off; Some intersections were Traffic safety is a concern, however, because the safety is a concern, however, Traffic daily cycle mileage for local secondarydaily cycle mileage for education— trips—would increase a massive 2,500 round already cyclists The 12- and 13-year-old by about 10 percent. traf- vulnerable because of inexperience in heavy are take a toll fic. The lengthened cycling distances would in accidents. Cycling Measures policy strives for “sustain- The Dutch national traffic conditions that counter the risk creating able safety,” distin- zones are traffic of crashes. In urban areas, zones, calming zones.” In traffic “traffic guished from and other traffic is separated from motorized traffic in traf- may travel at 50 kilometers per hour (km/h); fic calming zones, the speed limit is 30 km/h. photograph, below). In converting (see main arteries sep- to the sustainable safety system, the municipality old town arated the two car lanes on Queens Road, the which Avenue, on Walburg traffic axis, and reduced from continues to the Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht border, four to two lanes. slowing cars to less than vided with miniroundabouts, 50 km/h. which have neighborhoods, Surrounding designated as 30- were layouts, mostly grid-like street of the principle km/h zones. The general introduction than a decade. may take more New cycle lanes and a pedestrian crossing at Steenen Kamer school. Transport Consequences Transport of integrating the schools consequences The transport The consideration. not receive units did into larger unlikely to cause is relocation planned physical choice. changes in travel mode dis- Students cycle for ( year round tances up to 5 kilometers school journey is unlikely to exceed that distance. school journey is unlikely and therefore is insufficient public transport Moreover, is not an attractive alternative. The schools offer slightly different types of educa- slightly different The schools offer Develstein College has a total of 1,530 students, of 2,200 students, College, with a total Walburg supplies A settlement in the town of Barendrecht kinds of Despite the integration of the different has developed a The municipality of Zwijndrecht tion. Develstein offers no Gymnasium education, no Gymnasium tion. Develstein offers applied for government although the school recently no technical offers financing to do so. Walburg vocational education. Both schools have preparatory several locations, some in neighboring towns. main campus, south of the at the with 1,040 enrolled levels of general education, in the highest highway, vocational education. A former including preparatory of the town part technical school in the northern and practical pre- houses lower levels of theoretical the neigh- vocational education. A satellite school in with about boring town of Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, of prevocational lower levels 30,000 inhabitants, offers education to local students. of the serves 1,000 students at the main campus, north Only a high level of highway in the new town center. The build- at this facility. general education is provided ing needs an extension. similar education to 635 students, and two settlements the lower levels of in Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht provide education. A former primary school in prevocational houses the lowest level of the program Zwijndrecht (see photograph, above). secondary education into single institutions, geo- College has graphic integration is lacking. Walburg what might be called separated the lower layers from education. of general pre-university program its core plan, working with the two local colleges, to reduce the number of school locations by moving students to locations in Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht the three from vocational edu- for practical preparatory Zwijndrecht a local educa- cation. Both colleges then would share however, residents, Neighborhood tion center. the expansion to 1,050 students. protested a foundation and a public body, respectively. Both are respectively. body, a foundation and a public with the cost of education financed by government, Ministryborne by the national of Education. The special education unit of Walburg College, in unit of Walburg The special education primary school. the building of a former 14 TR NEWS 237 MARCH–APRIL 2005 the cyclepathisclosed. Avenue racingcourse; complex viaWelhorst Volgerlanden school leaving thenew Father anddaughter aries willreceive specialattention. School itiner- and thesmalltownofHeerjansdam. will beexpanded,especiallyforroutes toBarendrecht Separate cyclefacilities traffic (seephotograph,above). however, remain dangerous. on theseparatecyclefacilities;someintersections, Zwijndrecht localeducationcenteralmostcompletely from Hendrik-Ido-Ambachtwillbeabletoreach the Students theroutesexpanded toserve tothecolleges. viding organized transport toschool.Until recently, homemunicipalityisresponsible forpro- A pupil’s Distances andCosts meters andmore. the RiverNoord, hasintroduced commutesof15kilo- Sliedrecht andPapendrecht, acrosswith schoolsin Ido-Ambacht hasincreased. Theexchangeofpupils area inZwijndrechtfrom andHendrik- the school’s expansion to13classrooms isforeseen. was expandedfrom 6to9classrooms, andfurther schoolsinthe area.the primary Theschoolbuilding dren with learningdisabilities,incooperationwith The schoolrecently