A Systematic review of active school travel distances and durations

The school journey is a daily ritual with profound implications for urban sustainability, child health, and transport equity. Supporting children’s active school transport (AST) remains one of the most accessible and impactful strategies to advance these goals. While distance is widely acknowledged as a key determinant of AST, there has been no systematic synthesis of the distances and durations children actually travel using active modes. This paper addresses that gap through a systematic review of 149 studies published between 2003 and 2023, encompassing data from 492,416 children across diverse global contexts. Studies were included if they reported quantitative measures of distance or time travelled by children walking or cycling to or from school. We identified two dominant approaches to reporting AST distance and duration: typical values (means and medians) and spatial thresholds (bands and cut-offs). Across studies reporting averages, children walked a mean distance of 1.0 km (14 min) and cycled 2.7 km (13 min). These values suggest a practical threshold for promoting AST, with 14 min emerging as a consistent average travel time across modes. Band-based studies further confirmed that AST declines as distance increases, though reporting methods varied widely. The review highlights significant heterogeneity in measurement techniques, definitions of active travel, and reporting practices. While this diversity reflects the contextual richness of AST research, it also limits opportunities for meta-analysis. We argue against standardisation, advocating instead for context-sensitive, interdisciplinary approaches that bridge transport and public health research. Improved collaboration and methodological transparency are essential to advancing the field. This review provides a foundational reference for researchers, planners, and policymakers seeking to understand and support AST. It offers empirically grounded benchmarks for distance and time, while also calling for more nuanced, context-aware research to inform interventions that promote walking and cycling to school.