Oregon Could Let Schools Fund ‘Bike Buses,’ Transit

A bill proposed in the Oregon state legislature would let school districts direct funds from their transportation budgets to alternative transportation such as transit passes or ‘bike buses,’ convoys of students riding their bikes to school accompanied by one or more adults.

As Jayati Ramakrishnan explains in Oregon Live, under current law, school districts can only spend their transportation budgets on school buses. “The bill [HB 3014] comes at a time that Oregon is facing a statewide bus driver shortage. School bus drivers in particular work difficult hours and can often readily find jobs that pay more.”

The article describes several ‘bike bus’ groups with as many as 200 students participating, but notes that many of them depend on parent volunteers. According to teacher Sam Balto, who started a bike bus last year, funding walking or biking chaperones can help students get to school safely even when school bus service is reduced and has been shown to improve attendance. “The bill, Balto said, would give schools flexibility to pay for more types of transportation for students — whether a crossing guard to help kids cross a busy street or for adults to walk or bike a group of kids to and from school each day.”