extendeditsscopetoincludechil- operates twootherschoolsintheDordrecht suburbs. nonreligious schooladministered byafoundationthat Steenen Kamer(whichmeans“stonechamber”),isa The oneschoolforspecialbasiceducationinthetown, Special Education mobile driverstothereturn ofschoolchildren oncycles. slogan, “We are goingtoschoolagain,”alert auto- zation 3VOlaunchesanationwidecampaignwiththe condition ofbicyclesattheschoolgates. lamps orlighting.Policeregularly inspectthesafety Ambacht andZwijndrecht withouttherequired head- students whohavecycledbetweenHendrik-Ido- frequently. Onearlywintermornings,policeoftenfine traveling inthewrong direction onroundabouts occur and misdemeanorssuchascyclingonsidewalksor Traffic rulesare nottaughtsystematicallyinschool, The Zwijndrecht transport planemphasizescycle The separatecyclefacilitiesalongtheroads were The transport implicationsare modest.Theinflux Every September, Every thenationaltraffic safetyorgani- to otherstudents. children, municipalitieswill assigntheremaining seats if specialtransport mustbeprovided forone ortwo transport mustbeprovided. Theserulesare strict,but mute canbereduced tolessthanhalfthetime,special lic transport takesmore than1 should accompanythechildren. Ifthejourneybypub- and physicallyabletouseit;ifnecessary, parents transport ispreferred forchildren whoare mentally of transport, afterconsultingwitheachschool.Public went intoeffect withoutconsequences. education; the6kilometersstandard forotherschools retain the2kilometersstandard forstudentsinspecial over suchdistances.Zwijndrecht, however, decidedto may havedifficulty bringingtheirchildren toschool raised to6kilometersbecauseofcosts.Manyparents 2 kilometers. minimum distancetoqualifyfortravelsupport was For studentswhorequire specialeducation, the walk. passable road”—the equivalentofanhour’s farther than4kilometersawayon“theshortest for thejourneytoareligious schoolofchoicethatis children under10yearsoldwere entitledtosupport representatives of theparents andsupported byorga- councils forpupiltransport started in2003.Including kilometers standard. the costoftransport considerably, leadingtothe 6 must befastenedduringtheride. Thishasincreased must beprovided withaseatandseatbelt,which 2004,eachchild Since January vehicle wasinmotion. cles, sitonthefloor, orevenopenthedoorswhile for example,children couldroam around thevehi- seat—they couldsitinalap. seats, andthoseunder4yearsolddidnotneeda between 4and10yearsoldcouldbeseatedontwo to beprovided withaseat.Inthisway, three children the smallschoolvehicles. Steenen Kamerhasparkingspacesreserved for home. minibuses andtaxis,whichpickthechildren upat lect afullload.Mostspecialtransport isprovided by large buses,whichwouldtaketoomuchtimetocol- The volumeoftransport oftenprecludes the useof Transport Volume few stipulationsaboutqualityandsafety. competitive bidding.Thecontracts,however, make this transport, usuallyundercontractsawarded after towns. Municipalitiesoftencooperateinorganizing transport tothemore specializedschoolsin larger The municipalitymustassignanappropriate type These standard distances,however, havebeen A nationalproject toestablishmunicipal advisory Complaints aboutthisarrangementwere many: Previously, onlychildren 10yearsoldanduphad The bulkofthecost( e 600,000 annually)isfor 1 ⁄ 2 hours, andifthecom- TR NEWS 237 MARCH–APRIL 2005 15 Picking up children at the Picking up school new Volgerlanden bad weather, complex; in car use increases. Two noteworthy examples are the recently opened the recently examples are noteworthy Two with area, residential is a developing Volgerlanden Disconnected neighborhood access road near Margriet primary school. 4,500 homes in about 2 square kilometers, filling the 4,500 homes in about 2 square of Hendrik-Ido- gap between the urbanized areas Only one school is Ambacht and Zwijndrecht. in four semidetached planned, with 44 classrooms buildings: two primary schools and two satellites of additional other schools. A fifth building will house services. into of the buildings will be convertible Some dwellings when pupil numbers decline. Mode Choice The traditional spatial distribution of schools for pri- mary education had made walking the dominant mode School Facilities stimu- for cost-effectiveness Municipal responsibility building, as lates the concentration of schools into one facil- well as the agglomeration of schools into shared development of schools by is the ities. Another trend for preschoolers day care to offer institutions, different who cannot go facilities for children and after-school 5 or 6 p.m. home before school. At the Volgerlanden facility and Roerdomp primary was expanded school a Protestant Roerdomp, cen- care to house a satellite of a public school, a day and an institution for hand- children, ter for retarded icapped pupils. ). 