Raumati cycling school bus set to hit the road

A cycling school bus is set to get moving at Raumati South after the local community board approved funding.

The BikeBus initiative by Kāpiti Cycling Action will have daily supervised rides for school children to the area’s three schools – Te Rā School, Raumati South School and Raumati Beach School – using quieter roads and cycleways. Trained and uniformed volunteer marshals will ride at the front and rear of the cycling bus, which will run on timetables with students joining as it passes near their house.

A concept listed three potential routes to serve Raumati Beach School and four potential routes running to Raumati South School and Te Rā Waldorf School.

The Raumati Community Board granted the initiative $2500 from its Initiatives Grants Fund on Tuesday evening to help set it up. It also recommended district council officials work with Kāpiti Cycling Action to further develop the proposal as a pilot to seek funding at the next Long-Term Plan.

Kāpiti Cycling Action’s chairperson Bruce Henderson said before the meeting the concept had been practised in other parts of the country, in Auckland and Cambridge.

‘‘It’s a very good way of getting large numbers of children safely to school when the roads get quite congested,’’ he said. ‘‘[The Kāpiti Coast] is a good area for it because it’s quite flat.’’

Most of the funding would go to training marshals, and it would cover logistical costs to set up BikeBus including route development and uniforms.

‘‘[The marshals] can be parents, they could be older people from the local community who have time and inclination to do,’’ Henderson said. ‘‘We’ve had some interest already.’’

Bede Laracy, the community board’s chairperson, said members and council staff were interested in the proposal.

‘‘It’s a fantastic idea if it can be done safely,’’ he said.

The involved schools backed the idea of an organised cycling school run.

Raumati Beach School’s deputy principal Julie Morris said it would promote a healthy alternate means of transport.

Raumati South School’s deputy principal Marcus Hopkinson said the initiative would be great for the community and benefit its students.