Parents and pupils fighting to retain school buses have heaped more pressure on Fife Council.
Another organised walk was staged in Glenrothes to illustrate a route children could have to walk, which they claim is dangerous.
Demonstrators walked from Auchmuty High School to Coaltown of Balgonie, across busy roundabouts and along Woodside Way, a road regularly monitored for speeding drivers by police.
Some children in Coaltown of Balgonie are among up to 800 secondary and primary pupils across Fife who could lose entitlement to school travel under a proposed new policy for walking routes to school.
Historically some pupils who live within the distance criteria for travel entitlement – two miles for secondary schools and one mile for primary schools – have qualified as routes now deemed available were unavailable.
A parent who organised the walk but did not want to be named said: “This route crosses three busy roundabouts and multiple T-junctions which are extremely busy in the morning.
“At none of these points are there any pedestrian crossings. Woodside Way is regularly targeted by police for speeding. It’s known there is an issue.”
It had taken him 48 minutes to walk the route briskly, he said, and many parents disputed the council’s calculation their home was within two miles of the school.
Fife Council officers have proposed the policy be adopted following an Ombudsman complaint and insisted it was not a cost-cutting initiative.
But the parent said: “Conveniently, the council can now use this policy to remove school transportation at some saving to themselves.”
Walkers set off on Wednesday at 4pm, a time when pupils were likely to be walking home, to reflect traffic levels they would encounter.
Shelagh McLean, head of the council’s education and children’s services, said officers had walked all routes affected either in the hour before or after the school day.
Using RoSPA and Road Safety GB guidance, they assessed pavements, paths, crossing points and traffic flow, she said.
In relation to Coaltown of Balgonie, she said: “Addresses east of 20 Millburn Avenue and including Lady Nina Square, Coronation Street and Westgates would continue to receive free transport entitlement.
“However, the remainder of the village has been assessed as now having an available walking route to school.
“This is based on a continuous, adequate footway through the village, crossing Blackwood Road using a pedestrian island and via Bankhead Park.
“The route continues along Woodside Way to pedestrian crossings at either Happer Crescent or the Lomond Centre and following the cycleway under the A92 to the school gate.
“Much of this route is already walked by pupils who live in Woodside.”
