Every Friday morning, we wait with our first grader at the corner for the bus to arrive. But instead of a big yellow school bus rolling up, it’s a fleet of parents and kids on bicycles: This is our neighborhood “bike bus.” We hop on our bikes and join, heading off toward the next “stop.” We make our way toward the elementary school, more riders joining in along the way. Some weeks there are dozens of us; sometimes it’s just a handful. No matter how big or small the group, every ride on the bike bus feels like a party.
I’d wanted to join a bike bus ever since January 2025, when I saw a video of the one in Portland, Oregon — which went viral thanks to a guest appearance by Justin Timberlake. I watched JT biking and dancing alongside hundreds of kids, all so pumped to ride to school together, and thought, I want in. That fall, a flyer came home in my daughter’s backpack, announcing the creation of our own neighborhood bike bus, and needless to say, I jumped. We studied the route, found our stop, and made a plan to arrive early.
The morning of our first ride, we pulled up to the corner to wait — the whole family helmeted and giddy. My daughter chatted, one foot on the pavement, the other on the pedal, looking over her shoulder for her friends. My toddler son was strapped into the bike trailer with a giraffe stuffy. We heard the bike bus coming before we saw it — jingling bells and K-pop blasting from a bluetooth speaker. Then it crested the hill and appeared, bike lights flashing and the whole group haloed in the neon glow of reflective safety vests.
My daughter grinned and pushed off from the curb, eager to join the fray. My son was confused. “Where’s the bus?” he asked. “Buddy,” I answered, “We are the bus!”
The bike-bus movement started in the ’90s, but really took off in the U.S. a few years ago, thanks to Sam Balto, the P.E. teacher who started the now-famous Portland bike bus. The concept is simple: Adults volunteer to bike alongside children, making the journey to school both safer and more joyful. Sam co-founded Bike Bus World with New Jersey organizer, Jessica Tillyer. I asked Jessica what inspired her to start a bike bus in her neighborhood. “Biking to school felt lonely,” she told me. “And a little scary, because of the lack of bike infrastructure.” Now, she says, a good bike-bus day draws up to 400 students. “It’s transformed our town.”
Bike Bus World offers guidance and resources for those who want to start their own community bike bus. They suggest having clearly defined roles for adult riders, with kid-friendly titles. There’s the “corker” (who stops the flow of car traffic through an intersection), and the “caboose” (self-explanatory).
Today, there are about 450 bike buses across the country, with hundreds more worldwide. They’ve caught on quickly, not just because they help kids gain the skill and confidence to safely bike to school, but also because they’re inherently community-building. They’ve also brought more attention to the issue of bike infrastructure. (Last month, Mayor Zohran Mamdani joined a bike bus in Brooklyn, and announced plans for a new bike boulevard.) And — did I mention? — they’re a lot of fun.
As for our little bike bus, we just celebrated our last ride of the school year, after dozens of joyful, rain-or-shine commutes. We’ve had bike-bus birthdays with singing at stoplights, and bike-decorating events where we outfitted our bicycles with flags and reflective safety stickers. One morning, our bike-bus leader showed up with a bubble machine attached to the back of his cargo bike, and we pedaled to school in a cloud of bubbles.
On our final ride to school, neighbors waved to us from their front yards. “Happy summer!” they called. And though we’re all psyched for the season, we’re already looking forward to fall — and all the surprises that next year’s bike bus will bring.
Does your community have a bike bus? A Cup of Jo reader named Lily started a bike bus in Baltimore this year, too.
P.S. Biking with kids and how learning to mountain bike helped me in early motherhood.
(Bergen Bike Bus photos courtesy of the Mayor’s office. Alameda Bike Bus photos by David Benhaim/Ready Go Pictures. Bellingham Bike Bus photos by Brian Russell and Kaitlyn Teer.)
