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 FOR SCHOOL CHILDREN
Bicycling and walking initiatives to benefit school children have become one of the most popular ways of causing these community improvements. One reason is that in many industrialized nations dominated by car travel, an entire generation has grown up without knowing the freedom of traveling by their own power. Many of the officials who possess the power to implement policies and increase funding for bicycling and walking are alarmed by this fact because bicycling or walking to school was an important part of their own childhood.
The frightening realization here is that more and more officials from that earlier generation are retiring, replaced by people who have no personal connection to bicycling and walking. Fortunately, the concept of Safe Routes to Schools and other school initiatives are gaining momentum, and not a moment too soon!
Find lots of great resources on these sites:
Denmark Odense Safe Routes to Schools results: http://www.eu-target.net/WorkAreas/MobilityEducation/OdenseSaferoutesforchildren.htm
FOR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
University bicycle initiatives range from bike loaner programs (see the Community Bike Program section on our Bike Shops page) to courses that teach students how to mold communities into places where people want to ride bikes.
Unfortunately, the only full curriculum we have found available is from the US Federal Highway Administration: http://www.tfhrc.gov/safety/pedbike/pubs/05085/index.htm . We have received good reviews about it as a nice basic overview course.
Please also look at the course outlines that Professor John Pucher offers at Rutgers University: http://policy.rutgers.edu/faculty/pucher/
Fuji University is another important innovation towards getting more university students riding bikes instead of driving: http://fujibikes.com/2008/fujiuniversity.asp
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