Aug. 28, 2025
Jessica Tillyer puts on a sequined safety vest, hops on her bike, and rides to the start of her bike-bus route in Montclair, New Jersey, every Friday.
At 8:18 a.m., the music blasts, and she and other volunteers lead the way to Nishuane Elementary School. "You really have to start with the vibes," Tillyer says. "It has to just feel like it is the best Friday morning party that you, as a millennial parent, are about to take your children on."
Tillyer, cofounder of the nonprofit Bike Bus World, helped launch the Montclair Bike Bus during the 2022-2023 school year. Now, it's one of the largest in the U.S., with multiple routes to 10 schools. "It's incredible that my route will sometimes have 50 or 60 people of all ages, of all backgrounds," she says.
Popularized in Barcelona, Spain, bike buses include set routes and schedules for students to cycle to school, usually once a week. More than 470 bike buses exist across at least 17 countries, with routes along neighborhood streets with little vehicle traffic. Bike buses increase physical activity and socialization, says Jordi Honey-Rosés, PhD, a professor at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. They also contribute to the shift toward more sustainable transit options.
Bike Bus Around the Globe
Bike Buses are gaining momentum, with more than 35,000 children participating every week. A study from the International Journal of Sustainable Transportation offers insights into the phenomenon.
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Icons source: Nur Lita, Hilmy Abiyyu Asad, Corner Pixel, Iconnic/Noun Project.
"Kids get to think about their town or city in a very different way," says Honey-Rosés, founder of City Lab Discovery. "They're literally at the center of the streets. I think that's a very powerful part of bike bus — that they're the protagonists."
While most bike buses are formed by parents at the grassroots level, a planner-led effort has started rolling in York County, Pennsylvania.
Navigating new routes
Ehsan Ershad Sarabi, a senior transportation planner for the York County Planning Commission (YCPC), is coordinating his own initiative after hearing Honey-Rosés's presentation about bike buses at the American Planning Association's National Planning Conference (NPC25) in March 2025.
He believes that bike buses will not only teach kids about traffic safety but also encourage other community members to walk or cycle more. "This is important to me, personally, because I think it's going to have an effect on the future," Sarabi says.
He considers bike bus a part of the county's bicycle and pedestrian plan, which includes expanding local trails and improving safety measures.
But starting any new project can be complicated in York County, which encompasses 72 suburban, historic, and rural municipalities within 911 square miles. "When we talk about complete streets or bicycle-pedestrian planning, we have to be very cognizant of the context that we're working in," says Mike Pritchard, AICP, assistant director of YCPC. "We have to tailor the improvements that we're proposing to different areas."
Meanwhile, launching a bike bus as a planner instead of as a volunteer has its own set of challenges, Honey-Rosés says. "You need local ownership of the initiative," he says. "It's not as easy as a planner. I think one of the key steps is to find a core coordinating group and then listen to them in terms of what's needed for support."
Sarabi says he hopes to start a bike bus in the city of York, the county's largest municipality, where a complete streets ordinance also is in the works. "York is a great candidate because of its larger school system, existing bike infrastructure, and simply more available options and routes to work with," he says. Sarabi reached out to local school districts and other organizations for their feedback, and they're meeting this fall to start planning.
One potential roadblock is finding a route that isn't in a high-traffic area. Maya Goldstein, bike bus manager for HUB Cycling in Vancouver, Canada, is familiar with this challenge after helping launch several bike buses. "For my kids' school, it was very straightforward," Goldstein says, "but now looking at other schools, there are more complications around it." In Surrey, a suburb of Vancouver, the route begins on a busy road before moving to quieter suburban streets.
To prioritize safety, the Montclair Bike Bus has a handful of parent or community volunteers blocking traffic to ensure no one is left behind. Elevation is another consideration. The township is located on the Watchung Mountains, "so you do have kids that are riding on significant hills," Tillyer says. "If the weather is really crazy, we'll cancel bike bus."
Despite the difficulties, Sarabi and Pritchard say they're optimistic about bike buses in York County, especially since bike-to-school days were popular in the past. They plan to start slow, with a monthly bike bus, to troubleshoot any issues.
"It really is just getting everybody on the same page and just pushing the ball forward," Pritchard says.
A 'big win' for safety
Interest in Vancouver's bike bus grew quickly, Goldstein says, but people struggled to start one at their own school. So, what began as a volunteer effort for Goldstein has turned into a part-time job when she became bike-bus manager for the nonprofit HUB Cycling in October 2024. "I really thought we would need something bigger — something more organized and maybe more resources," she says.
This spring, Goldstein says five bike buses — including one in Saanich near Victoria and three in Vancouver — took off. Funding for the program came from the Province of British Columbia (BC), as well as the Society for Children and Youth of BC's Walking School Bus Initiative.
The rise of bike buses has felt like a big win for the community. "Sometimes, we don't realize how challenging it can be for some kids to start their day," Goldstein says. "So, if they have a positive experience before school, then their day at school is so much better."
Meanwhile, in Montclair, Tillyer says her bike bus also has brought more attention to safety and accessibility for cyclists and pedestrians. "It has really extended beyond creating these routes and getting kids to school into trying to change the infrastructure within our town," she says.
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