#BikeBus: Sam Balto is Like the Ringleader for the Coolest Bike Gang Ever
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If you haven’t seen (and heard) more than 100 elementary kids riding their bikes to school, you should. They sing, they scream, they laugh, and along the way, people walking dogs or out for a jog stop and cheer. It’s kind of amazing.
Balto teaches physical education at Alameda Elementary, north of downtown Portland, Oregon. On Wednesdays he leads a bike bus to school and it may as well be the biggest party in town.
In an interview with Momentum Magazine, he said he had always felt like there’s such an opportunity for community building with the commute to school. “We’re creating that sense of community, and seeing the children thrive. I think people love a community coming together for the children. I think it resonates with a lot of people.”
A bike what now?
A bike bus is a way for vulnerable road users to come together, like getting on a bus, but with bikes — safety in numbers. Wired describes it as, “a way for everyone to bike together for fun, convenience, and safety; on busy, traffic-congested commuter streets, a big group of five to 10 kids is much more visible than one or two kids biking alone.” Now imagine how visible 100+ kids and parents are.
If you need more inspiration, check out Balto’s TikTok, where he posts videos of the bike bus, and gives tips on starting your own.
Balto started the same sort of thing in Boston, where he taught before moving to Portland in 2018. There he even used cardboard cutouts of Tom Brady to slow traffic down.
How to start a Bike Bus
More recently, he’s given a detailed guide to starting a bike bus on Bike Portland. One of his biggest suggestions is to find a team — these things really take off with more people. “I found other champions by hanging out by the bike rack before and after school and talking to parents who were biking with their children. I shared the idea of a bike bus and asked if they wanted to help.”
But Balto didn’t come up with this idea on his own. He was largely influenced by Megan Ramey, Safe Routes to School Manager for Hood River, Oregon, who leads a bike bus every day. He also saw a video about a bike bus in Barcelona, and figured if it could be done in the heart of a major city, it could be done anywhere.
That video from Barcelona had such an impact on Balto, that last month he attended the first ever bike bus global summit there, along with Ramey and other representatives from school mobility programs around the world. One of the objectives of the summit was to draft the Barcelona Declaration on the Bicycle Bus, which states:
“#BikeBus is joy and freedom. Community bike rides to school make kids happier, more awake and ready to learn. Our community becomes more connected and resilient. We demonstrate that our streets can be for children too. As a #BikeBus community, we demand that our political leaders prioritize urban space and resources for child friendly, healthy and safer streets.”
Balto remains ever inspired by the bike bus movement. “Getting to participate in the bici bús Sant Antoni that inspired me to start one at Alameda Elementary was a powerful experience. It shows the importance of sharing joy and that addressing issues like climate change and air pollution can be really fun.”
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