Cycling in Flanders, public transport in Brussels and Wallonia: how secondary school pupils get to school

The new school year began this week in French-speaking education, and will begin next week in Dutch-speaking education. Among all the pupils returning to school, there are some 600,000 secondary school students aged 15 and over. This press release focuses on them.

According to figures from Statbel, the Belgian statistical office, public transport remains the most commonly used mode of travel among these pupils (46%), well ahead of cycling (28%), cars (16%) and walking (10%). However, these averages mask a marked contrast between the Regions. Pupils in Flanders overwhelmingly favour cycling, while those in Wallonia and Brussels are more likely to use the bus, tram or train.

These figures come from the "Mobility" module of the Labour Force Survey, which analyses how people travel to work or school. They cover the period 2023-2025.

The differences between the regions are striking. In Brussels, nearly eight in ten pupils (79%) use public transport. Bicycles (3%) and cars (2%) play only a minor role there, while 15% of pupils walk to school.

In Flanders, cycling is by far the most commonly used mode of transport, with 46%. Public transport comes second with 34%. In addition, 13% of pupils go to school by car and 7% on foot.

In Wallonia, public transport remains the main mode of transport (55%), but the car is used more frequently there than in the other regions (27%). Furthermore, 15% of pupils walk to school, while only 3% cycle.

The data come from the special module "Mobility", coupled to the Labour Force Survey, reference years 2023-2025 (EU-LFS), and are based on the answers of 3,388 pupils aged 15 and over in secondary education who travelled to school during the reference week. Pupils under 15 are not taken into account, as they are not interviewed in the survey. As it is possible to combine several modes of transport, certain priority rules have been drawn up to determine a primary mode.