About

About RideScore Active Schools

RideScore is an incentive-based program aimed at increasing active travel to and from school. The digital platform utilises beacons that provide notifications to parents on the arrival and departure of students riding and scooting to and from school. Individual trips are recorded and rewarded at certain milestones.

RideScore uses fun characters to engage students in bike education and road safety.

Why RideScore?

Cycling to school is an easy way to help children to be more physically active. Physical activity is essential to children’s health and wellbeing, and there is strong evidence that it can improve academic performance. More students cycling/scooting means less vehicles in our school zones, reducing traffic and parking congestion and making our local streets safer for everyone. 

How does it work?

Participating students will receive a personal sensor (beacon) that is attached to their bicycle or scooter. The school bicycle storage facility is fitted with a Bluetooth reader that detects the signal from the sensor, and immediately sends a notification to the nominated contact that the student has arrived at, or departed the school gate. Data is collected by the online platform, so that incentives can be offered at certain milestones.

History/Background

Cycling to school rates on the Sunshine Coast are low and reflect state and national trends of a reduction in the number of students at primary and senior ages choosing an active mode of travel to get to and from school. Sunshine Coast Council is committed to reverse this trend and has partnered with We Ride Australia on the RideScore Active Schools program as part of its broader school travel behaviour change programs to increase active travel to schools across the Sunshine Coast. 

The use of smart beacons was developed internally by the Sunshine Coast Council staff seeking to address a major barrier for parents around personal safety concerns. The program provides parents and carers with the peace of mind needed to allow their children to ride and scoot to school.

Sunshine Coast Council has undertaken a successful proof of concept with Caloundra State School for which it received a national Cycling Luminaries Award. Council embraced technology to develop an innovative tool to encourage students to ride to school. It is the first program of its type in Australia to record students bicycle/scooter trips, provide real-time information to parents and reward students as they ride/scoot to and from school.

The aim of the RideScore Active Schools program has been to develop a scalable framework that will support and enable more children and young people to scoot and ride a bike to school. Around a third of morning and afternoon peak traffic congestion is associated with school travel and this is having a detrimental impact on the performance of the local road network as well as the negative health impacts on Australian children who are amongst the least active in the world.

Benefits of RideScore