New data from TfL has showed a decade of change to the school run in London with an average of 73,915 fewer car trips on each school day than ten years ago.
More children are walking, wheeling and cycling to school than when the mayor took office a decade ago.
A programme of measures have helped make active travel easier, safer and more attractive.
In 2024/25, 66 per cent of primary school-aged children travelled to school using active travel, while the proportion travelling by car fell to its lowest level in a decade. Data shows a 16 per cent decrease in the number of journeys to school made by car between 2015/16 and 2024/25, falling from 461,000 to 387,000.
There are now more than 870 School Streets across London, where motor traffic is restricted at drop-off and pick-up times. There were none in 2016. Breathe London monitoring data shows School Streets can reduce nitrogen dioxide levels by up to 23 per cent during morning drop-off.
More than 90 per cent of London schools now have scooter and/or cycle parking, while around 196,688 children received cycle training through TfL’s Bikeability programme between 2021/22 and 2025/26.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “Whether it’s walking or wheeling, active travel is excellent for children’s physical and mental health, increasing their confidence and helping them focus in the classroom – and fewer cars on the road also means less air pollution in their lungs.
In the past ten years I’ve prioritised making it easier and safer for children to walk, cycle, scoot and wheel safely and independently, and these figures show my policies are working, with more young Londoners than ever reaping the benefits of active travel.
But we’re not complacent. I remain committed to building on our progress and making it safer, easier and more enjoyable for even more Londoners to get around the capital on foot or by bike. This is vital not just for our health, but also for our environment and our children’s futures, as we continue building a greener and better London for everyone.”
Andrew McCracken, Director of External Affairs at Asthma + Lung UK, said: “The drop in car journeys to and from schools is good news for little lungs. Fewer car journeys mean cleaner air and healthier kids.
“London has made impressive progress on cleaning up dirty air, but the job isn’t done. Our own air quality monitoring project found that 95% of participating London schools reported rates of nitrogen dioxide - a harmful air pollutant - above World Health Organisation target levels.
“There is much to learn from London’s success. Seventy years on from the first Clean Air Act, we need today’s politicians to show similar courage and implement a nationwide approach to tackling the hidden harms in the air we breathe.”
