What happens when schools create car-free drop-offs? UTM PhD student investigates

It’s a familiar sight to many parents – a line of slow-moving vehicles pulling up to the curb outside a school before their child jumps out. A similar scene plays out in the afternoons, only with children hopping into cars waiting to pick them up.

Fewer Canadian kids have been walking or biking to school in recent years, raising concerns about their declining physical activity as well as the environmental impact of vehicle emissions from those drop-offs and pick-ups.

A program called School Streets is designed to shift that pattern by creating car-free zones around schools at certain times. In 2024, the Public Health Agency of Canada announced $3 million in funding to accelerate the implementation of the program across the country.

But just how well does it work? A University of Toronto Mississauga PhD student set out to conduct an academic evaluation of the program’s impact on personal vehicles, their emissions and related air pollution in school boundaries – and the findings were significant.

At four schools studied, the program decreased overall vehicle use for drop-offs and pick-ups by 35 per cent, vehicle emissions by 31 per cent and related ambient air pollution in school boundaries by 93 per cent.

“More people actively travelled,” says lead author Kerstyn Lutz, a doctoral student in UTM’s department of geography, geomatics and environment, referring to students walking or biking to school.  

“There was excitement about the program that you could see and feel.”

School Streets began in Italy in the early 1990s as a response to morning and afternoon traffic snarls around schools. It spread to other European cities and, more recently, urban centres across Canada.  

“In Canada, we’re seeing drastic decreases in the number of students using active school travel alongside a significant increase in personal vehicles,” says Lutz.

“School Streets is trying to tackle that problem by making the streets around schools feel safe. The goal is to reclaim these spaces so that kids and parents feel good about walking, playing and socializing on streets instead of driving.”

In 2022, Lutz and her team conducted analyses at four schools in the Greater Toronto Area – two in Markham and two in Mississauga – running School Streets initiatives.

To determine variations in vehicle use, they manually counted vehicles before, during and after the interventions. Then they used those counts to create traffic simulations and generate emissions and air pollution estimates using computer modelling.

School Streets programs worldwide vary widely in the timing of their implementation, ranging from single-day events to years-long projects. They also involve different combinations of government, school and community partners.

“In our study, the timing and implementation team affected the program’s impact at each school,” says Lutz. There were greater benefits when teams were cross-disciplinary (including school leadership, municipalities, parents and more), the study found. School board involvement produced longer-lasting positive effects.

“Combining these success factors by having a diverse team representing multiple perspectives led by a school leader could be a good strategy for other School Streets projects,” she says.

Being on site allowed Lutz to see the practical results of street closures. “There was some chaos among drivers, at least in the first days of an intervention, with lots of three-point turns,” she says.

A clear, well-communicated diversion plan for those who plan to drive during School Streets programs could avoid this confusion and potential accidents, she says. “The push for active travel still has to make safety a top priority.”

At the schools studied, the impressive drops recorded in vehicle use, emissions and air pollution occurred when the School Streets program was in effect. After it ended, the reductions were far more modest: around 5 per cent, the study found.

“We knew we wouldn’t see huge lasting effects, at least not in the short term,” says Lutz. “The programs are aiming to educate parents, students and the school community about active school travel so that, hopefully, there’s change over time.”

Overall, Lutz says her research confirms that School Streets works but there’s room for refinement and improvement as the program expands.

“Using the insights in this study to guide future School Streets implementations could make them even better,” Lutz says.