Around half of Scottish school pupils travelled actively to school in 2022, according to official figures.

In 2022, a total of 49.4 per cent of school pupils walked, cycled, scooted or skated to school, which represents a slight drop on the previous year. The findings come from the annual Hands Up Scotland Survey, which last year involved over 450,000 pupils and is the largest national dataset on school travel in Scotland.

However, Dr Cecilia Oram, head of behaviour change at Sustrans Scotland, the charity that compiles the survey in conjunction with Scottish councils, said it was encouraging to see that active travel remained higher in 2022 than before the pandemic.

In 2019, 47.8 per cent of Scottish school pupils walked, biked, scooted or skated to school. That figure rose to 51.2 per cent in 2020; dropped slightly to 50.3 per cent in 2021; and to 49.4 per cent in 2022.

In 2013, 50.3 per cent of Scottish pupils got to school under their own steam, as opposed to taking the bus or being driven.

Dr Oram said: “Maintaining momentum with the positive shift towards healthier and more sustainable choices for the school run benefits everyone, and we’re pleased to see further evidence of changes in behaviour sticking within the results of the 2022 Hands Up Scotland Survey.” 

In 2022, primary school pupils reported the highest level of active travel to school - either walking, cycling, scooting or skating - out of all school types, at 54.1 per cent, followed by secondary school pupils at 43 per cent.

State-school pupils, meanwhile, reported higher active travel levels compared to pupils in the independent sector: 49.9 per cent of state-school pupils walked, cycled, scootered or skated, against 20 per cent of pupils at independent schools.

Dr Oram added: “Another notable finding within the results is the rise in bus use for a second year in a row, which potentially suggests the free bus pass for under-22-year-olds has encouraged more young people to take public transport.”

Free bus travel for under-22s was introduced in Scotland in January 2022.

Bus use in primary, secondary and independent schools had been decreasing over the past 10 survey years. However, between 2021 and 2022, all three school types reported an increase for the second year in a row, with primary schools at 6.1 per cent (up 0.6 percentage points), secondary schools at 33 per cent (up 1.7 percentage points) and independent schools rising sharply by 9.6 percentage points to 23.7 per cent.