2025-26 School Year Walk Zones
Starting Sept. 1, 2025, the CBE will be expanding yellow bus service and adjusting walk zones.
These changes are happening because Alberta Education has updated the rules for school transportation through the School Transportation Amendment Regulation. This includes changing how far a student must live from school to qualify for busing, and how that distance is measured. The goal is to make transportation available to more students.
How are walk zones calculated?
With the new direction from Alberta Education, CBE school walk zones are calculated based on driving distance. The driving distance is measured on the road network from the home to the front door of the school, excluding “not developed” (unmaintained) roadways.
- For grades K – 6, the driving distance is 1.6 KM.
- For grades 7 – 12 the driving distance is 2 KM.
Students who live within this distance are in the walk zone and not eligible for transportation service*.
*There are exceptions to this, such as students who require specialized transportation.
How is the ‘driving distance’ for a walk zone measured?
To determine how far a student lives from the school by driving distance, the CBE relies on the City of Calgary’s official road network — not Google Maps or third-party tools. This information is published by the City’s Transportation Planning and Roads department and is the same information used by emergency services, road maintenance crews and municipal planners.
The driving distances used to calculate walk zones for CBE schools are the same road networks used by the city for 911 routing, snow plowing and more. This approach ensures a fair and consistent assessment of eligibility.
How is the City’s official road network different from Google Maps?
While Google Maps is great for day-to-day navigation, it uses crowdsourced and commercial data that may include temporary paths, private roads or unofficial driveways. Google also updates road changes based on user reports, which can sometimes be inaccurate or out-of-date.
By contrast, the City’s official road network data is built directly from official engineering drawings, road surveys and construction records. It reflects the legal, drivable street network used by the City itself.
CBE continues to look for the best ways to accommodate students across our system. The intent is for students to attend school as close to home as possible within the existing constraints of system resources.
Loading Zones at Schools
CBE works collaboratively with the City of Calgary to establish student loading zones. Most student loading zones are located on the street and supported by signage that is enforced by the Calgary Parking Authority. School staff parking lots are not to be used for loading students for safety reasons. Some schools have specific student loading zones on the school property, separate from the staff parking lot, and can be used in those cases. Families are reminded to obey all traffic laws and parking by-laws around schools and bus stops to keep our students safe.
