Story thread · 2 reports / 2 sources

Instead of driving to school, more kids are taking the 'bike bus'

suntimes.com · 18h · first reportShare

It might've looked like a bike parade at first glance. It was Friday morning in Ravenswood. A couple dozen children and parents were on bicycles. As they rode through the neighborhood, more kids and parents joined. "Big crowd today," one neighbor told the group. She stood in her front yard, waving and photographing the group of cyclists. Parents and kids yelled back, "Good morning!" But it wasn't a parade. They called it a bike bus — the latest way grade schoolers are getting to class. In this case, it was a weekly group ride to Waters Elementary School, 4540 N. Campbell Ave. The group had grown to 100 cyclists by the time they arrived at school just before the 8 a.m. bell. Bike buses have grown in popularity since they first appeared in Chicago about four years ago. More than a couple dozen bike buses are now held regularly in the Chicago area. The idea behind the bike bus is simple: Once a week, a group of kids and parents bike to school together. Parents typically organize the bike