Romanian city encourages children to walk to school in a safe way

Saint George municipality starts the programme on Monday 17 May

On Monday, 17 May 2021, Saint George Municipality in Romania starts a new initiative to encourage pupils to walk to school. The “Pedibus programme” will begin to support walking as the easiest, healthiest, and most enjoyable way to begin the school day.

Children who want to participate in this programme will be awaited every morning by volunteers, in marked locations throughout the city, to be accompanied on foot to school.

To motivate children to walk more and reduce air pollution and congestions

The programme will be created with the help of adult volunteers and will seek to encourage primary school children to walk more. Regular physical activity not only improves learning ability and social skills but also improves emotional control and self-confidence.

In recent years, an increasing number of children have been driven to school by their parents. This not only has an effect on children's independence, but it also leads to traffic congestion and increases the amount of air pollution around schools. The Pedibus programme provides an alternate method of bringing children to school while also encouraging physical activity.

Every week, a different adult Pedibus driver will accompany the children to school (athletes, actors, politicians, pedagogues, doctors, heads of institutions, media representatives, civil organisations, associations, etc.). The Pedibuses will travel along a fixed route and will depart at 7:30 a.m. from various locations in the region. Volunteers will be waiting for the children at these stations - with each group accompanied to school by two adults. The "drivers" of the Pedibus within the first week will be sports athletes.

Apart from the departure time, the other hours in the programme are approximate and may vary depending on the pace of the group. The organisers are waiting for volunteers to sign up to accompany the children to school with the Pedibus.