2 In the early 1990s, the Ministry of Education The municipality’s integrated school plan for 2004 Zwijndrecht includes four public, one Catholic, Zwijndrecht after one or two decades, In most neighborhoods, Margriet primary school, located at a roundabout with a highway access road. raised minimum enrollment for Zwijndrecht schools for Zwijndrecht raised minimum enrollment to 177 students. to too small Several schools were in another continue. Amalgamation with a school local edu- could preserve however, neighbourhood, than one school with more a single cation, creating for example, the Catholic location. In Zwijndrecht, School has its main campus in the Wal- Toermalijn of Juliana. and a satellite in the village II quarter burg the only and these are far apart, The locations are schools in each quarter. in some schools, of classrooms anticipated a shortage in others. The municipality but vacant classrooms of schools or parts moving may recommend therefore maximum distance for reloca- schools. The standard tion is 2 kilometers. six Protestant, and two orthodox Protestant schools. Protestant and two orthodox six Protestant, In school locations than schools. The town has more schools were successively developed town quarters, and were number of children to the located according or less evenly but seldom accommodated more spread than 200 pupils. more children the population ages, and the number of declines. Schools can fall below the subsistence level, for a minimum school when standards particularly raised ( population are Primary Education tradition in of education is a remarkable The freedom and nonreligious of religious Holland. The coexistence of the “Pacification of the schools is a result Schools the schools gave religious Struggle” in 1917, which municipal schools. same rights as public nizations for the disabled and for traffic safety, the safety, for traffic the disabled and nizations for general promote complaints and councils channel devel- for however, not available, Funds were quality. remains which instrument or measure, oping a quality on the agenda. 16 TR NEWS 237 MARCH–APRIL 2005 Liberated Reformedschool. school transportatthe Small-scale long-distance erated Reformed schooldrawsstudentsfrom the rare, exceptfororthodox religious schools.TheLib- These circumstances makeorganized schooltransport Transport Measures addition, theschoolcanassign crossing guards. artery shouldmaximize visibility forcardrivers;in unavoidable, aconspicuouscrosswalk onthemain (see photographs,page15).Becausecrossing is roundabout withahighwayaccessroad asoneexit location ofJulianaschoolisinacommercial area ona is locatedontheothersideofroad. TheMargriet dren tocross mainarteries—for example,iftheschool ping mallnearbyoffers ampleparking space. ity ofabout30,isnotsufficient, althoughalocalshop- Volgerlanden (seephotograph,page15),withacapac- because oflongertraveldistances.Theparkinglotat higher levelsofcaruse—upto50percent—partly schools, likethoseintheVolgerlanden area, register chaos andraisesafetyrisksneartheschool.New facilities, andevenmodestlevelsofcarusemaycause longer distances. levels of50percent, becausestudentscomefrom at theorthodox Protestant schools,however, reaches policy insteadmaystimulateautomobileuse.Cycling meters. Theintentistostimulatewalking,butthe age discouragecycleusefordistanceslessthan500 schools thathaveinsufficient spaceforbicyclestor- of schooltravel.Thisisstillthecaseformostschools. Travel tothenearest schoolmayrequire manychil- Schools inresidential areas havenospecialparking Biking isrelatively modest,inpart because tograph, left). of North Brabant,about25kilometersaway(seepho- two touringcars,tobring80pupilsfrom theprovince largest area, usingseveral typesofvehicles,including . deBoer, ReasonableDistancesto E.,andA.J.Nederveen. 3. deBoer,Schools. E.EvaluatingtheClosingDownofPrimary 2. deBoer, E.PlanningEducationalFacilitieswithRespectto 1. References sider newlocationsorfastertransport ( this budget,according tothefindings,shouldcon- Schools thatexceed gle tripasthetraveltimebudget. and amaximumtraveltimeof60minutesforsin- size—then 240studentsfora4-yearcurriculum— standard that wastheproduct ofminimumschool 1 hourbybicycle.Research, however, suggesteda province favored adistanceof15kilometers—thatis, educationlaw.travel, citedinthesecondary The tify theconceptof“reasonable distance”forschool practical solutions. The studyofschooltransportation shouldproduce cost implicationsoflocationandtransport decisions. this confusinguniverseandindicatethequality concentrations ofstudents. raises thedisadvantagesoflongjourneysandlarge ing arangeofeducationalchoicesatsinglelocation policies, andschooltraveltransportation. Creat- impact onpopulationconcentrations,schoollocation as wellchangesinconsumerbehavior, havean Administrative, financial,andinstitutionalchanges, Practical Solutions cases, traffic wardens provide surveillance. students from runningoutontothestreet. Insome School entrancesare fencedtoprevent warning sign. enable crossing intwophases,andaconspicuous a zebra-stripedcrosswalk marking,amiddleislandto ings forschoolitineraries.Thenormalconfigurationis problems neartheschool. ent volunteersare trainedtospotandsolvetraffic port ofthenationaltraffic safetyorganization, andpar- addition, studentitinerariesare analyzedwithsup- classroom subject,concludingwithatraffic exam.In journey toandfrom school.Thetriptoschoolisa percent ofcrashesinvolvingchildren occuronthe Traffic safetyreceives great attention,because38 ogy, Netherlands,1990. South Holland.[InDutch.]DelftUniversity ofTechnol-of School: Researcha ReasonablyLarge Report fortheCounty Research), Leidschendam, Netherlands,1988. and Research Methods Proceedings, InternationalSymposiumonTraffic SafetyTheory Seminar C,1990,pp.61–63. Meeting, Proceedings of Accessibility andTransport.Summer Annual PTRC18th The province of South Hollandwantedtoquan- The province of The studyofschooltransportation mustmaster Zwijndrecht hascreated specialpedestriancross- . SWOV (Institute for Road Safety SWOV (InstituteforRoad . 3 ).