Latest Biketivist Forums Focus on Children’s Safety: County staff, advocates share strategies on Safe Routes, Bike Buses
Photo by Ari Feinsmith
SVBC’s latest Biketivist forums focused on improving safety for children and their families through “Safe Routes to School” (SRTS) initiatives, and organizing your own “bike bus” to school.
We heard from county representatives, advocates, and super volunteers about successful campaigns they have led, offering tips on organizing similar efforts in your communities.
See a recap of our fall forums below, along with videos.
How to Start a Bike Bus
We’ve seen the videos on social media and local news: hundreds of children crowding residential streets on their bicycles on their way to school. These images of children riding in “bike buses” evoke feelings of optimism, and inspire us to do more for future generations.
On November 16th, SVBC hosted a Biketivist forum on "How to start a Bike Bus" in your city. The forum featured Palo Alto parent, Jess McClellan, and Peter Belden, who’s popular bike bus in San Francisco has caught the attention of many. Both advocates shared their story on how they started their bike buses, which are adult-led group bike rides to schools, and offered tips to ensure a bike bus is safe, community-driven, and sustainable.
Belden said bike buses have two main purposes: fun and advocacy. He recommended adding stops on the route where proposed changes can improve safety and comfortability for those that walk and bike.
“Bike buses are a wonderful way to have a bigger tent and expand and reach people who are not aware of these [advocacy] opportunities,” Belden said.
Belden offered tips for bike bus success:
Link the event to the school and find one parent that wants to be a super volunteer. These parents can better interface with school officials and can be the helpful person in the inside
Play Music. It can be a useful tool to help drivers become more aware of the whole group.
Ride Slowly and bunched up together, placing the slowest riders at the front.
Start your own communications channels to communicate directly with previous participants.
SVBC’s very own program coordinator, Eleni Jacobson, echoed similar advice and recommended three important rules for riding in a group: ride predictably, ride in a slow and accommodating pace, and have bike ride leaders that model good behavior
McClellan, who started organizing bike-related events at her workplace during Bike to Wherever Day, recommended leaning on existing institutions to assist with the heavy lifting. In her organizing, she successfully leveraged relationships with parent-teachers associations and parent-led social media groups to spread the word and identify volunteers/parents with similar interests.
The bike bus has become the students' favorite way to get to school. The community likes it because it reduces congestion and pollution caused by buses and cars — while promoting physical activity and fostering community.
If you want to start your own bike bus and need the help of SVBC staff and volunteers, let us know so we can support you and your community!
Safe Routes to School
On Wednesday, October 19th, local team members heard from agency experts about various SRTS initiatives and opportunities, and then from passionate advocates who have run successful campaigns.
San Mateo County’s Office of Education SRTS Coordinator, Theresa Vallez-Kelley, spoke about the county’s strategy of identifying “high injury networks” near schools to prioritize in its SRTS Strategic Plan.
The county works closely with school districts and individual schools to develop and implement a plan for safe routes, with an equity lens. Vallez-Kelley also highlighted a successful program called Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day, named after the first African-American girl to attend William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans, becoming a national icon for the civil rights movement.
In the city of San Mateo, local team member Mike Swire offered tips to push city leaders to slow vehicle speed limits around schools to 15 miles-per-hour, and provided lessons – good and bad – learned after securing bicycle lanes near San Mateo High School.
Lydia Lee, a parent and advocate in Menlo Park, recognized how dangerous the route to her son’s school is due to the absence of a sidewalk. After organizing parents and residents, the city added red paint and plastic bollards to keep vehicles from parking in the only area children can safely walk on to school.
Alisa Campbell and Martha Lara, program analysts in Santa Clara County’s Public Health department, also presented the county’s SRTS strategy of providing direct SRTS programming to schools, hiring outside consultants to implement education activities or support resource development.
Additionally, they outlined the county’s emphasis on technical assistance and capacity building, facilitating workshops, training future trainers, and offering education curriculum to better equip coordinators.
On the advocacy end, Palo Alto Local Team Member Arnout Boelens outlined challenges he faced during the pandemic organizing safe routes campaigns due to remote learning. The Palo Alto Council of PTA’s Chairperson pressed the importance of equity and “re-engagement,” recommending advocates bring together students, city staff, schools, and PTAs.
You can access the presentations for each speaker below. Let us know if you have any issues accessing our documents.
Alisa Campbell: Santa Clara County Public Health
Theresa Vallez-Kelley: San Mateo County Office of Education
Mike Swire: San Mateo Local Team Advocate
