Schools in Central Bedfordshire will be taking part in the Santa Challenge between Monday 25 November and Friday 6 December.

The challenge is a virtual race where every active journey to school made by pupils and their parents counts as one virtual mile to Santa’s home in Lapland.

Each morning of the challenge, pupils will record their active travel. After the two week challenge, all journeys at the school are combined, to see whether they have reached their goal of achieving two thousand miles (the equivalent distance from Central Bedfordshire to Lapland).

The aim is to reduce the number of cars on the school run and to continue to give pupils the opportunity to learn about the many benefits of ’active travel’ to school during the winter months, alongside the importance of staying safe.

Cycle to School Week will take place 23 – 27 September and all schools are invited to take part.  

Encourage staff and parents to save money, get healthier and alleviate congestion on the roads. To receive free resources for your school, you just need to make a pledge at Cycle to School Week - Bikeability.

Pupils in Central Bedfordshire will take to the streets for Walk to School Week. They will join thousands of children across the UK to take to their feet for Living Streets’ challenge ‘The Magic of Walking’. The challenge will encourage pupils to be active on their way to school, improving their health, happiness and local environment. Each day, the challenge will teach pupils about five important reasons to walk and the impact it can have – including sustainability, inclusion, health, mindfulness and friendship.

Families are encouraged to walk, wheel, cycle, scoot or ‘Park and Stride’ for the whole week to see the big differences that come from small steps - from healthier and happier children to fewer cars outside the school gates.

From Easter until the end of the summer holidays, the Centrebus ZOO bus service will operate during weekends and school holidays. The service will run every 90 minutes from Luton Parkway, through Dunstable and into Whipsnade Zoo.

To make your trip to the Zoo even better, they are offering a 50% admission ticket discount if you’ve travelled by bus.

The Big Walk and Wheel will be running from Monday 11 March to Friday 22 March and all schools are invited to take part.

Pupils, teachers, and parents across Central Bedfordshire will be encouraged to walk, wheel, or jump on their bikes and scooters for the 2024 challenge.

Now in its fifteenth year, Sustrans Big Walk and Wheel inspires pupils to make active journeys to school, improve air quality where they live, and help them to discover how these changes benefit their world.

The challenge is free to take part and there are daily prizes to be won. The idea is to persuade pupils, teachers, and parents to leave their cars at home and choose active travel for their school journey.

Register at Sustrans Big Walk and Wheel 2024

A school street is a timed road closure outside or next to a school at drop-off and pick-up times. The school street is closed to most vehicles, with exemptions made for residents and people with accessibility needs.

Many schools experience heavy congestion outside their gates during pick-up and drop-off times. Unfortunately, this can increase road danger for children and worsen air pollution outside the school gates. School streets have been created in many parts of the UK to tackle this problem. There are now over 600 school streets nationally.

Key reasons for school streets:

• Safer environment: School streets significantly reduce traffic congestion and improve the air quality around school premises, providing a safer environment for pupils and parents during peak drop-off and pick-up hours.

• Pedestrian Priority: School streets allow pupils to cross the road more safely, reducing the risk of accidents and ensuring a smoother flow of foot traffic around the school.

• Active travel: School streets encourage children to walk, scoot and cycle to school.

  We evaluate the eligibility of schools for a school street on a case-by-case basis. A school street is usually trialled for a few months, after which we consider whether to make the school street permanent.

Would you like your children to play out safely in your street? We want to work with you to set up play streets in your area.

A play street is a free scheme whereby residents come together to give children a chance to play freely and safely close to their homes. It is led by residents but supported by us. 

Play streets:

• take place for an hour or 2 at a time

• happen once a month or every other week

• happen on quiet residential streets

• are closed to through traffic, but residents can still drive in and out at walking speed (supervised by volunteers)

Parents are responsible for their own children.

The street becomes a safe space for children to play and neighbours to socialise.

The process usually involves a lead organiser getting together a handful of residents to act as stewards. If you are a parent, carer or resident who is interested, please contact us at: begreen@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk.

We will work with you to check if your street is suitable, talk through questions and concerns and walk you through next steps.

Questions and answers

Central Bedfordshire lower and primary schools are once again taking part in a Christmas challenge; counting their walking, scooting and cycling trips to school to see if they can travel virtually to visit Santa in Lapland.

This year’s challenge runs from Monday 27 November to Friday 8 December.

The aim is to decrease the number of cars used on the school run and give pupils the opportunity to learn about the many benefits of traveling actively to school alongside the importance of staying safe.

Using a class record sheet, pupils and their teachers will monitor active travel trips to school. All journeys will then be combined to see if each school reached its goal of achieving 2,000 miles, the equivalent distance from Central Bedfordshire to Lapland.

Until 31 December 2024, single bus journeys will cost no more than £2 on most routes around Central Bedfordshire.

The government’s “Get Around for £2” scheme limits bus fares for single journeys to a maximum of £2 on bus journeys around the country. The offer has been extended to the end of December 2024 and now that Grant Palmer services have joined the scheme, most bus journeys in Central Bedfordshire are included. Why not make the most of your local bus services and travel around Central Bedfordshire for no more than £2 for a single journey?

