Examining the Factors Affecting the Uptake of Free School Transport: A Focus on Middle and Secondary Nonstate Schools

Abstract

The increasing rise in traffic has prompted policy makers to introduce measures to reduce road incidents, delays, and economic and environmental impacts. In Malta, one such measure was extending free school transport services to middle and secondary school children attending nonstate institutions. This empirical study aimed to explore the determinants affecting the uptake of this service among those attending independent or church schools, examining whether factors identified by global scholars apply to the Maltese context. Using a quantitative methodology, middle and secondary nonstate school parents/guardians (hereafter “parents” for brevity) received an online self-administered questionnaire for voluntary completion. The study revealed that parents who consider their children to have excessive homework tend to transport them home themselves, allowing for earlier completion of homework and participation in evening after-school activities. Regression models indicated that parents who own a luxury car, which was a proxy used for wealth, were more likely to commute their children to school, even when controlling for the level of education of the parents within the household. Additionally, parents living farther from school were more likely to utilize free school transport owing to the inconvenience of traveling with their children while managing other commitments. Conversely, the age and gender of the child, the number of siblings, the availability of additional drivers within the household, and the parents’ social background did not significantly affect the uptake of school transport among middle and secondary school children attending independent and church schools in Malta.