In open letter to PBOT commissioner, new bike bus coalition pushes for safer school streets
A fledgling coalition of bike bus captains and community leaders want the city to embark on a pilot project to make school streets safer.
sam balto
The bike bus movement has schools across Portland walking and rolling
Many schools across the region are catching the healthy virus of active school transportation.
New film marks one-year anniversary of Portland’s Alameda Bike Bus
It helped spark a movement that has sprouted bike buses all over the country.
Portland activists influence policies at summits worldwide
Portland is lucky to have so many talented and dedicated activists.
Alameda Bike Bus still going strong through winter
I wanted to know how the kids are faring now that it’s cold outside.
Portland’s bike bus featured on NBC Nightly News
After years of terrible national headlines that (inaccurately and unfairly in my opinion) portrayed Portland as a dysfunctional war-zone wasteland, last night there was a story that will help shift that narrative. The mighty Alameda Elementary School bike bus that Portlander Sam Balto launched back in April, was featured on NBC Nightly News, one of … Read more
Get ready for Walk + Roll to School Day
International Walk + Roll to School Day has been celebrated in dozens of countries around the world since 1997, and Portland has excitedly participated for years. But I suspect this year’s observance – set for this coming Wednesday, October 12th – will be even bigger than usual. After more than two years of Zoom school … Read more
Sam Balto on how to start a bike bus of your own
Sam Balto is a serial safe streets entrepreneur. His first claim to fame was using cardboard cutouts of football star Tom Brady to slow traffic down outside a school he taught at in Boston, Massachusetts. Then, after he moved to Portland in 2018, Sam’s tactical urbanism went to the next level with the “Red Cup … Read more
The Alameda bike bus has more than doubled in size in just four months
“Every school should have this.” – Danny Cage, Oregon Environmental Justice Council We were impressed by how many kids and parents showed up to the Alameda Elementary School bike bus when we covered it back in April. But now it’s more than twice that size! This morning Taylor and I rode with Alameda Physical Education … Read more
Mayor Wheeler bans street camping along Safe Routes to School routes
Summer vacation is coming to an end and the start of school for kids K-12 kids in Portland is just around the corner. In an ostensible effort to help children safely walk, bike and roll to school this upcoming academic year, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler made an emergency declaration to ban unhoused people from camping … Read more
City plans two-way protected bike lane on NE 33rd and Skidmore
The City of Portland wants to make it easier to bike, scoot and walk around Wilshire Park in the Beaumont-Wilshire neighborhood. Two upcoming projects would add bike lanes to key stretches of NE 33rd and Skidmore, which would give people a safer way to cross a major north-south street, create a better connection to an … Read more
Comment of the Week: Upbeat thoughts before the election