Students in Lecco Italy walk, or take the "Piedibus" to school
"The town's piedibuses have so far eliminated more than 100,000 miles of car travel and, in principle, prevented thousands of tons of greenhouse gases from entering the air, Dario Pesenti, the town's environment auditor, estimates." Car trips to school make up a "sizable chunk of transportation's contribution to greenhouse-gas emissions. The "school run" made up 18 percent of car trips by urban residents of Britain last year, a national survey showed." "In 1969, 40 percent of students in the United States walked to school; in 2001, the most recent year data was collected, 13 percent did, according to the federal government's National Household Travel Survey." "The city of Lecco contributes roughly $20,000 annually toward organizing and providing staff members for the piedibus. The students perform a public service of sorts: they are encouraged to hand out warnings to cars that park illegally and chastise dog owners who do not clean up." "In Britain, about half the local school systems now have some sort of incentives to encourage walking, although generally less formal ones than the piedibus, said Roger L. Mackett, a professor at the Center for Transport Studies at University College in London." 9-year old boys reaction to piedibus who was driven about 1/3 mile each way before the piedibus ..."I get to see my friends and we feel special because we know it's good for the environment," LIBECO
Elisabeth Rosenthal. "In a City in Italy, the Schoolchildren Walk Where Once They Rode," International - The New York Times. March 26, 2009.