MEDIA STATEMENT – FOR IMMEDIATE PUBLICATION

The top-tier international Journal of Transport and Health has published an evaluation reporting on the highly successful results of the RideScore Active Schools program.

The publication this week of the report is an important evidentiary milestone for the program that we believe can help transform the way our kids get to school across the nation.

The evaluation report published in the Journal of Transport and Health reveals RideScore resulted in a large increase of 55% in bike and scooter trips to school across a 4-month period – a significant increase compared to many other active school programs in Australia and internationally.

The success has been attributed to RideScore addressing parents’ concerns around independent travel with automated messages through a dedicated app on arrival and departure and motivating the students through gamification with a variety of incentives, competition and leaderboards.

The original concept was the brainchild of Sunshine Coast Council’s officer, Colleen Penny. She said:

‘It has been a long road to this point after I first set up a basic system of notifications for parents at my son’s school back in 2017.

‘As a parent myself, I’ve always understood the hesitation many families feel about letting their children travel independently to school.  The notifications provide peace of mind for parents while empowering independence and building resilience in kids,’ said Colleen Penny.

WeRide’s Peter Bourke noted the concept has clearly hit the mark.

‘WeRide had been working with many ride to school programs and as soon as we became aware of the small program being run by the Sunshine Coast Council we realised it ticked all the boxes.

‘After securing a major federal grant and state government and developer support in partnership with Council, we had the resources to develop the RideScore platform,’ Peter Bourke said.

Sunshine Coast Council Transport Portfolio Councillor Christian Dickson, said it has always been about creating a better Sunshine Coast for the people living there.

‘We all want our kids to be safe, active and happy, especially on the trip they do every day to school.

‘RideScore does all this and more, including helping to reduce traffic around schools at peak times.

‘The international recognition that comes from the publication in this prestigious journal is a testament to all the hard work done by our Transport team and even better as the idea came from one of our own staff,’ said Councillor Dickson.

RideScore

  • a partnership between the Sunshine Coast Council and We Ride Australia
  • the largest trial ever undertaken in Australia for a cycling and scooting to school program of this type
  • more than 1,000 primary school participants
  • evaluation was conducted by a team from Deakin University and University of Canberra that included Associate Professor Neil Coffee and Dr Margo Cargo.
  • Active commuting to school increases physical activity, helping children meet Australia’s national physical activity guidelines.
  • The initial development of the program was supported by Federal Government ‘Move It AUS’ grant
  • Seed funding was obtained from the Queensland Government, Department of Transport and Main Roads and Stockland Developments to develop the concept and move to a ‘pilot’ status.

More information

Media contacts

  • We Ride Australia, Stephen Hodge, 0411 149 910, stephen@weride.org.au
  • All images provided by Sunshine Coast Council.