WHEN it comes to travelling to school, it's often too tempting for pupils to hop on the school bus or catch a lift with their parents.
But according to a new survey, more health-conscious children across the Capital are choosing to walk, cycle, skate and even travel by scooter to school.
The first ever national survey on school travel across Scotland also revealed that Edinburgh
children are taking the bus less and fewer pupils are being driven to school, in comparison with the statistics for Scotland as a whole.
The 2008 National Hands-Up Survey was conducted in September and asked 396,377 school pupils across 29 local authorities how they normally travel. The results showed that 51.5 per cent of the city's pupils walk to school, compared to 48.3 per cent of kids across Scotland.
The statistics have failed to impress everyone however, and there have been calls for the council to make sure more is done to promote walking and cycling.
The chairman of Craiglockhart Primary's parent council, Gavin Corbett, said: "The figures seem impressive in relation to the Scottish average but Edinburgh is quite a densely packed city and it should be getting much higher figures."
The survey also revealed that the only mode of transport where Edinburgh pupils fell below the Scottish average was 'Park & Stride' – where pupils being dropped off at a suitable car park close to the school and then walk or cycle the remaining distance – which was the preferred option of only 5.5 per cent of the city's pupils, compared with 6.1 per cent of children across Scotland.
Headteacher at James Gillespie's High School, Alex Wallace, said: "Over the last year and a half there has been a notable increase in the number of children walking and cycling to school. The number of cars that turn up at the end of the day at our school gate is in single figures."
However in September last year, the Evening News reported that one in five cars on the city's roads at rush hour were on the school run.
Bonaly Primary School has also tried to improve such statistics by introducing a 'walking bus' in November last year.
The school's headteacher, Gordon Robertson, said: "I would like to see more parents trusting their children to walk to school and the introduction of '20's Plenty' zones around all schools, which would ease parents' minds."
Alison Johnstone, Green councillor for Meadows and Morningside, said she was pleased that 51.5 per cent of Edinburgh pupils were walking to school but added that one in four 11 to 15-year-olds was still overweight and called for every school in Edinburgh to have a walking bus.
The survey was a joint project between school travel co-ordinators working in Scotland and transport charity Sustrans, and will now be conducted on an annual basis every autumn.
Sustrans school travel manager for Scotland, William Methven, congratulated the Capital on the positive figures. He said: "Edinburgh has a strong and growing cycling community which is supported by a number of cycling organisations. The Edinburgh City results for walking and cycling to school are very encouraging and it's thanks to all the hard work by the local schools, the school travel co-ordinators and Edinburgh City Council. We congratulate them."
For the City Council, transport convener Councillor Phil Wheeler, said: "The results of Sustrans' survey are certainly encouraging and demonstrate that the ongoing time, recourses and investment being committed by the council are beginning to bear fruit.
"Equally, the results show that we do still have work to do, which is why we will continue to pursue a range of schemes, such as Safer Routes to School and ParkSmart, while working closely with schools and other partners to educate and motivate children to travel actively and safely to school."
• Sustrans launched the results of the survey today after pupils at Royal Mile Primary presented them to MSP Patrick Harvie, convenor of the Scottish Parliament transport, infrastructure and climate change committee, at the school yesterday.
