The bike-bus fever has taken hold in Portland. What began with Alameda Elementary School instructor Sam Balto on Earth Day just over two years ago has spread to hearts and minds across the country. Locally, the phenomenon has led to more than a dozen active motobuses at the city’s schools, according to BikeBusPDX. org, a site monitoring the outbreak.
For the past week, I have been traveling with 3 motorcycle buses transporting children and parents to Beach, Glencoe, and Abernethy elementary schools. They’re all unique, but there’s a common sense of contagious optimism and enthusiasm and it’s easy to understand. See why this satisfied affliction extends so temporarily and so far.
May is National Bicycle Month and today is walk and bike to school day, so morale was high in southeast Portland this morning as Glencoe Elementary School parent Brian Ellin waited for troops to gather at the corner of SE 61st and Belmont. The leader thanks his bright yellow “Bike Bus” rain poncho and the large speaker on his rear rack, two pieces that make up a must-have for regular motorcycle bus customers.
“We have a normal team that starts here and we select other people along the way. It’s a smart time,” Ellin explained. So far this year, he and other parent leaders have been holding a motorcycle ride every Wednesday. I think it’s time to hit the road and get away!He shouted as the clock approached the morning bell.
Portland City Commissioner Rene Gonzalez joined the organization this morning. Gonzalez, who is running for mayor, was wearing a Portland Fire sweatshirt.
This is how everyone feels when they walk down the city streets and down the alleys with a massive swarm of children.
What’s not wonderful is how cordial some motorists and other road users are to the group. Glencoe motorcycle bus leader Rob Galanakis’ smile faded a bit as he walked away from the crowd on SE 61e and took the lonely position of the lone butcher (someone who blocks car traffic so the motorcycle bus can safely cross an intersection) in the middle of East Burnside.
“Burnside sucks,” Galanakis complained as he took his stance. It’s much bigger now that it’s softer in the morning. “In the darker months, Galanakis said the Glencoe Bike Bus takes a less convenient route, as getting everyone safely across 61st in Burnside without smooth traffic proves too dangerous.
But this morning, worry and darkness were the last thing on our minds. As we walked through the lush, leafy, flower-filled streets of the community to school, teams of 2 or 3 kids (and parents, no) rolled down the street. to join the ever-growing mass.
The group, now made up of 40 to 50 runners, made a triumphant descent to the Glencoe school campus, where bike racks buzzed and the school handed out loose tickets for a raffle for the day of walking and biking to school.
When I left Glencoe to sign up for another Bike Bus a few blocks away, I first had to squeeze into 7 or 8 cars that had been subsidized on SE 51st Avenue. The cars, with a maximum of only one parent on board, took up more area on the street than the entire motobus.
My next destination is SE 39th and Lincoln, the assembly site of the Abernethy motorcycle bus. Like the Beach Bike Train, whose roots date back to 2010, Abernethy’s families have been commuting to school in giant teams since (at least) the 2008 Tour. Boys.
With this leg propelled by legs, it’s no wonder Abernethy is now pushing his motorcycle bus into new and exciting territory, the first in Portland to perform each and every day. The pilot kicked off Earth Day and turns out to be having an incredibly good time, if you can overlook the temperament of parent leaders like Aaron Stoertz. When the youth and parents entered the group, he would shout, “Everyone, come up, we pass to want more space!Between the screams and screams to the rhythm of the hard-hitting soundtrack. Stoertz is the stylish guy that each and every motorcycle getter wants, and his power is contagious when I saw some parents starting dancing in the street while the crowd was busy.
“The [school’s] Da Vinci Motobus is coming!Everyone applauds! Stoertz called as another school bus passed by on another route.
The shift from the bike-bus from once a week to every day has been transformative, and Stoertz says the frequency has had a very positive effect on the community: “Because now, instead of being a special event, it’s just anything that happens each and every day.
The biggest challenge so far has been coordinating parent volunteers. The organization needs a facilitator and at least two plugpers each morning. “It’s only a few weeks away, but so far so good. It’s a delight and other people seem to be enjoying it,” Stoertz said.
I’d say it’s an understatement, as I watched the organization grow as we drove west on the Lincoln Neighborhood Greenway toward Ladds Addition. A few blocks from SE Harrison School and Ladds Circle, Abernethy’s motorcycle bus stops and waits a few minutes for another motorcycle bus coming from the SE Clinton Street corridor. The wait was long enough for Stoertz to cope with the band. He touted an upcoming motorcycle show and thanked everyone for coming.
