Bike Bus at Newton Rayzor Elementary Gets Kids Moving

April 24, 2023

Bike Bus rolls down neighborhood streets to Newton Rayzor Elementary.

The excitement is palpable as students race their bicycles around the empty parking lot, waiting for the weekly bike bus to begin the trip to school. Parent volunteers eventually gather the children together to review the safety rules and choose the first song to play during the ride.

The upbeat music begins, and a group of eleven students and parents begin rolling up Fulton Street toward Newton Rayzor Elementary.

Shortly into the ride, another nine students and parents join the group, now 20 strong. Two students on scooters keep up easily, performing small “bunny hops” from time to time.

Students chatter excitedly as they roll along. A few blocks later, another parent and child join the group. Upbeat music continues to play.

Minutes later, the group of 22 rolls up to Newton Rayzor Elementary. Students fill the bike rack in front of the school, which sits largely empty on most other days.

After a quick group photo, students hurry away to the school cafeteria for breakfast, ready to start their day at school.

A Fun and Active Way to Get to School

The bike bus for Newton Rayzor Elementary began on April 5 and has grown each week as word spreads among students and parents.

Stephanie Brooks, parent of a student at Newton Rayzor, began biking with her children to school as a way to provide them with an active and fun way to get there. 

Brooks began cycling in September 2022 after a protected bike lane was installed on her street. “It wasn’t really until I was outside of a car,” Brooks said, “that I started seeing how scary and how difficult it is to get around by bike.”

Brooks taught her two children how to ride bicycles in December 2022. “I wanted them to experience the same kind of joy that I experienced and the same kind of independence that I have, but they can’t,” she said. “There’s not the safe kind of infrastructure in place that would allow them to do that.”

After seeing a viral bike bus video on Twitter, Brooks said she was inspired to start a bike bus in Denton. In January 2023, she approached the principal of Newton Rayzor Elementary to propose the idea, eventually earning support to start promoting the opportunity to other parents at the school.

Lauren Ames Fischer, parent of a Newton Rayzor student, says she’s excited for her two children to have an active, more independent way to get to and from school. However, her first-grader is still working to get comfortable on her bike so she can join the bike bus.

“Last year, one of her good friends was hit by a car coming home from school on her bike,” Fischer said. “So my daughter’s really struggling with is it safe to go.”

Fischer said she’s showing her daughter pictures of the bike bus each week. “It’s definitely helping her grow the confidence to get out there again,” Fischer said.

How to Start a Bike Bus

For anyone wanting to start a bike bus at their school, Brooks recommends identifying a safe route to the school, finding a team of adults to help, and approaching the school principal with the plan. 

Brooks emphasized the importance of a team in making a bike bus possible. “Without them, you don’t have a bike bus. There is no way to safely get to one place and then to the other without your team.”

Parents or school staff interested in starting a walk bus or bike bus at their school can find many resources online to get started. Resources include a Wired Magazine article “I Started a Bike Bus, and You Can Too” or watching one of many interviews with Coach Balto from Portland, Oregon.