Data Insight: Active travel to school in Wales: A data linkage project and exploratory analysis
Categories: Research using linked data, Data Insights, ADR Wales, Climate & sustainability, Health & wellbeing
15 October 2025
This Data Insight aims to examine patterns of active travel to school in children aged 11-16 in Wales. It was produced by the ADR Wales Climate Change research team and originally published by ADR Wales.
Summary
Active travel to school (ATS) —defined as walking, cycling or wheeling as a means of transport to get to a particular destination for everyday journeys —has well-documented health benefits, including a reduced risk of obesity, improved cardiovascular function, and enhanced mental wellbeing. Despite these benefits, recent trends show a steady decline in ATS, with increasing reliance on passive modes such as car travel. Understanding the demographic, socio-economic, geographical, and school-related determinants of travel behaviours is critical for designing evidence-informed policies to promote sustainable travel to school.
This Data Insight aims to examine patterns of ATS in children aged 11-16 in Wales, using individual-level demographic data linked with geospatial distance to school data and school-level characteristics. The analysis is based on the Student Health and Wellbeing survey (SHWS), administered by the School Health Research Network, and is linked to geospatial distance to school data in the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank. The primary aim is to assess the usability of linked survey and geospatial data to identify behavioural trends associated with ATS in children, that can inform future active travel research in Wales and support Welsh Government policy.
What we found
Active travel prevalence was consistent across datasets, with approximately 35% of pupils reporting walking or cycling to school (SHWS: 35.0%; SAIL-SHWS: 34.9%). Gender-based differences were evident, with boys reporting higher ATS rates than girls (SHWS: 36.9% vs. 33.1%; SAIL-SHWS: 37.2% vs. 33.0%). A clear socio-economic gradient was observed in both samples: ATS rates declined with increasing family affluence.
When exploring distance by active travel choice based on the linked distance and SAIL-SHWS sample, findings demonstrated that students who actively travelled to school had a mean home-to-school distance of 1,731 metres, compared to 4,950 metres among those who used non-active transport modes to school (Table 1). This finding highlights the critical role of distance in shaping travel behaviour.
Table 1 – General characteristics of distance (in metres) travelled to school by mode (active vs. non-active travel)
| Active travel to school | Mean (standard deviation) | 25% Interquartile range | 75% Interquartile range |
| Non-active travel | 4,951 (3,004) | 2,580 | 6,780 |
| Active travel | 1,731 (1,398) | 900 | 2,040 |
See the full results in the publication.
Implications for policy and practice
Understanding travel behaviour among schoolchildren is essential for policymakers, urban planners, and public health officials. Implications from this active travel project may include:
- Localised planning to support active travel to school policies
- Help in designing targeted interventions to encourage active travel, particularly among specific population sub-groups that may be identified as more likely to rely on passive transport
- Enhanced monitoring and evaluation frameworks, in line with recommendations from the Senedd’s 2022 expert review, to assess the impact of future ATS interventions over time.
Further findings and insights could inform research direction and targeted policy interventions that address structural barriers to active travel, particularly those related to distance and potential socio-economic inequalities, to support more sustainable school commuting practices.
