A trend that is growing in Europe and more recently in the States is the walking school bus. The walking school bus is much the same as a standard school bus, sans the yellow bus part.
Rather than head to the bus stop and get picked up by a vehicle, the children head to the bus stop and get picked up by a mob of walking children, headed by a chaperon or two.
The system is actually pretty cool. The group of children and the chaperons travel routes and make stops like a standard bus system, all the while the kids are getting exercise and fuel isn’t being used to transport them.
In 2003 an environmental group in Lecco, Italy initialized the walking school bus system for their students in an effort to combat childhood obesity, growing traffic conditions, and the rise in greenhouse gas emissions. Now the city has over a dozen walking buses, called piedibuses.
The trend has been picked up somewhat by America, mostly on the east coast. Hopefully the system will make it’s way to the fattier cities, where the children really need them. Walk, fatty children, walk!
