@SamUpstate asks:
I've been interested in trying to organize a bike bus in my suburban school district.
Q2. What resources are there for that kind of effort? I'm particularly concerned about the safety of the kids and legal liability for the adults involved.
#BikeNiteQ #BikeNite #BikeTooter #Cycling #MastoBikes cc @bikenite
Replying to @ascentale@sfba.social
@SamUpstate @bikenite A2. I think BikeBusWorld has a good summary:
https://bikebus.world/how-to-start-a-bike-bus
I wrote this a long time ago when I first started one but it is dated:
https://ascentale.com/starting-a-bike-train-to-help-kids-bike-to-school
There's a giant many many paged PDF from Alameda County Safe Routes to School that goes into tons of detail but it might make it scarier than it really is.
I think the most basic thing is to consistently ride it and look for families who are already riding and get them to do it with you.
Then find friends of kids who are riding or people who see you (always be talking about it or give people an easy way to join in) and ride with them
For safety of kids, we have adults ride in the front, back and middle. We ride through a fairly busy street that we can't avoid, and we just take the lane. The middle adult(s) kind of keep kids on the right side of the road so they don't cross the double-yellow as necessary.
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Bike Bus WorldStart a Bike Bus — Bike Bus WorldReplying to @ascentale@sfba.social
@SamUpstate @bikenite A2 part 2
Legal liability: I guess you could have a waiver but the sad fact is that though it's hopefully rare, kids get hurt in cars on the way to school. Parents carpool their kids all of the time and there's usually no liability waiver involved there
Happy to answer any other questions you might have. Ours never got very big but we did it consistently, probably ~150+ bike buses over our (now ended) elementary school career
@ascentale @SamUpstate @bikenite A2: There's a BikeSaint promotional video if that helps?
@ascentale @SamUpstate @bikenite A2. I don't have resources, but might be trying something similar in my neighborhood. Best answer I can say is to get involved with the school's admin to help organize. If they're not helpful, though, it'll just be a carpool but with bikes, so liability can't really be more than a carpool, no?
In any case, best to try to work with the school rather than around them since it is school related and they can help get the word out.
@ascentale @SamUpstate @bikenite #bikenite A2. @TheWarOnCars can has some ideas from their book "Life After Cars."