School Travel in Northwest Europe: Collective and Individual Choice between Motorized and Non Motorized Types of Transport

This paper describes how school travel is a transport motive which is neglected by transport science. It is molded strongly on a national basis and therefore hard to understand for foreigners. It makes comparative international studies rare. This paper presents data for the Netherlands and comparative studies for Belgian Flanders and Britain, based on their respective national travel surveys. References are made to Germany and the USA. Travel distance and travel mode are analyzed, providing general explanations for remarkable differences where possible. These are to be found in both school policies and transport policies.