The key findings from the long-running Beats Study, which researched active transport to school among thousands of Dunedin and Otago high school pupils, have been published.
Wellington-based Beats Study research leader Professor Sandy Mandic was delighted to present the most significant aspects of the research, 10 years since the project first began in Dunedin, in March 2013.
The open-access article was published online late last month in the Journal of Transport and Health.
The original Beats (Built Environment and Active Transport to School) study gathered data on pupils aged 13 to 18 years, at all 12 Dunedin high schools in 2014-15, has generated 34 scientific papers and is recognised as having real-world applications for the planning of cycling and walking infrastructure.
It found only a-third of pupils used active transport (walking and cycling) to and from school, fewer than a-fifth were meeting basic activity guidelines and they were spending an average of five hours a day on screens.
The study was extended into rural Otago, dubbed Beats R, in 2018.
Prof Mandic said the newly published analysis of the responses from 2403 adolescents across Dunedin and Otago, gathered in the Beats 1 and Beats R studies, showed the distance a pupil lived from their school was the biggest factor in active transport.
The researchers had designated up to 2.25km as within walking distance and up to 4km as within cycling distance.
"In Otago, 48% of pupils live more than 4km from their school, which definitely affects their transport choices," Prof Mandic said.
For those within 2.25km, 58% walked to school, while 6% cycled, 21% were driven by car and 1% used bus transport.
Among those within 4km, 14% walked, 6% cycled, 58% were driven and 8% used buses.
For those living further than 4km from school, 45% were driven, 34% used buses, 1% walked and 1% cycled.
There were additional factors around the type of settlement where adolescents lived, whether it was a rural area, or a small, medium or large urban centre.
"We found it was important to consider distance and settlement types together in analysing the data," Prof Mandic said.
Other factors, such as the creation of safe drop-off points that were not right at the school gates, also affected the rate of active transport.
The study also showed those adolescents with the highest levels of physical activity maintained very good or excellent health, she said.
The research had shown initiatives to promote active transport and reduce reliance on car transport to school, whether to improve health and the environment or to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, needed to pay closer attention to the settlement types, distance to school and the characteristics of transport users.
Last year, the urban study was repeated as Beats 2, a "natural experiment" which asked the same questions of a new cohort of pupils, covering travel to and from school, general activity levels, school-bag weight and screen time.
The follow-up study allowed researchers to compare the two studies to see what changes there may have been in the intervening years.
Prof Mandic has shared the findings of the key analysis with Wellington City Council, in her role as the council’s principal adviser for transport strategy, and plans to continue sharing the research with councils across New Zealand.
