This week's Walk 'n' Wheel to School initiative - run by Sport Otago and the Dunedin City Council - and associated surveys highlighted changes in the way children get to school.
Council community road safety adviser Carrie Suszko said ‘‘chaos at the school gate'' - caused by parents dropping their kids off in cars - was fast becoming a ‘‘major road safety concern''.
The programme was aimed at addressing the issue, and promoting the health benefits of walking to school, Ms Suszko said.
This year, 46 schools and 6435 pupils were participating in the programme in Dunedin.
Dunedin Mayor Peter Chin joined South Dunedin pupils on a 5km walk, which finished at College St School yesterday morning.
College St principal Gary Tenbeth said all 170 pupils took to the streets, although considerably fewer pupils normally walked to school.
‘‘I would have thought a lot more children walked to school in South Dunedin but that just isn't the reality. What I'm intrigued about is the change of mindset in recent years.
"I think the number of children being driven to school says a lot about time management in the household, concerns for safety of children . . . and the availability of second family cars,'' he said.
Sacred Heart Primary School Northeast Valley principal Paul Richardson said the majority of his pupils were driven to school each day.
A recently completed school survey of transport trends showed 65% of pupils were driven, 5% took a bus, 9% cycled or took scooters and 21% walked.
The school was looking at reintroducing a walking bus route in North Rd before and after school each day.
George St Normal School Walk 'n' Wheel co-ordinator Carmel Jolly said 154 of the school's 263 pupils walked to school yesterday, 22 skated or took scooters and one cycled.
A recent Walk 'n' Wheel survey showed 14% of pupil walked to the school two weeks ago, but this increased to 67% this week
‘‘We were delighted [by the response] and hope to continue similar initiatives in future about three-quarters of pupils are driven to school, normally we are looking at . . . a parking plan, to prevent further chaos at the gate,'' she said.
Many parents deliver their children to school because of concerns for their safety, and others come from outside the local community, she said.
Dunedin North Intermediate School principal Ross Leach said that while the numbers of children walking to school in the past 10 years had declined ‘‘significantly'', there was a resurgence this year in the numbers of pupils cycling or riding scooters to school.
