From the school bus to pedestrian streets, rethinking the way to school
Depending on where they live, children and teenagers can walk to school in a few minutes, or spend ten hours a week on public transport. Thinking about these journeys is not just a question of logistics and ecology, but also of equality.
Sylvain Wagnon, University of Montpellier
Every day, almost 13 million schoolchildren in France make a journey of varying length between home and school. Whether it takes a few minutes on foot or over an hour by bus, this invisible time structures the day, weighs on sleep and influences educational success.
Long neglected, this daily mobility is now the focus of new attention. In September 2025, the French Agency for Ecological Transition (Ademe) published the first large-scale national study on the mobility of children and teenagers on their way to and from school: school transport is now an issue of public health, equality and ecology.
School buses and territorial inequalities
School transport has a long history. It's been a reality since the 1960s, when the first departmental services were organized to serve remote secondary schools. In 1963, there were some 4,000 school bus routes; ten years later, there were already more than 23,000, far outstripping simple demographic growth. This development was a response to the need for equal access to education in rural areas.
Today, the responsibility falls to the Regions since the 2017 reform. They organize transport for more than 2 million pupils in non-urban areas, in addition to around 2 million pupils transported by urban networks (bus, streetcar, metro).
In total, almost a third of schoolchildren use public transport to get to school every day. The current shortage of school bus drivers undermines equal access to school, especially in rural areas dependent on this mode of transport. It reveals a growing territorial divide: while some pupils benefit from regular transport, others find their journeys lengthened or compromised.
How do I get to school?
Ademe's 2025 study confirms the central role of the car in home-school journeys: a third of children use it every day, and this proportion rises to 54% in the French overseas departments and territories.
The figures are close to those already reported in a 2020 study: walking accounts for 25% of trips, ahead of urban public transport (19%), the school bus (18%) and cycling (2%). While walking remains dominant for short journeys, its use declines with the age of the pupils.
However, these national averages mask strong local dynamics: in some towns, bicycle use is increasing significantly, boosted by the creation of safe cycle paths. A host of initiatives are also emerging to encourage active mobility between home and school. The pedibus, for example, is the subject of several studies. Organized by parents, volunteers or local authorities, the pedibus requires organization and regulation, but is said to deliver real results in terms of student health.
Meanwhile, the velobus- groups of children on bicycles accompanied by adults - is proving a real success, as is the hippobus, a horse-drawn carriage experimented in some communes. These schemes reflect a growing willingness on the part of local authorities and parents alike to rethink school travel.
The geography of school journeys reveals major disparities. In some rural départements, a secondary school pupil can spend up to two hours a day on public transport, compared with just a few minutes for a pupil in a city center.
These territorial inequalities are compounded by social inequalities: the cost of transport season tickets can weigh heavily on low-income families, despite regional or departmental subsidies. Some local authorities offer free transport, while others impose fares that vary according to income, fuelling a feeling of injustice.
The Ademe study also highlights a decline in autonomy: the age at which children first travel alone is now 11.6, compared with 10.6 for their parents. Parental fears about safety partly explain this decline, with a marked difference according to gender. Girls are considered more vulnerable: 40% of parents feel that they are more exposed to aggression, which delays their autonomy.
The weight of commuting time
While school transport guarantees access to education, it also takes a toll on daily life. In some areas, this can represent up to ten hours a week spent on a bus, reducing the time available for homework, leisure or rest.
Students who spend more than an hour a day on public transport sleep an average of half an hour less than their peers close to school. A survey of high school students showed this correlation. School transport is therefore not neutral: it directly conditions educational success and well-being.
A study of teenagers shows that long commutes compromise not only sleep, but also cognitive abilities, mental balance and school grades.
School streets": laboratories for innovation
Inspired by the UK and Belgium, "school streets" have been developing in France since 2019. The principle is simple: temporarily close the street in front of a school to motorized traffic at school opening and closing times. The benefits observed are numerous: measurable reduction in air pollution, noise reduction, improved sense of safety and a boost to active mobility.
In Paris, more than 300 "calmed streets" will exist by the start of the 2025 school year, covering almost half of all elementary school. The movement is now spreading to metropolises, but also to medium-sized towns and villages, which see it as a concrete tool for making home-school journeys safer and more pleasant, as well as reducing air pollution. These systems also help to reinforce children's independence, enabling them to travel alone or among peers in a calmer, less anxiety-provoking environment.
School streets allow us to test new ways of organizing public space, while encouraging children and families to take collective ownership of the street. They are not just a technical development, but also a social and political reflection on the place we wish to give to children in the city.
Turning the school commute into an educational experience
These experiments invite us to take a fresh look at school transport, which is not a time wasted, but a learning space. Walking or cycling to school contributes to physical health and independence. The creation of safe environments transforms the journey to school into a moment of socialization between parents, adults and children. In some schools, it is integrated into educational projects focusing on sustainable mobility or learning about the local environment.
School transport is much more than a technical device: it structures the daily lives of millions of pupils, reveals territorial divides and has a direct influence on educational success. Long invisible, this time deserves to be recognized and rethought. Because the educational experience is not limited to the walls of the classroom; it begins on the way to school and extends into children's daily lives.
Sylvain Wagnon, Professor of Education, Faculty of Education, University of Montpellier
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read theoriginal article.