Māehe Manawa Ora Movin'Records

We know change is hard, and sometimes, not for the better. Some teachers loved the wallcharts, and think they worked well. Others told us they really really missed the passports! So, who knows, the passports may be back in 2027! *fingers crossed emoji* 

Despite the new-ness, and the busy-ness of our favourite people (that's you, teachers!), around 124 classes took part this year, and over 60 completed our survey - providing valuable insights to help us improve again for next year.

Our very rough, very 'back of the napkin' calculations, work out that this represents around 6.67% of classes taking part, so if everyone had entered trip data, we'd have over 250,000 active trips recorded! (Or something like that).

 

Around 23,000 trips were entered in Te Haerenga o ngā Tamariki during Movin'March 2026.

We added up all the trips to see how the classes taking part in the WoW Challenge got to school. 

• No surprises that walking came out tops - it's easy, fun and you can chat with your whānau or friends!
• Scooters and bikes were popular too, but the Park and Stride option just nudged them out.
• Park and Strideopen_in_new is a great alternative for those who live a bit far away or have tricky intersections or steep roads to travel. And for those parents who need their car for work. It gives tamariki a taste of independence while learning road safety skills. And reduces congestion at the school gate (and the added stress to drivers!). 

Overall, around 74% of all trips recorded were active or sustainable. That's an awesome effort!

The count for Wellington in the 2023 census was closer to 50%.

We added the total recorded active and public transport trips for each week of Movin'March. Then looked at what the weatheropen_in_newopen_in_new was doing each week.

The bars on the graph show how many schools and classes took part each week, while the red line shows the percentage of all active trips entered for that week.

1. Week 1 had some very wet and windy days.
2. Week 2 was better but several rainy days.
3. Week 3 was mostly fine.
4. Week 4 was not as sunny as week 3, but mostly fine.

What would your class results look like?

Use Te Haerenga o ngā Tamarikiopen_in_new to find out!

Note: there is of course or 'self-selection biases'open_in_newopen_in_new in these results. Only the classes who were promoting Movin'March will have taken part. 

We're impressed with all schools around our rohe, but we know you all have unique environments and this impacts how you get around. 

So what did we learn about each region in 2026?

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  • Wellington City topped the walking stats, with 49% of trips entered being walking. Lower Hutt and Upper Hutt were close behind with 39% each.
  • Kāpiti schools love their Park and Stride (16%)! Just edging out Wairarapa and Upper Hutt who both had 14% of trips tagged to Walking Pou.
  • The biggest bikers came from the Wairarapa with 17%! Kāpiti, Porirua and Upper Hutt weren't far behind with 12% each.

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  • And Wairarapa also topped the Scooter stats at 15%. Kāpiti followed with 12%, while Upper Hutt and Wellington both had 10%.
  • Public transport (buses, trains and the ferry) were the least popular across all our rohe, with no more than 5% of trips and an average of around 2%. Will that change over winter though?
  • Upper Hutt had the highest percentage (87.5%) of schools taking part. While Wellington had the highest number (46). Hutt City isn't far behind on both scores though, with 31 schools taking part which makes up 67%. 

If your class could choose how they got to school, what would come out on top?

How does that compare with how they actually get to school?

And what factors influence their choice, or their actual trips?

Waka Kotahi NZTA estimates the health benefits of walking (for 'new users') at $4.40 per km! Cycling comes in at $2.20 per km travelled! (Source: NZTA, 2020open_in_newopen_in_new). With almost half of primary school students in Wellington City alone travelling more than 1km to school, this would quickly add up to amazing benefits - if we can make it fun, safe and easy for kids to walk (Molijn, 2023open_in_newopen_in_new). Because distance to school is also the strongest determinant on mode choice (Mandic, 2023open_in_newopen_in_new).

Auckland Transport has a cool worksheetopen_in_newopen_in_new showing the benefits of active travel as part of their Let's go thereopen_in_new resource.

AT have also collected together a range of 'proof pointsopen_in_newopen_in_new' providing evidence of all the various benefits of active travel to school. This includes who it improves health, supports mental health, and helps kids learn.

In 2023/24 only around 32.4% of kids aged 5-9 used active modes to get to school (EHINZ, 2025open_in_newopen_in_new). This percentage increases slightly for tamariki aged 10-14 (44.9%), but nationally this number has been decreasing since 2011.

Our data gurus have looked at the census data from 2018 and 2023, and compared these numbers across schools that took part in Movin'March vs those who didn't. While the non-Movin'March schools followed the national trend (dropping by 3-6%), we found that our Movin'March schools not only maintained their active travel levels, but also had about 10% more active travellers to begin with!

Movin'March really is making a difference!