The Auckland Regional Transport Authority’s (ARTA’s) TravelWise Week, held in early March, has been hailed as the most successful to date, with a record number of schools taking part.
More than 120 primary or intermediate schools and 13 high schools took part in the week-long campaign which encouraged youngsters to choose sustainable means of travelling to school such as walking, cycling, carpooling, or catching the bus or train.
To celebrate this success, ARTA has today announced the winning schools of the TravelWise Week event. Winners are those schools with the highest percentage of their pupils travelling sustainably throughout the week. The competition was separated into categories depending on the size of the school to give everyone a fair chance.
The winners of the small primary school category are Glenavon School, who had nearly 90 percent of their students travelling sustainably to school over the week.
Winners of the medium sized primary school are Avondale Primary who had an impressive 98 percent of students travelling sustainably.
Large primary school winners, Glendowie Primary, had 86 percent of their students travelling to school sustainably.
And finally - winners of the high school’s category are Rosehill College who had a very encouraging 90 percent of their students travelling sustainably to school over the week.
Each winning school receives a $400 Whitcoulls voucher presented by ARTA and a number of sports packs depending on the size of the school, kindly donated by sponsor AMI Insurance. The sports packs contain netballs, rugby balls, soccer balls, a ball pump, first aid kit and thirty reaction balls.
ARTA General Manager, Customer Services, Mark Lambert says “Every school that has taken part in TravelWise Week is a winner and we are very pleased with the success of this year’s event.
“The highly successful TravelWise programme currently accounts for taking approximately 7200 car trips off Auckland’s congested roads each morning peak and the benefits of sustainable transport contribute to so much more as well.
“Not only does travelling sustainably to school contribute to a healthier environment, it also encourages children to be fit and active and can be a great way to meet others in the community. We hope to have an even greater number of schools taking part next year.”
For more information on TravelWise, please visit the TravelWise website – www.travelwise.org.nz or take a look at ARTA’s website www.arta.co.nz
