Background: Walking and cycling to school have been extensively studied in urban settings, whereas data from rural areas remain sparse. This study examined perceptions of walking and cycling to school amongst adolescents living within 4.8 km of school in rural New Zealand.

Methods: Adolescents (n=62; 53.2% females; 15.6±1.5 years; five schools) residing and attending a secondary school in a rural settings (population <1,000) completed an online survey about their perceptions of walking and cycling to school. Home-to-school distance was calculated using Geographic Information Systems shortest network path analysis.

Results: Overall, 73% of adolescents walked and 11% cycled to school. Compared to cycling, adolescents reported a greater desire (57% vs 26%) and intention (74% vs 13%) to walk to school, and perceived more support from friends (37% vs 30%), parents (81% vs 40%), and schools (61% vs 34%) (all p<0.001). Adolescents also reported better physical infrastructure (presence/availability of footpaths vs cycle lanes) for walking versus cycling to school (86% vs 36%, p<0.001). Over 95% of adolescents perceived both walking and cycling to school as safe.

Conclusions:Compared to cycling, walking to school was a more common and preferred transport mode, with greater social support and physical infrastructure, whereas both modes were perceived to be safe by rural adolescents living within 4.8 km of their school. The findings suggest that supportive social and built environments appear to encourage walking to school in rural areas. Mode-specific approaches may be required to encourage cycling to school for rural adolescents.