Primary Schools’ Territorial Policy and Active Commuting: Institutional Influences in Montreal and Trois-Rivières

Abstract

Active commuting to school has decreased in the last decades, replaced by motorized transportation and especially by the car. Beyond the environmental factors, the schools' territorial policies explain this trend. Drawing on a policy analysis and a survey of 1,495 parents carried out in 2007 in Montreal (1,297 parents) and Trois-Rivières, Canada (198 parents), this paper explores the relationship between active commuting and different school categories. The analysis shows important changes in schools’ service areas in a context of demographic change and institutional restructuring. Meaningful differences are observed between school categories in terms of mean home-school distance and modal share for commuting to school.