While most school buses have six wheels, a Wednesday morning bus at Alameda Elementary School has more than 300, and that number is growing every week.
That’s because it’s a bike bus. Students and family members are invited to meet at designated start points each week, then ride as a group to the Northeast Portland school.
Leading the weekly group ride is Alameda Elementary’s physical education teacher, Sam Balto — Coach Balto, as his students call him. You can catch Balto at the very front, clad in a neon safety vest and riding a cargo bike, blasting pop tunes from a speaker attached to the back of his setup. If hearing Queen’s “Bicycle Race” lyrics at 8:10 a.m. doesn’t catch your attention first, the hundreds of students and parents following him in the Northeast Portland neighborhood surely will.
“It’s a great way to get kids to school and build community,” Balto said. “It helps them learn and do better academically and it’s better for the environment.”
Inspired by bike bus programs in Hood River, San Francisco and Barcelona, Balto’s first bike bus for Alameda Elementary was in April on Earth Day. The goal was to get kids active and exercising on their way to school in an environmentally friendly way, too. And as bike bus attendance grows in Balto’s second year at the school, he hopes it will catch the attention of others — both potential bike bus leaders at other schools as well as local officials.
“I hope that this gets city leaders and state leaders to pay attention to the importance of active transportation for children and that we fund bike buses and walking school buses just like we do school buses,” Balto said.
Vickie Connor is a videographer for The Oregonian|OregonLive. She is also co-host on the Peak Northwest podcast and video producer for the Peak Northwest video series. She can be reached at vconnor@theoregonian.com or on Twitter @vickieaconnor.
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