Excitement grew as Clinton’s horsemen emerged from a side street and made their way to Abernethy’s family organization, now about 70 people. As the two masses merged, shouts of approval and raised fists echoed from adults and young alike. Made up of more than 100 runners, the Abernethy-bound team rode wide and deep around Ladds Circle before traffic jams forced them to descend off the school’s campus.
“Where are they going to put all those motorcycles? Then I wondered if other people were locking themselves into rows of city-provided motorcycle racks and getting ready for the school day.
As I watched the delightful buzz of activity, I stumbled upon Savannah Bedford. “Are you the Jon who organizes happy hour? My instructor told me to go,” Bedford said, before he knew who it was. As it turns out, Bedford is an electrical engineering student at Portland State University hired as an intern through the Abernethy PTA to coordinate the motobus. She is the first user to hold this position and her project is not only to grow the daily motobus, but also to create a model.
That’s what I find most exciting about what’s happening at Abernethy. Yes, it’s a very fortunate school where families have more time, money, and access to culture and motorcycle streets than other Portland neighborhoods. But the concept Stoertz, Bedford, and others are operating is that what’s happening here can become a style for other Portland schools: a turnkey motorcycle ride program.
Bedford enjoyed biking to school as a child in the suburb of Beaverton and was so encouraged after seeing one of Balto’s motorcycle ride videos on Instagram that she sought to create one at PSU. Then, one Saturday, she stumbled upon the BikeLoud PDX table at the PSU Farmers Market and spoke with one of the volunteer advocates who encouraged her to sign up for the group’s Slack channel. When Abernethy’s motorcycle and motorcycle ride leaders published the post, Bedford jumped at the chance. I would love to paint on a motorcycle bus. That’s how I started.
Getting started is always the hardest part. But once something is institutionalized and normalized, people think life would be without it. That’s the hope of motorcycle buses in Portland. First, they’ve become popular, then they’ll become routine, and then what?
“We still haven’t figured out how to get home. At the end of the day, we have a hundred motorcycles to go home,” said Stoertz, as we researched how to solve this challenge and dreamed of permanent signage on motorcycle routes and bright yellow lines painted on the streets to mark the routes.
I left positive because the basics of Portland’s cycling network are strong enough to resurrect our old, modern, viral, feverish motorcycle, bus, and motorcycle trains, but also to make them even bigger and bigger in the future.
Did Rob Galanakis “make fun of it”? I don’t think so.
haha yes, I’m looking to locate the right word. I replaced it with “grumbling”
That’s awesome, Jonathan. Thank you for documenting the motorcycle ride here in Portland.
Honestly, I think we want to post the video clip of the motobuses merging so everyone can see it and we want to smile. IT’S SO AMAZING.
Let’s say hello to all the schools that have few passengers. . . Not all motobuses have 40 to 70 passengers, some have a handful. . . Small but mighty ?
Absolutely!! Even 2 or more runners make a difference!!
I teach physical education classes in Southwest Portland and ride my motorcycle daily. I have it on my radar that this will start next fall. The West Side has its own challenges, but I believe that if we start small and spread the joy, we will make it. Thanks for the reminder!
Contact bikebuspdx. org. We Can Help
I enjoyed watching the motorcycle bus drive down Multnomah Blvd toward Maplewood Elementary School. This morning! Thank goodness for chopsticks that protect young people from rush hour car traffic.
How comforting to see this Jonathan! I accompanied my children to Abernethy and we didn’t have that many families on horseback. . . I noticed that a guest kid had joined our team. I also loved the first time my daughter came home by herself, she was so motivated to ride independently!It’s so much fun to see Safe Routes to School continue to evolve into an even greater critical mass!<3 <3 <3
Any motorcycle bus content is enjoyed through me. This is the most promising thing that is happening in this city.
We love to see it. High fives all over the place
I love watching the Abernethy motorcycle bus in the morning on Lincoln Street as it passes past my house. However, I never seem to see the team returning. I recently sent two emails to PBOT about increased traffic and cars going up and down. Lincoln on the Greenway between 4:00 p. m. and 6:00 p. m. I’m concerned that cyclists will have to put up with this and that this may just be a progressive indication of the decline of indoor cycling infrastructure here in Portland. I’d like to see some other traffic count. made on the Lincoln-Harrison Greenway and from time to time control measures emerge to demonstrate that this is not another arterial pathway without prevention symptoms for night car commuters.
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