Atlanta ‘bike bus’ offers school car line alternative

Children and their parents tack on to the group at nearly every corner, the fleet growing ever larger as they approach Parkside. A block from the school, a crossing guard waves them through and cheers: “Here comes the bike brigade!”

The Parkside students are a growing number of children who travel to school on a “bike bus.” At least seven Atlanta schools have bike buses, and others are in the works. Made popular by a group in Portland, Oregon, whose videos of students biking together went viral, those who take part in Parkside’s every-Friday ride say it has become one of the best parts of the week.

In the year since the Parkside bike bus started, parents said riding with their children has turned a stressful part of the day — the car drop-off line — into joy. It’s also reshaped how they think about getting around the city. They have ditched cars for trips to ballet and soccer practices and are contemplating bigger shifts to work commutes.

“It’s opened my eyes,” said Kristen Silton, whose three children participate. “The more I get on my bike the more I’m like, why am I not riding my bike more?”

‘That’s his normal’

Revelation was what Andrew Francis hoped for when he organized Parkside’s first ride last year. Biking has transformed his family’s life, and Francis thought that, with a little encouragement, more families could come to love it the same way.

A bike became Francis’ primary form of transportation two years ago when he and his wife sold their second car and replaced it with two cargo e-bikes. Now, they bike almost everywhere.

His toddler daughter started riding in the cargo hold when she was just three months old. Biking is so routine to her now that she fusses whenever they have to take a car. When son Foster started kindergarten last year, he rode to school on the back of one of their bikes. The couple only drove him to school once, when lightning made the bike ride inadvisable.

“All he knows is biking to school,” Francis said. “That’s his normal.”

Francis knows most families won’t embrace biking to this degree, but the National Walk & Roll to School Day seemed like a chance to get people to consider it. The fall event, and its spring counterpart, the National Bike & Roll to School Day, are held annually to promote active commuting and to highlight the importance of safe routes to schools.

He pitched the bike bus idea to the school’s principal and parents last year and drew up routes. About 50 children participated, either biking themselves or riding on parents’ cargo bikes.

“After we did it we were like: ‘We should do this more,’” Francis said.

So they started riding every month. By the end of the school year, the bike bus was so popular that Francis decided to make it a weekly ride. The Parkside group will mark one year of the bike bus Oct. 9, the date of this year’s National Walk & Roll Day.

Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC

Credit: Ben Gray for the AJC

During the summer break, Francis’ son and others in the neighborhood practiced the routes so they could ditch their parents’ cargo bikes and pedal themselves when school started back.

“He was dead-set on learning to ride,” Dan Souther said of his youngest son, a first grader named Teddy.

They practiced in a parking lot without pedals, learning how to balance. Then they began riding chunks of the route, going farther and farther each time to build Teddy’s confidence and stamina.

The Southers live west of Grant Park. The first time Teddy made it across Boulevard and neared Parkside, he threw his arms up in the air in excitement.

“He was super proud of himself,” Dan Souther said. “It’s been a great thing to watch as a parent.”

With the bike bus now weekly, even more families are participating, Francis said. On any given Friday, the school bell rings with close to 50 bikes parked outside — so many they’ve had to build makeshift bike racks to store them all. The count doesn’t include the bikes carted home by parents.

Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Parents linger and chat with one another after bike drop-off in a way that’s not possible otherwise, they said. Silton said it’s increased the sense of community at the school.

Another plus: The car line is noticeably shorter on bike bus days, Principal Tim Foster said. Fewer cars and congestion has made everyone happier.

Foster isn’t surprised by the bike bus popularity.

“I think families were just waiting for an opportunity to have that option,” Foster said.

Safety in numbers

Fifty years ago, about half of all students walked or biked to school nationally.

Far fewer do now. These days, roughly one in 10 students walk or bike to school, according to the most recently available data on household transportation choices from 2022.

One reason is the distance between homes and schools has grown. With choice programs and private schools, many students no longer attend neighborhood schools like Parkside.

Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

But another big reason is safety, said Gulsah Akar, a professor at Georgia Tech whose research looks at how the environment and infrastructure affect transportation decisions. Many parents today perceive biking to be more dangerous than other options, even as car crashes are a leading cause of death to children and teens.

Sometimes, parents’ concerns are valid, Akar said. There are routes she wouldn’t want to ride herself, let alone her children, she said.

Other times, the perception of danger doesn’t match reality. Programs like bike buses can help ease those fears.

“It’s a little bit of a symptom of a problem, in that we don’t find the streets safe, so then we look for safety in numbers,” Akar said.

There is something to be said for comfort in numbers, said David Tulloch, a professor at Rutgers University whose research has found that children who walk or bike to school regularly are more likely to keep the habit as they age. His own kids were part of a group that walked to school together, and being around others felt safe but also made it more enjoyable, he said.

The default today is for parents to drive their kids to school or send them on the bus, Tulloch said. When parents see their peers choosing other options, it can be freeing.

Getting started walking or biking to school is often the biggest hurdle, he said. Once people try it, it’s generally such a nice experience they want to keep doing it.

“A fundamental thing to this is just getting started,” he said. “It’s not doing it the best way, or the right way, or some super detailed prescribed way. It’s just getting started.”

Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Silton, the Parkside mom of three, said biking to school felt off-limits before the bike bus.

“I’m not a super skilled bike rider,” she said. “It’s a little intimidating.”

Getting an e-bike addressed some of her concerns. Joining experienced riders like Francis addressed the others. The more her family has ridden, the more comfortable she’s become.

Silton drove along Memorial Drive recently to scope out the protected bike lanes being installed. That’s something she said she never would have even noticed before.

Now when Silton wants to figure out a new route for her family, she asks other bike bus parents.

“It’s easy to be like, ‘how do you get from here to here? What do you feel is safe?’” she said. “It’s nice to know who those experts are.”

Hitting critical mass

The interest in Parkside’s bike bus program shows how attitudes are changing.

E-bike sales surged after the start of the pandemic and interest remains high. Nearly 9,000 Atlantans applied for e-bike rebates when they were offered by the city earlier this year.

Parkside parents said their program shows the increasing willingness to consider car-free transportation modes. Souther said he wants Atlanta and other cities to embrace the opportunity to get cars off the road and invest in bike-supportive infrastructure.

“It’s a sign that we’re hitting that critical mass,” he said.

Nichole Hollis, who leads the Atlanta Department of Transportation’s Safe Routes to School program, said she sees student cyclists as a bellwether. Like other cities, Atlanta has adopted a Vision Zero plan designed to eliminate traffic fatalities. The plan prioritizes improvements that meet the needs of the city’s most vulnerable road users, including children.

“Designing and building safe streets for our children benefits everyone,” Hollis said.

Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Credit: Ben Gray for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Her office offers support for programs like Parkside’s bike bus. They helped host a tactical demonstration outside the school earlier this year that used cones to create a temporary bike lane and showcase how it could help with traffic flow and safety. They’ve also helped with semi-permanent projects at other schools like Crawford Long Middle.

Tactical demonstrations are often the first step toward permanent changes, she said.

Francis said he’s eager for the Memorial Drive bike lanes to fully open and for the South Boulevard project, which calls for an overhaul of the street from I-20 to McDonough Boulevard SE. The designs call for protected bike lanes as well as other traffic-calming initiatives.

“If we provide the space for kids, they’ll use it,” he said.