All Aboard the Bike Bus!

Did you know that every Friday of the school year, kids can bicycle safely to Falls Church City Public Schools in a fun, chaperoned group – a Bike Bus – with friends, parents, adults, and sometimes teachers? The City’s Elementary and Middle School students can also return home in a similarly safe, healthy, and enjoyable fashion.

There’s not much mystery to it: a “Bike Bus” is simply a group of kids and adults bicycling safely together as a group to/from school, on a predictable schedule of stops and routes – similar to a school bus. So interested parents and caregivers can choose to either join in the Friday ride, or drop kids off at the most convenient Bike Bus stops.

For liability reasons, however, Bike Buses in the City are organized and managed by parents and adult volunteers and are not an officially school-sanctioned or funded mode of transportation, though bicycling is generally encouraged. 

“There are many benefits” to commuting by bike, FCCPS tells parents and school kids, citing such factors as health, peer socialization, fresh air, and an “active start and end to the day!” Not only does bicycling “improve fitness and mental health,” it also promotes “family bonding time and exercise.” In addition to environmental benefits of “reducing emissions,” “road congestion,” and “freeing up parking,” it also helps “enhance student concentration and alertness” during the school day while avoiding the hassles of the kiss-and-ride drop-off.

“The bike bus is an increasingly popular way to get to school,” the New York Times reported. “In the fall of 2021, the trend made headlines in Barcelona (known there as bicibús). Gradually, it made its way stateside and to the Metropolitan area. Some fans have nicknamed the movement ‘kidical mass,’ a play on a cycling event where groups spontaneously take over the streets.”  With the rise of remote work due to the pandemic, many more parents and caregivers have also found time to join their kids taking part.

For this article, The Falls Church Independent interviewed George Lee, one of the leaders of the Friday Bike Bus route covering mostly the southern portion of the City of Falls Church. We were curious how the Bike Bus project works, what motivated Lee to get involved, and any particular challenges or opportunities the Bike Bus movement appears to be having in the City of Falls Church.

“Bike Buses have been around for a while,” Lee said. “They’re a mode of transportation for getting kids to school that’s hosted or led by parents to provide some safety in numbers, basically, so that kids can gain some experience riding their bikes to their school. And the whole goal is to help kids feel empowered and more confident in their local environment.”

For a sampler, here's a video of one of Lee's recent Bike Bus rides.

Childhood on a Bike

Recalling the joys of a childhood in his native London where he grew up, Lee described how he and his mates before the digital age would spend after-school hours. “Playing as a kid, meant going outside and disappearing for four hours with our friends on our bikes and not having any way to contact someone. And that level of fun was from the independence and just self-guidance, basically – You know, doing stupid stuff [Laughs]. And I think that’s missing for a lot of kids…. The level of independence and confidence that experience provides kids is phenomenal.”

“So the Bike Bus, I think, is a kind of opportunity for kids to discover that independence, in a controlled environment, and to gain the confidence to go and do it themselves later in life,” Lee said. “And that’s really the main reason behind it.”

Joining the Bike Bus Bandwagon

Lee recalls how he decided to get involved in the Bike Bus movement in the first place. “I have two kids in the school system in Falls Church City, one in elementary school and one in the Middle School. And they have a lot of friends who ride bikes to school. And the school district is very small, as you probably know, it’s just the City, which is great for a Bike Bus situation. And there’s lots of cycling-friendly roads and obviously there’s the W&OD Trail which is very helpful.”

“And my eldest who’s 13 now, he was riding to school with his friends and I saw them one day – I was actually out on a bike ride that day myself – and I saw them riding to school as I was coming home, and I noticed that they weren’t riding in the safest way possible,” Lee recalled. “So I decided to do a kind of road safety training lesson for them. And show them the best way to ride to school. So I did a ride with them and their group of friends to school and they all had a bunch of fun on that ride. And then, like, two years ago, I just said, ‘Hey, would you like to do this every Friday?’ And they all said 'yes.' And that’s kind of how it was born.”

“But the Bike Bus movement is something that’s going on across the country. If you take a look on Instagram and you search up #Bikebus, you’ll see thousands of these things all over the country," Lee added. "It’s the same scenario. It’s just a group of parents and teachers who are active and they ride bikes and they want their kids to have a similar experience.”

Perfect Background to the Task

Turns out, Lee’s professional and life experiences gear up nicely to leading a Bike Bus. “I grew up in London. Actually, I didn’t learn to drive until I was 29 because cycling and public transport is the most efficient way to get around the city,” Lee said. “There’s tons of great cycling infrastructure. I’ve been working in the cycling industry since 1998. And in the U.K., I used to host professionally-led road safety classes as well, and customers would pay to attend.”

“Currently I work for a new bike company called Rad Power Bikes as the National Sales Director,” Lee said. And his family has “been in Falls Church for the last seven years.” Before that, they “were in California for seven years,” he said. “I was working for another bicycle company. And before that I was living in London in the U.K.”

Interestingly, Lee noticed that in California huge percentages of students were using e-bikes to commute to school – “maybe 50 or 60 percent” – whereas, he estimated “there’s probably about 5 percent of the kids” in the City of Falls Church “who have electric bikes.” He predicts we’ll see remarkable changes here soon. “Knowing the industry, and knowing the markets… it’s only a matter of time for [such e-bike ridership] to move here to the east coast.” There's no prohibition against riding e-bikes on the Bike Bus as long as you keep the same pace as the other riders.

