The Bike Bus movement is gaining momentum. All over the country, rain or shine, groups of children with adult supervision are hopping on bikes to ride to school together, and the new organization Bike Bus World, led by Coach Sam Balto, has received official nonprofit status.
Last week, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced a $1.1 million federal grant from the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program was awarded to Metro. The funds will be used to boost walking school bus and bike bus programs in north Portland. Read more about the new award on BikePortland.
Benefits of the Bike Bus go beyond physical activity: It's an opportunity for kids and parents to socialize, have fun, start the day on a positive note, and save time on driving, parking, and waiting in school dropoff lines.
According to Portland State University (PSU) researchers, bike buses could be the missing puzzle piece required to complete a robust active transportation to school (ATS) approach.
A new report published by Evan Howington, John MacArthur, and Nathan McNeil of PSU's Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) concludes that bike buses have the potential to leverage the last 20 years of Safe Routes To School (SRTS) interventions, ensuring that the miles of bike lanes, sidewalks, and crosswalks funded by districts, communities, states, and the federal government have their full value realized.
Read more about the research on the Bike Bus Project website: A Better Commute To School.
THE RESEARCH
In addition to reviewing the existing literature around bike buses, the researchers conducted two online surveys and ten video interviews with parent and child participants of bike buses in the Portland, Oregon metro area. They also created a "Bike Bus Tracker" showing bike bus programs around the United States (know of one that's not on the map? Share it with the research team!)
The first survey was targeted at bike bus coordinators and leaders, focusing on logistics, school policies, and the street environment. The second survey was targeted at bike bus parent participants, focusing on perceptions, parent and student attitudes, and the urban environment. The interviews built on both surveys, also bringing child participant voices into the study.
The findings indicate that bike buses can change the narrative about active transportation to school, or ATS. The sense of community and fun often cited by both adults and children, as well as a desire expressed by parents to inculcate a sense of confidence and love of biking in their children, indicate an entirely new slate of attitudes towards ATS compared with what the previous research literature describes.
FINDINGS
The Final Report (PDF) offers a range of insights on Portland's bike buses, from who coordinates them and how long they've been in operation, to participant demographics and sources of funding and support. A few highlights from the surveys and interviews are below.
Throughout the 10 interviews, approximately nine themes emerged that most participants mentioned:
- bike bus logistics,
- traffic safety,
- convenience/schedule,
- socialization/community,
- politics/lifestyle,
- school support,
- fun,
- exercise/physical activity/health, and
- weather.
All participants, including some of the child participants, mentioned safety concerns at least once during the interview. Commonly cited safety concerns included:
- Car drivers not appropriately yielding along streets and at intersections or marked crossings, including along neighborhood greenways;
- Reckless behavior from car drivers, including around school zones;
- Unsafe riding conditions, including lack of appropriate facilities along the route; and
- Difficulty managing unsafe crossings, even marked ones with signals.
The highest reported impact of the bike bus on respondents’ children was good exercise (39%), followed by learning traffic safety (19%.)
Barriers to participating in bike buses still exist, including dissatisfaction with infrastructure and a lack of funding, but this initial research shows promise for expanding the available options for ATS in North America.
For a deeper dive into the findings, watch a recording of the October 25, 2024 seminar presented by Howington, MacArthur, and McNeil: PSU Transportation Seminar: Bike Buses: An Evaluation of An Emerging Active Transportation to School Intervention.
WHAT'S NEXT?
The results from the first phase of this research informed the development and implementation of schoolwide surveys of parents in four elementary schools with bike buses in Portland (Phase 2 of the study). The school-wide surveys focus on what barriers and opportunities exist for the wider adoption of bike buses through the lens of parent and student perceptions and travel behavior as it relates to school SRTS policies, the street environment, and the urban environment.
The surveys were conducted in Spring 2024 and findings will be detailed at the 2025 Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting paper and presentation.
AREAS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
Based on the literature review, surveys with bike bus leaders/coordinators, and interviews with parent and student participants, the researchers came up with some recommended areas for additional study and research:
Infrastructure and Bike Buses
Participants felt safer biking in a bike bus but expressed dissatisfaction with the existing infrastructure, citing it as inadequate for traffic and driver concerns. Identifying supportive infrastructure could inform future investments.
Convenience and Bike Buses
Participants gave mixed feedback on bike bus convenience, often citing time and logistics over distance. Addressing barriers like afternoon options and parent involvement could improve participation as bike buses evolve.
Participant Benefits
The research found that parents cited physical exercise, traffic safety, and bike skills among the primary bike bus benefits, contrasting with literature suggesting academic performance benefits. Understanding this gap between other research on ATS and bike buses will highlight how they differ from other ATS interventions such as walking school buses and walking or biking to school alone.
Other areas that may be of interest include efforts to institutionalize bike buses (such as through funding paid coordinators); logistical barriers to afternoon bike buses (the commute home or to after-school activities); and how social factors may allow parents to let their students participate in a bike bus without their direct supervision.
ABOUT THE PROJECT
Exploring Bike Bus Programs in the United States
Principal Investigator: John MacArthur, Portland State University, and co-investigator: Nathan McNeil, Portland State University
Portland State University's Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) is a multidisciplinary hub for all things transportation. We are home to the Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation (IBPI), the data programs PORTAL and BikePed Portal, the Better Block PSU program, and PSU's membership in PacTrans, the Pacific Northwest Transportation Consortium. Our continuing goal is to produce impactful research and tools for transportation decision makers, expand the diversity and capacity of the workforce, and engage students and professionals through education, seminars, and participation in research. To get updates about what's happening at TREC, sign up for our monthly newsletter or follow us at the links below.
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