For the school, the “Buzz Lightyear” line serves the “Woody”, “Pile-Poil”, “Zurg” and “M. Patate” stops. At each station, its sign adorned with the design of a pot-bellied bus, with feet instead of wheels. Since 2009, about twenty students from Marolles-en-Brie, on the outskirts of Val-de-Marne, have been traveling by pedibus. Three lines winding between suburban districts and the town centre, precise times of passage, parents, decked out in fluorescent lights, who take turns to accompany and the procession can walk, early in the morning, to the gates of the nursery and elementary schools. The longest route is 1.2 km and takes half an hour.
Inspired by what she had discovered in Switzerland, a retired agricultural engineer, Agnès Laszczyk, set up this pedestrian school bus system. “The children walk quietly, observes the sexagenarian, they see the trees blooming in the gardens, they realize that the rain is not a problem, they come to class awake and happy. » Ancillary benefits but not incidental, in his eyes: “It gives life to the streets, some grandparents mobilize to supervise, others greet the children who pass, mutual aid develops between the youngest and the oldest in the procession. And that sets an example for other parents! »
The ballet of 4 × 4 has not ceased, however, at the gates of the school. “They go to work, knows Agnès Laszczyk, they want to go quickly and they are afraid, their children are connected by telephone, they find it more difficult to give them independence than in my time when we went to school alone in first grade. But, since the creation of the pedibus, we have gone from 70% to 50% of children dropped off by car…”
Less active mobility
With Julie Chihaoui, 40, HR manager, walking bus volunteer on teleworking days, the younger siblings have been walking their 6 and 8-year-old legs every day since the “Batman” stop on the “Superheroes” line (because there is a climb). Their mother “like the idea of this transition, of this calm time which prepares to become a student. And then it shows them that the car is not automatic. That walking is normal”. Her eldest is “Natural transition from walking bus to bicycle” for entry to college, after a short tour of wheels in town with Agnès Laszczyk whose association, Le Nez au vent, occasionally organizes bicycle buses, on the same principle as the walking bus.
The carbon-free processions of minots are no longer surprising, they make their way all over France. Cycling, walking, scooter, skateboard, rollerblades, everything is good to move forward by emitting more perspiration than C02. Because there are twelve million students, from kindergarten to high school, who travel to France at least twice a day, four to six times a week, thirty-six weeks a year.
You have 73.96% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.