Lee credits the City of Falls Church’s strong bike infrastructure for helping the City merit U.S. News & World Report’s recent designation as the “healthiest community in the United States.” “Walkability and bikeability, and the percentage of people riding are some of the bigger factors influencing that award,” Lee said. “So it’s a massive part of it. And they look at basically the infrastructure for bikeability and [ask], ‘What are the roads like?’ ‘What are the speed limits like?’ ‘How much dedicated cycling infrastructure is there?’ ‘Is there any information on how many people cycle?’ And with the W&OD Trail in the City, that’s a huge element to it.”

“So, there are definitely a lot of people who ride here,” Lee said. “And it’s a very cycling-friendly community. The move to 20 miles-per-hour speed limits on all the neighborhood roads is also fantastic for kids.”

Despite strong cycling infrastructure in the City, however, Lee would still support “one hundred percent” the adoption of a Safe Route from West End Park to the Upper and Middle School campus, as is being studied by the City’s Planning Office as part of the City’s Bicycle Master Plan. “It seems a lot safer,” Lee said. “Cutting through the parking lot [at Giant] each day is not good – parking lots are one of the most dangerous places to ride a bike.” 

Lee finds it “annoying” that the City’s public school system is so concerned about legal liability that school bike clubs can’t directly make Bike Bus announcements and FCCPS doesn’t include Bike Bus information in its newsletters. However, he is pleased with the amount of volunteer and community support his Bike Bus project has garnered. “We do have teachers helping out on the ride as parents. And Meridian High School has a Bike Club and it’s actively involved in helping promote” such activities as Bike to School Day and in encouraging students to ride the Bike Bus on Fridays. Volunteers are also very much into learning about and promoting bike infrastructure. 

Lee is also heartened that Mount Daniel Elementary School has just received a grant, as part of their physical education program, to help educate students on bicycle riding. Advocates for this program cited the D.C. Public School System for having already incorporated such instruction in the District’s elementary schools. And, Meridian Bike Club students will be involved in helping teach the Mount Daniel students how to ride. 

As a parent of one middle-schooler and one elementary-schooler, Lee is happy to see the Bike Bus adjust its schedules to fit kids’ and parents/caregivers’ needs. Because high-schoolers tend to disperse after the school day on Friday, no return trip on the Bike Bus is scheduled. But, Middle and Elementary School students tend to have the same number of riders in both directions. Lee loves to see young riders quickly learn how to ride the Bike Bus and, after a few times, have their parents/caregivers simply drop them off at their Bike Bus stops, so they can experience the joys of riding independently – though the adults are always welcome to join in!

On the final day of school last year, Lee helped organize a huge turnout of High School and Middle School bicyclers on the Bike Bus that sunny and cheerful Friday in June. How did he do it? “I got a local business, Conte’s Bike Shop to sponsor Crumbl Cookies to bring a bunch of their cookies to the school for everybody that rides to school on that day and that was our biggest turnout. We had about 100 kids all riding in one group together.”

And Lee has worked with local business sponsors to offer further incentives for kids to ride the Bike Bus. “So what we’ve done to incentivize the kids is we have Crumbl Cookies and Lazy Mike’s – they have a punch card, so every five rides that they do on the Bike Bus, they can trade that in for either a free ice cream at Lazy Mike’s or a cookie at Crumbl Cookies,” Lee said.

Another positive factor in the Bike Bus experience is that it gives older and younger students so many chances to interact positively. “We have two Bike Buses that converge at West End Park into one Bike Bus,” Lee said. “One Bus, I lead from the Winter Hill neighborhood and it takes in kind of the south of Falls Church City and the other one is led by a teacher from the High School which comes from up by 24-Hour Fitness, by the Hillwood neighborhood, and takes in the northern side of the City. And they converge into one group.” 

And, “it’s kind of cool because we pick up other kids that are just riding on their own and they join in,” Lee added. 

Free Road Safety Lessons and How to Get Involved

Finally, Lee provided a WhatsApp group for those interested in volunteering, riding on, or sending their kids on the Bike Bus. 

He also wanted to let folks know: “We periodically run bicycle road safety lessons of which there’s one this Saturday [Nov. 23]. And it’s free of charge. It’s at 10:00 a.m. for the elementary school and at 11:00 a.m. for the Middle and the High School. We host them at the Oak Street parking lot at Seaton Lane and that’s a free session that people just have to sign up to,” at: https://forms.gle/18SZKTBegzqzDQiA8.

Following is the announcement for the Road Safety Course: 

Kids Bicycle Road Safety Event – November 23rd

Dear Parents,

We’re excited to invite your children to our upcoming Kids Bicycle Road Safety Event, designed to help them gain confidence and skills for safe cycling on the road! The event will take place on Saturday, November 23rd, at the Seaton Lane parking lot at Oak Street Elementary School. There will be two sessions:

• 10:00 a.m.: Elementary School Kids

• 11:00 a.m.: Middle and High School Kids

Each session will include:

• Bike Safety & Setup

• Awareness (such as over-the-shoulder checks)

• Hand Signals

• Traffic Rules

• Road Positioning

Please ensure students arrive 5 minutes before the start of their session. We’ll begin in the parking lot with the basics, then progress to neighborhood streets to practice under the guidance of our instructors.

Important: All participants must wear a helmet to take part.

By Christopher Jones