Get ready to walk, bike and roll to class!

Planning your child’s upcoming school drop-offs? The City of Vaughan is launching Active School Travel, an exciting program designed to promote active, accessible and sustainable modes of transportation – like walking, wheeling (by using assistive mobility devices), cycling, scootering, rollerblading, skateboarding or taking the bus – to get to and from school. 

Active School Travel is being piloted at eight schools across the city – representing all five of Vaughan’s wards:

• Anne Frank Public School, 431 Ilan Ramon Blvd.
• Guardian Angels Catholic Elementary School, 200 Lawford Rd.
• Johnny Lombardi Public School, 350 Lawford Rd.
• Lorna Jackson Public School, 589 Napa Valley Ave.
• Pope Francis Catholic Elementary School, 15 Secord Ave.
• St. Stephen Catholic Elementary School, 451 Napa Valley Ave.
• Viola Desmond Public School, 25 Farrell Rd.
• Yorkhill Elementary School, 350 Hilda Ave.

As part of this program, City staff will be making school visits during morning and afternoon school bell times to speak with parents and students about the importance of road safety. Students will  be able to participate in the discussion, answer questions, and win promotional swag items and educational material.  Other engaging initiatives planned to help promote and support the program include the installation of wayfinding signage in surrounding residential streets, walk and bike to school promotional days, and road safety school assemblies which involve key stakeholders such as York Regional Police. 

Traffic-calming measures were also implemented in these eight school zone areas in preparation for the start of the school year. You may notice some of the new measures in these neighborhoods including radar message boards, improved school zone pavement markings, ladder crosswalks, and flexi-posts. Flexi posts are tools used to encourage drivers to slow down in school zones, they are not intended for recreational use. 

Active School Travel has many benefits including:

• managing vehicular congestion in school zones.
• reducing air pollution and greenhouse gases.
•  mproving students’ physical health, mental health and social well being.
• promoting the adoption of lifelong habits that foster active lifestyles.
• enhancing road safety in school areas. 

This pilot program for the 2022-23 school year is in collaboration with York Region, York Region District School Board, York Region Catholic District School Board, York Region Public Health and York Regional Police. 

Active School Travel is a part of the City’s MoveSmart Mobility Management Strategy, which focuses on improving the municipal road network, enhancing road safety and supporting more cycling and pedestrian infrastructure to create fully connected and integrated communities. It reinforces the City’s commitment to the Active, Safe and Diverse Communities​, and Transportation and Mobility priorities in the 2018-2022 Term of Council Service Excellence Strategic Plan.  

For more information, visit vaughan.ca/ActiveSchoolTravel. 

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