Each Friday morning, we wait with our first grader on the nook for the bus to reach. However as an alternative of a giant yellow faculty bus rolling up, it’s a fleet of oldsters and youngsters on bicycles: That is our neighborhood “bike bus.” We hop on our bikes and be a part of, heading off towards the subsequent “cease.” We make our approach towards the elementary faculty, extra riders becoming a member of in alongside the best way. Some weeks there are dozens of us; typically it’s only a handful. Irrespective of how massive or small the group, each experience on the bike bus looks like a celebration.
I’d wished to affix a motorbike bus ever since January 2025, once I noticed a video of the one in Portland, Oregon — which went viral due to a visitor look by Justin Timberlake. I watched JT biking and dancing alongside a whole bunch of children, all so pumped to experience to highschool collectively, and thought, I would like in. That fall, a flyer got here residence in my daughter’s backpack, saying the creation of our personal neighborhood bike bus, and evidently, I jumped. We studied the route, discovered our cease, and made a plan to reach early.
The morning of our first experience, we pulled as much as the nook to attend — the entire household helmeted and giddy. My daughter chatted, one foot on the pavement, the opposite on the pedal, wanting over her shoulder for her mates. My toddler son was strapped into the bike trailer with a giraffe stuffy. We heard the bike bus coming earlier than we noticed it — jingling bells and Okay-pop blasting from a bluetooth speaker. Then it crested the hill and appeared, bike lights flashing and the entire group haloed within the neon glow of reflective security vests.
My daughter grinned and pushed off from the curb, keen to affix the fray. My son was confused. “The place’s the bus?” he requested. “Buddy,” I answered, “We’re the bus!”
The bike-bus motion began within the ’90s, however actually took off within the U.S. a number of years in the past, due to Sam Balto, the P.E. instructor who began the now-famous Portland bike bus. The idea is straightforward: Adults volunteer to bike alongside kids, making the journey to highschool each safer and extra joyful. Sam co-founded Bike Bus World with New Jersey organizer, Jessica Tillyer. I requested Jessica what impressed her to start out a motorbike bus in her neighborhood. “Biking to highschool felt lonely,” she instructed me. “And somewhat scary, due to the shortage of motorbike infrastructure.” Now, she says, a great bike-bus day attracts as much as 400 college students. “It’s remodeled our city.”
Bike Bus World affords steerage and sources for individuals who wish to begin their very own neighborhood bike bus. They counsel having clearly outlined roles for grownup riders, with kid-friendly titles. There’s the “corker” (who stops the movement of automobile site visitors by an intersection), and the “caboose” (self-explanatory).
Right now, there are about 450 bike buses throughout the nation, with a whole bunch extra worldwide. They’ve caught on rapidly, not simply because they assist youngsters acquire the ability and confidence to securely bike to highschool, but in addition as a result of they’re inherently community-building. They’ve additionally introduced extra consideration to the difficulty of motorbike infrastructure. (Final month, Mayor Zohran Mamdani joined a motorbike bus in Brooklyn, and introduced plans for a brand new bike boulevard. See: lovable pic under!) And — did I point out? — they’re a whole lot of enjoyable.
As for our little bike bus, we simply celebrated our final experience of the college yr, after dozens of joyful, rain-or-shine commutes. We’ve had bike-bus birthdays with singing at stoplights, and bike-decorating occasions the place we outfitted our bicycles with flags and reflective security stickers. One morning, our bike-bus chief confirmed up with a bubble machine hooked up to the again of his cargo bike, and we pedaled to highschool in a cloud of bubbles.
On our remaining experience to highschool, neighbors waved to us from their entrance yards. “Comfortable summer season!” they referred to as. And although we’re all psyched for the season, we’re already wanting ahead to fall — and all of the surprises that subsequent yr’s bike bus will carry.
Does your neighborhood have a motorbike bus? A Cup of Jo reader named Lily began a bike bus in Baltimore this yr, too.
P.S. Biking with youngsters and how studying to mountain bike helped me in early motherhood.
(Bergen Bike Bus pictures by Michael Appleton/Mayoral Pictures Workplace. Alameda Bike Bus pictures by David Benhaim/Prepared Go Footage. Bellingham Bike Bus pictures by Brian Russell and Kaitlyn Teer.)
