Temporary recurring closures and changing mobility patterns: A quasi-experimental study of the impacts of London’s Covid-19 school streets on travel to school

• London’s School Streets are associated with a statistically significant increase in the mode share of active travel and decrease in the mode share of private motor vehicles. • Invervention effects are moderated by average distance travelled to school, a more dispersed student body limits the behavioural changes observed when a School Street is implemented. • Wide spread implementation of School Streets or similar street experiments could contribute to city-wide mobility transitions. With over 500 schemes installed since March 2020, School Streets have been one of the most significant street experiments conducted in London. As temporary and recurring closures to streets these schemes provide a novel typology of street experiment which may be applicable to other contexts. In research on urban street experiments, questions have been raised about the extent to which such schemes can contribute to wider mobility transitions. Through a quasi-experimental analysis of school travel data, this study seeks to assess this question in relation to London’s School Streets schemes. It asks to what extent have these schemes reduced the use of private motor vehicles and increased the uptake of active modes of travel to school. The analysis finds positive but modest results on this count, with some evidence that School Streets have helped to prevent a ‘car-based recovery’ from Covid-19 in London. It goes on to reflect on the implications of this for the wider study of the impacts of street experiments on urban mobility.