Gastineau Elementary Bike to School Day (17392864802)

A bike bus, also known as a bike train or a cycle train, or cycle bus is a group of people who cycle together on a set route following a set

timetable A schedule or a timetable, as a basic time-management tool, consists of a list of times at which possible task (project management), tasks, events, or actions are intended to take place, or of a sequence of events in the chronological order ...

other than for sporting purposes. Cyclists may join or leave the bike bus at various points along the route. Most bike buses are a form of collective

bicycle commuting Bicycle commuting is the use of a bicycle to travel from home to a place of work or study — in contrast to the use of a bicycle for sport, recreation or touring. Commuting especially lends itself to areas with relatively flat terrain and ar ...

(usually parents cycling their children together). A bike bus is often seen as a cyclist's version of a

walking bus A walking bus (crocodile, walking school bus) is a form of student transport for schoolchildren who, chaperoned typically by two adults (a "driver" leads and a "conductor" follows), walk to school along a set route, with some similarities to a ...

, although walking buses tend to be seen as exclusively for children travelling to school. Bike buses may have social, environmental, or political aims. One of the founders of the Aire Valley Bike Bus said "The Aire Valley Bike Bus was set up ... to encourage people to take up cycling and make the journey to work a more interesting and sociable experience.". The stated aim of the Central Florida Bike Bus is "bringing together cyclists who want to commute by bike using the same roads as every other vehicle". The aim of the D12BikeBus in Dublin 12, Ireland is to make cycling to school safer and easier while lobbying for safe cycling infrastructure.

Examples of bike buses

Aire Valley Bike Bus

The Aire Valley Bike Bus first started in August 2008. It runs once a week, on a Wednesday, between

Keighley Keighley ( ) is a market town and a civil parish in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford. Keighley is north-west of Bradford city centre, north-west of Bi ...

and

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

, UK. In November 2009 it was featured as

Cycling England Cycling England was an independent body funded by the Department for Transport to promote cycling in England. It was founded in 2005 to replace the National Cycling Strategy Board. Following the 2010 Comprehensive Spending review it was earmark ...

's Scheme of the Month.

Bike Bus (AU)

Bike Bus is run by members of Bicycle New South Wales,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

on a voluntary basisbikebus.org.au
/ref> and has received funding from The Department of Environment and Water Resources, through the Low Emissions Technology and

Abatement Abatement refers generally to a lessening, diminution, reduction, or moderation; specifically, it may refer to: * 421-a tax abatement, property tax exemption in the U.S. state of New York * Abatement of debts and legacies, a common law doctrine ...

– Strategic Abatement program. It is a "community-led service to introduce groups of people to ride a set route together, to introduce beginners to a route, or enjoy each others company".

Bike Bus (FR)

Bike Bus
is a French company based in the

Dordogne Dordogne ( , or ; ; oc, Dordonha ) is a large rural department in Southwestern France, with its prefecture in Périgueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and the Pyrenees, it is named af ...

delivering rental bikes to visitors all over

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Bike Bus (FR) began in 2002 and is currently the oldest bike rental company in the Dordogne.

Biketrain PDX

Biketrain PDX was started by Kiel Johnson in 2010. It co-ordinates ''bike trains'', a form of bike bus, for school children in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

, with the aim of having a bike train running at every single school.

Bus Cyclistes

Perhaps the first bike bus initiative, based in

Toulouse, France Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pari ...

it now shows bike buses across

Central Florida Bike Bus

First run on 23 August 2010 this bike bus runs to and from the

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University ...

. This bike bus has a real time Bike Bus Tracker, so that riders, with appropriate technology, can see where the bike bus is at any time.

CicloExpresso (PT)

CicloExpresso
is a bike to school project that started in 2015 in Lisbon and has since spread to Aveiro.

Kingston upon Thames

This bike bus ran every Monday in March 2011 from Sutton to

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames (hyphenated until 1965, colloquially known as Kingston) is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. It is situated on the River Thames and southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable as ...

, UK, a total distance of roughly 7.5 miles. They claimed they would "complete the journey in about an hour - that's less time than the 213 bus takes during peak times!" The service was led by cycle instructors and was provided by Sutton Council and Kingston Council.

Massa Marmocchi Milano (IT)

https://www.massamarmocchi.it/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKnZtjff5iU&t=2690s

Nether Edge, Sheffield

Started in June 2013, following the Bus Cyclistes Model, to provide a regular Saturday "bus service" that introduces local residents to safe routes in the corridor between Nether Edge and Sheffield City Centre. D12BikeBus, Crumlin to Greenhils, Dublin 12, Ireland (RoI) Arguably one of the longest continually running Bike Buses (2019 - ), with greatest distance travelled of over 5 kilometres, the D12BikeBus is parents and children banding together to cycle safely to school while lobbying councils to make their way safer and easier.

Student transport

As walking buses tend to focus on student transport to and from school, bike buses can also operate to and from schools escorted and supervised by adults including for other

human-powered transport Human-powered transport is the transport of person(s) and/or goods using human muscle power. Unlike animal-powered transport, human-powered transport has existed since time immemorial in the form of walking, running and swimming. Modern techno ...

such as scooters.