What’s better than rolling to school with the kiddos on a low-stress neighborhood greenway emblazoned with sharrows, 20 mph speed limit signs, speed bumps, safer crossings, and hardly any stop signs? Doing it on a route that has cool, new “Bike Bus” pavement markings and caution signs.
In the latest sign of how the rise of bike buses in Portland have influenced city policy, the Portland Bureau of Transportation debuted new signage and markings on several routes. It’s all part of a $650,000 plan (funded in part by a Metro grant) to make bike buses even better, and it’s happening just as thousands of parents, ride leaders, and students across the city head back to school on two wheels.
The pilot project will aim to educate communities about bike bus routes around nine schools: Alameda Elementary School, Abernethy Elementary School, Creston Elementary School, Glencoe Elementary School, James John Elementary School, Maplewood Elementary School, Vernon K-8 School, Vestal Elementary School and Woodstock Elementary School. In addition to the pavement markings and bright yellow “Bike Bus” signs (see below), PBOT will also install lawn signs in residential yards along routes, support school staff with positive messaging, and evaluate the project by counting traffic and conducting school surveys.
This is just one of many ways PBOT is working to make the school trip by bike better than ever. Last year they completed 55 projects near schools (including new crosswalks, sidewalks, paths, lowering speed limits, and so on) and they’ve got more planned this year.
As Portland heads back into the school season, police issued a statement yesterday saying they would have, “a visible presence in and around school zones,” the first few weeks of the year to make sure folks drive 20 mph or below. Even Mayor Keith Wilson has weighed in on the importance of being safe on the road as kids head back to class. “As is the Portland way, thousands will be walking, biking and rolling to get there, just like I did with my kids,” Wilson said in a statement yesterday. “It’s up to all of us to watch out for our students and keep them safe.”
PBOT and city leaders plan to join a bike bus in southwest Portland this Friday to help keep the momentum going.
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Answer: Using diverters so these signs are not necessary.
Seriously someone should let the mayor know the Metropolitan Learning Center is three blocks away from the diverter on Everett he wants to remove.
Some are coming. Remember back in April, I wrote:
Jonathan, please do some follow up reporting of the details of this “bike bus” signage and pavement markings. (If there has been any formal study request, so it can be replicated etc. in other communities.)
And any discussion of Portland (or Oregon as a whole) seeking permission at reducing the statutory School Zone speed limits to 15 mph (like other western states allow) , especially as there has been so much progress in reducing defacto speed limits outside of school zones.
I saw one of these this last weekend it looked great the yellow on black made it really stand out.
I saw the signs in Maplewood. Great job, PBOT and Metro! Let’s normalize kids riding bikes to get to school.
This morning, I watched a school bus make a turn right in front of a school, and scrape it’s rear bumper along the door and mirror of a parent’s car. The car was parked 2 FEET out from the curb, in a NO PARKING 7AM-4PM zone. Clearly this parent can barely park, and certainly didn’t notice the *VERY OBVIOUS* signs. If parents don’t care to notice signs directly outside of a school, will the general public even notice these added signs and markings in our neighborhoods?
I think this program is great, but we need REAL physical changes, in the form of curbs, islands, and diverters.