Shared home to school transport provider Kura has joined up with sustainable school travel app Homerun to combat the threat it says low occupancy car-travel poses to students, staff and parents at a time when infection fears have created a surge in car journeys since the return of schools in March.
HomeRun analysis revealed that almost a third (32%) of school journeys that were taken by public transport pre-lockdown have now switched to private vehicles, creating more traffic congestion and pollution around the school gates. Two in five parents (40%) highlighted traffic congestion around their school gates as a problem, and a further 22% expressed concern around the level of toxic car fumes around their school in a separate survey commissioned by Kura in 2019.
To combat this, the partnership between HomeRun and Kura will provide schools with with a more complete view of their commutes, covering all student, parent and staff journeys irrespective of how they travel. This will enable schools to more easily identify and communicate with serial low-occupancy car users and recommend greener alternatives such as car-sharing, walking buddies or dedicated shared transport. Schools will be able to utilise this insight in order to tackle the harm created by increased traffic.
Godfrey Ryan, CEO of Kura, believes that by working together, the two partners can provide a unique solution to the issue of the school run: “Homerun’s innovative solutions will allow us to augment our shared transport data with a range of additional information on parents who have been forced back into low-occupancy cars. Through this, we will be able to more effectively work with schools to provide a range of safer, more convenient transport propositions, aligned with their bespoke needs, that decrease the number of vehicles around the school gates. I’m delighted to be working with them.”
HomeRun founder and Director, Pooya Kamvari, added: “The issue of the school run must be tackled holistically and I’m glad to be partnering with a like-minded company looking to do just that. Every school has a unique commute footprint of journeys and being able to understand and visualise it is key to identifying impactful, sustainable solutions. With the right combination of measures including car-sharing, travel buddies and dedicated school transport we can make low and single-occupancy car use a thing of the past.”
