How to set up a walking bus
When setting up a walking bus, there are many things you'll need to consider.
All of the resources on this page can be found in our walking bus resource pack.
Before starting a walking bus
It's important to find out whether there is a good level of interest before starting a walking bus.
It's essential to determine whether there would be enough parents or carers and school staff willing to help. Without the support of volunteers, the walking bus would not be able to run.
Carry out a simple survey of interest using our walking bus survey of interest form to determine how many children would be interested in joining a walking bus and how many parents or carers would be committed to help run it on a regular basis.
Ratios
At least 2 adult supervisors are needed to operate a walking bus, with one leading from the front (the driver) and one following at the back (the conductor).
The recommended ratio of adult supervision to children is:
- 1:4 for infants
- 1:8 for juniors
- 1:6 if the age range is mixed.
Younger children and babies in pushchairs travelling with the walking bus need to be included in the ratios.
Appoint a walking bus coordinator
It’s a good idea to appoint a coordinator at the start of organising a walking bus.
Their role will be to look after the administration of the bus and liaise between the school, parents or carers, and volunteers.
To help the coordinator manage the initial tasks that need to be carried out you can use our walking bus coordinator checklist.
Routes
You should consider carefully when choosing a suitable route for a walking bus.
The route should be kept to a reasonable length and be convenient for parents or carers and children that want to take part. It will be better to set up fewer routes with more volunteers taking it in turns on a rota, rather than lots of routes relying on the same volunteers.
You can operate your walking bus by selecting a departure point where all passengers and volunteers join at the same time before travelling to school.
Alternatively, you can include ‘bus stops’ on route that work to a timetable. If you're introducing stops, these should be kept to a minimum as a ‘waiting time’ will need to be included in the journey time.
Risk assessment
Once you have chosen your route, this will need to be risk assessed.
Volunteers or the walking bus coordinator should ‘walk the route’ first to ensure they are happy before approaching Medway Council to carry out the risk assessment.
Timetable
Consider starting off slow, offering the walking bus for 1 or 2 mornings a week on days when you have most volunteers. It will be easier to expand to more days once everybody becomes familiar with the process.
Walking buses can be arranged for the journey home too, but the uptake is likely to be less due to varying afterschool commitments. This could be explored once the bus gets up and running.
When creating a timetable, find out the number of pupils that want to join the walking bus, then how many volunteers are required to support this on the route.
Volunteers
All volunteers helping with the walking bus must be DBS checked before taking part, the school should provide support on ensuring this takes place.
It's important that volunteers take responsibility to understand the The Highway Code and ensure these rules and recommendations are used on all walking bus journeys.
Use our walking bus volunteer guide as a hand-out to support a volunteers meeting, which gives advice on road safety procedures and how the bus should run.
You can also request volunteers to sign the walking bus volunteer terms of agreement form. This is to confirm that volunteers understand the procedures in exchange for your walking bus insurance cover.
Choose a lead volunteer
For each walking bus journey or day, assign a lead volunteer who will be responsible for the running of the bus.
Their tasks should include keeping the register of passengers and being the main point of contact if a child cannot attend. They should ensure there are enough volunteers to run the bus journey.
When the rota is created, child emergency contacts and a list of ‘back-up’ volunteers should be made available on the ‘leads’ register.
Tabards
All volunteers and children taking part in the walking bus scheme will need to wear a reflective tabard.
Consent
Parents, carers and pupils
It's important that the walking bus responsibilities for parents, carers and pupils are understood before taking part.
Parents and carers will need to sign a walking bus consent form before their child can join the walking bus.
Volunteers
Volunteers must understand their responsibilities, ensuring they familiarise themselves with the terms of agreement in order to be eligible for the walking bus insurance cover policy.
Volunteers must:
- have a valid DBS check
- always follow the adult to child ratio
- confirm they have read and understood the walking bus volunteer guide - the walking bus volunteer terms of agreement form can be used to support this.
Launch
Be proud that your school has initiated a walking bus by creating a launch.
This could be done through an assembly, newsletter or social media posts. By creating positive publicity on your walking bus, you're more likely to gain further volunteers to expand your bus service.
Walking bus resource pack
Our walking bus resource pack has everything you need to begin a walking bus, including:
- survey of interest form
- coordinator checklist
- volunteer guide
- volunteer terms of agreement form
- consent form
- guidelines - how to set up a walking bus.