BackgroundWalking and cycling to school is a source of physical activity (PA). Little is known about public transit use for travel to school and whether it is a physically active alternative to car use for those who live too far to walk.PurposeTo describe school-trip characteristics, including PA, across travel modes and to assess the association between PA with walk distance.MethodsHigh school students (13.3 ± 0.7 years, 37% female) from Downtown Vancouver wore accelerometers (GT3X+) and global positioning systems (GPS) (QStarz BT-Q1000XT) for 7 days in October 2012. We included students with valid school-trip data (n = 100 trips made by n = 42 students). We manually identified school-trips and mode from GPS and calculated trip duration, distance, speed, and trip-based moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA; min). We assessed between-mode differences and associations using multilevel regression analyses (spring 2014).ResultsStudents accrued 9.1 min (±5.1) of trip-based MVPA, which was no different between walk and transit trips (p = 0.961). Walking portions of transit trips were similar to walking trips in terms of distance (p = 0.265) and duration (p = 0.493). Walk distance was associated with MVPA in a dose–response manner.ConclusionsPublic transit use can contribute meaningfully toward daily PA. Thus, school policies that promote active school-travel should consider including public transit.

Background Physical activity (PA) is closely linked with child and youth health, and active travel may be a solution to enhancing PA levels. Activity spaces depict the geographic coverage of one’s travel. Little is known about activity spaces and PA in adolescents. Objective To explore the relation between adolescent travel (using a spatial measure of activity space size) and daily moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA), with a focus on school days. Methods In Fall 2012, we used Global Positioning Systems to manually identify trips and generate activity spaces for each person-day; quantified by area for 39 students (13.8±0.6 years, 38% female) attending high school in urban Downtown Vancouver, Canada. We assessed the association between activity space area and MVPA using multi-level regression. We calculated total, school-day and trip-based MVPA for each valid person-day (accelerometry; ≥ 600 min wear time). Results On school days, students accrued 68.2 min/day (95% CI 60.4–76.0) of MVPA. Daily activity spaces averaged 2.2 km2 (95% CI 1.3–3.0). There was no association between activity space size and school-day MVPA. Students accrued 21.8 min/day (95% CI 19.2–24.4) of MVPA during school hours, 19.4 min/day (95% CI 15.1–23.7) during travel, and 28.3 min/day (95% CI 22.3–34.3) elsewhere. Conclusion School and school travel are important sources of PA in Vancouver adolescents, irrespective of activity space area covered.

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GPS and accelerometry provide context-rich information relating to school-travel. The hour before/after school may - on average - provide a simple means to crudely estimate physical activity from school-travel when GPS are not available.

ObjectiveTo investigate differences in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) from school-travel between adolescents in urban and suburban neighbourhoods and to describe its relative contribution to MVPA on school days.MethodsWe measured 243 adolescents (51% male, grades 8–10) from Vancouver's walkable downtown core and its largely car-dependent suburb Surrey (fall 2011, 2013). We estimated mean school-travel MVPA from accelerometry (hour before/after school on ≥ 2 days; n = 110, 39% male) and compared school-travel MVPA by neighbourhood type and school-travel mode. The influence of mean school-travel MVPA on mean school-day MVPA (≥ 600 min valid wear time on ≥ 2 days) was examined by linear regression.ResultsOver half of students used active modes (urban: 63%, suburban: 53%). Those using active travel and living in the urban neighbourhood obtained the most school-travel MVPA (22.3 ± 8.0 min). Urban passive travellers used public transit and obtained more school-travel MVPA than suburban students (16.9 ± 6.2 vs. 8.0 ± 5.3, p < 0.001), who were primarily driven. Regardless of mode or neighbourhood type, over one-third of school-day MVPA was explained by school-travel MVPA (R2 = 0.38, p < 0.001).ConclusionUrban dwelling may facilitate greater school-travel MVPA in adolescents. School-travel MVPA is an important contributor to adolescents' school-day MVPA. Where feasible, physically active options for school-travel should be promoted, including public transit.