![ZIS Lower School students getting onto the ZIS Village Liner bus service.]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1686224010/zurich/bvsusdp2yuha4pcuxxck/village-liner-sustain.jpg","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_2/v1686224010/zurich/bvsusdp2yuha4pcuxxck/village-liner-sustain.jpg","width":512},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1686224010/zurich/bvsusdp2yuha4pcuxxck/village-liner-sustain.jpg","width":600}])
Shaking up transport – both to and from ZIS and for school activities and trips – is a big part of ZIS’s journey to sustainability. By 2030, ZIS plans to reduce carbon emitted on the school commute by 66 per cent. This will be achieved with a raft of new measures, including a carpooling system, charging points at school, incentivising public transport for the school’s employees, and, crucially, increasing the number of students who travel by public and school transport. And that’s happening right now with the Village Liner service.
Parent Aude Chardon was eager to find a more sustainable way for her son, Maillet (Grade 4), to get to and from school. “I work full-time, so taking Maillet and picking him up was very difficult in terms of timing,” says Aude. “It wasn’t pleasant either; with so many parents taking their children to school, the roads were very busy. It takes longer and it’s very stressful. And I was always conscious that the pollution around the school was not good for children’s health. But I wasn’t comfortable with him taking public transport at his age.”
Then she heard about the Village Liner service – a bus solely for ZIS students. It travels on a set route between Rüschlikon and the Lower School, with one bus in the morning and two in the afternoon – one service immediately after school and one later to allow for students taking part in after school activities.
Now, Maillet can travel with his friends – and take his first steps towards independent travel in a safe environment. “It’s great to know he is on a bus with a driver and ZIS chaperone I can trust,” says Aude. “The bus has made a huge difference to my life!”
Plans are well under way to achieve carbonneutral travel for school activities by 2030. Local integration – using public transport services that already exist – will be a key part, as will using as much public transport as possible within Europe, and carbon offsetting the remainder.
And all these plans are already having an effect. “The use of public transport has increased by 10 per cent since the beginning of this school year,” says Chief Operating Officer Stefan Mühlemann. “That’s a very positive step in the right direction: the community has embraced it.”
“The use of public transport has increased by 10 per cent since the beginning of the school year. The community has embraced it”
Stefan Mühlemann
Chief Operating Officer