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Translation – Explanation and Caution

The electronic translation service on the City of Surrey’s web site is hosted by Google Translate. The quality of the translation may vary in some of the languages offered by Google. The goal of the basic translation is to capture the general intention of the original English material.

Google Translate is a free service and currently offers translation in over 50 languages. Unfortunately, not all the languages spoken in the City of Surrey are translated. Punjabi is one of the languages not currently offered, and to remedy the situation, the City has been in contact with Google and they have committed to making Punjabi available in the future.

The City of Surrey cannot guarantee the quality, accuracy, or completeness of any translated information. Before you act on translated information, the City encourages you to confirm any facts that are important to you and the decisions you make.

The City of Surrey offers interpretation services at all its facilities. If you have a question about the material you read on our web site, we encourage you to stop by a City facilities to discuss it. You can also contact the City at (604) 591-4011 to receive interpretation support.

The City is committed to enhancing the accessibility of its web site to all its citizens, and appreciates any feedback that it receives.

Chinese, Korean, Punjabi, Tagalog, Hindi

The Program

School Travel Planning (STP) is a community-based approach that has been used with success both in Surrey and Canada-wide to increase the number of children choosing active transportation modes to get to and from school. 

STP addresses the issues of sustainability, safety and health associated with children travelling to and from school. Key community stakeholders, such as the school district, city, police, parents, educators and children, work together with an STP facilitator to identify and help resolve their school transportation issues. In Surrey, we have successfully increased the number of children walking to school by up to 27%.


School Travel Planning Committee

An STP committee outside of a schoolThe City encourages parents and teachers to get involved with the School Travel Planning program so that they can give their personal input on issues they encounter on the way to school. 

It is very important that those in the school community are actively involved in developing solutions, as they understand the school’s specific needs and culture. Some schools include their student government in the planning process.

Throughout the school year, the STP facilitator from the City will work with the committee to discuss survey results, possible projects and implementation measures, and incentives that the school can use in order to increase road and pedestrian safety and active travel mode share.


Surveys 

Two surveys are conducted at both the beginning and end of the STP program:

  • Family Survey:  This survey is sent home with the students at the beginning of the school year, asking families to answer a variety of travel habit questions based on a typical school day.  
  • Hands Up Survey:  This survey is conducted for one week during school, where each class is requested to track each student’s mode of transportation to and from school.  This provides data that is more accurate that the family surveys, because it captures how every student actually travelled to school for that whole week.

With the initial data, the City and school together are able to determine specific issues that need to be addressed, such as concerns of traffic safety and reasons why parents don’t let their children walk to school.  This allows the City to look into areas that have safety concerns, and the school to implement appropriate programs to encourage walking and cycling.

When the follow-up surveys are completed at the end of the program approximately one year later, both the City and the school are then able to evaluate the success of the changes and determine what actions have most impacted students’ habits in travelling to school, and if safety concerns have decreased in the neighbourhood.


Pedestrian and Traffic Data Collection 

Counts are conducted at each school during both the morning and afternoon peak hours to provide detailed information such as the number of cars parked both legally and illegally, number of jaywalkers, and number of people using specific paths.  The data collected from these counts are used to identify and assess problem areas and help in determining paths and locations that have a higher volume of pedestrians and traffic.

An STP committee walking by a school

Action Plan

A key emphasis is placed on determining the extent to which a community allows for the independent mobility of children.  Each school writes a School Travel Plan, which includes an action plan section describing steps they plan to implement such as:
  • Introduction of infrastructure on the schoolgrounds, e.g. bike racks, anti-idling signs;
  • Education, e.g. safety training for walking and cycling, awareness raising; 
  • Community mobilization, e.g. walking school buses, walking buddies, carpooling, adult crossing guards; 
  • Encouragement, e.g. celebrations of physical activity and environment, event days, recognition and rewards for walking/biking; and 
  • Engineering improvements at or near school sites – e.g. pedestrian crossings, new sidewalks, parking restriction signage.

Ongoing Monitoring 

Follow-up data collection is done to evaluate progress towards the goals set during the action planning stage.  The plan is tweaked as necessary. A School Travel Plan is intended to be a living document that becomes part of school policy and is revisited and updated on a regular basis.