[Promoting physical activity: going to school by the Piedibus (walking school bus)]

The Local Health Service of Lecco has proposed the project called Piedibus (Walking school bus), the organisation of safe pedestrian pathways from home to school, in order to promote the increase of physical activity among children. This article describes how the project has been planned and made operational. It provides some results about the community participation and the satisfaction of students, teachers and accompanying volunteers. The project organisation is centered on community participation with large institutional involvement. At the moment (October 2004), independently of weather conditions, 12 Piedibus lines, with more than 500 pupils and 90 accompanying volunteers, are running daily in the Lecco Province. For the next school year 2004-2005 we estimate that the number of lines and users involved will double. The opinion of children, teachers and volunteers has been in general very favourable toward the project: 91.4% of participating students stated they liked the initiative very much and 87.4% among them prefer to go to school by the Piedibus than by any other means. Teacher and volunteers outlined the social value of the project and the increase in physical activity as positive aspects of the project. The overall impact at a province level is outlined by the Media coverage with over 60 articles and numerous radio and television broadcasts.