Find out more on GOV.UK.

A number of Arriva bus routes have timetable changes from Sunday 19 November.

These include Routes F70 and F77 (Luton – Dunstable – Leighton Buzzard – Milton Keynes) which include more F77 journeys via Tilsworth, and enhanced evening and Sunday services on route F77.  This is funded through the Council’s Bus Services Improvement Plan in partnership with the UK Government.

Routes A, Z, 28 / 28B and 31 in the Luton and Dunstable area will have revised timetables, and route Z will no longer serve Linmere (The Farmstead).  This is partially replaced by services 28/28B. 

 For further details go to Public transport

Residents can now explore Biggleswade in a whole new way! We're delighted to announce the launch of a cycle hire scheme for residents of Biggleswade in partnership with Bedfordshire Rural Communities Charity (BedsRCC) and cycle hire company App-Bike. The 12-month pilot scheme is funded from contributions secured from a local development and BedsRCC. You can sign up at App-Bike.

School pupils in Central Bedfordshire will join thousands of children across the UK taking part in Walk to School Week (15 - 19 May 2023).

Walk to School Week takes place during Living Streets' National Walking Month each May, with this year’s challenge ‘Walk with Wildlife’ encouraging children to travel actively to school every day of the week. Meeting various animals along the way, they'll learn about the important reasons to walk and the difference it can make for individuals, communities and the planet.

Families are encouraged to walk, cycle, scoot or ‘Park and Stride’ for the whole week to see the big differences that come from small steps, from healthier and happier children to fewer cars outside the school gates.

Pupils, teachers, and parents across Central Bedfordshire are being encouraged to walk, wheel, or jump on their bikes and scooters for the 2023 Big Walk and Wheel schools challenge.

Central Bedfordshire Council, with the support of sustainable transport charity Sustrans, is promoting the two-week national school challenge, which runs from Monday 20 March to Friday 31 March.

Sustrans Big Walk and Wheel will inspire pupils to make active journeys to school, improve air quality where they live, and help them to discover how these changes benefit their world.

The challenge is open to all schools, it’s free to take part and there are daily prizes to be won. The idea is to persuade pupils, teachers, and parents to leave their cars at home and choose active travel for their school journey. The Big Walk and Wheel challenge

Lower and primary schools are once again taking part in a Christmas challenge; counting walking, scooting and cycling trips to school to see if they can travel virtually to visit Santa in Lapland.

We organise the challenge, in partnership with sustainable transport charity Sustrans. So far, 24 schools have signed up to take part in this year’s challenge which runs from Monday 28 November to Friday 9 December.

We’ll be collecting bikes for re-use on 7 May, 10am - 3pm at Preen CIC, Unit 2 Shortmead Industrial Estate, Sun Street, Biggleswade SG18 0BP.

Children, teachers, and parents are encouraged to walk, wheel, or jump on their bikes and scooters in The Big Walk and Wheel 2022.

With the support of sustainable transport charity Sustrans, we're promoting the two-week national school challenge, which runs from Monday 21 March to Friday 1 April.

Schools will compete to record the greatest number of pupils walking, wheeling, scooting, and cycling to school, whilst learning about the benefits of active travel along the way.

It is free to enter and will persuade parents and carers to leave their cars at home and choose to travel actively for their school journey instead.

If more than 15% of pupils from the school walk, wheel, cycle or scoot on each day of the challenge, classes will be entered into daily draws for rewards and prizes, including scooters.

Last year, over 30 schools from Central Bedfordshire took part in the Big Pedal, with families amassing 72,093 walking, scooter and cycle trips during the 10-day challenge. This was a fantastic achievement and a high target to beat this year: so please ask your child’s school to sign up for The Big Walk and Wheel challenge.

We will be holding several bike recycling events across Central Bedfordshire in November.

Sandy Sports Centre (back car park). 1 November, 8am – 2pm.

Priory House, Council Offices, Chicksands. 2 November, 8am – 2pm.

Flitwick Leisure Centre. 4 November, 8am – 2pm.

Houghton Regis Leisure Centre. 8 November, 8am – 2pm.

Tiddenfoot Leisure Centre. 9 November, 8am – 2pm.

Donated bikes change lives - some have helped the long-term unemployed get back into work, and others have provided a source of transport and independence for children in care.

Cycle to Work Day is for absolutely everyone. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t cycled in years or have never cycled at all. This is just about giving it a go. Cycle to Work Day

If you’re not travelling to work at the moment, just take a leisurely ride in your local area. All rides can be logged at Love to Ride

The Travel Choices team will be holding another bike donation event on Thursday 12 August from 8am to 4pm at Saxon Leisure Centre car park, Biggleswade.

Make cycling your daily exercise during Bike Week (30 May - 5 June). Bike Week, delivered by Cycling UK, is an annual celebration to showcase cycling and how brilliant it is. Join thousands of people all across the UK and enjoy the simple pleasure of riding a bike.