Do you feel that? The city is approaching the bike-to-school tipping point. It’s happening.
For a school that has a bit over 500 students enrolled, Bryant saw a school bike commute rate of well over ten percent today. If you aren’t inspired, you should see a doctor.
Just imagine what could happen with safer routes to all our schools.
UPDATE: Organizer Clint Loper sent an email to the Walk.Bike.Schools Google Group describing his morning at three different northeast Seattle bike to school events. Wow:
Folks, I just have to tell you about my morning. We are having a LOT of fun
in NE Seattle, and the kids and families are really responding.This morning I had the privilege of attending and participating in three
separate bike to school meet-up events involving four schools!! What is the
term for a potluck dinner that migrates from house to house? We had one of
those with bike to school events this morning!First we had a biker donut morning at *Eckstein Middle School*. 34 bikes,
less than we hoped for, but a lot after yesterday’s rainy day, and
hopefully a continuation of a growing movement at Eckstein. Donuts, bagels,
orange juice, and a lot of happy and enthusiastic kid bikers. A solid
handful of teachers are on board and they stopped by — on their bikes —
which is really a nice touch.Then I swung down to Top Pot Doughnuts (yes, there’s a theme here, this is
how we roll in the NE). We had a combined meet-up for *Bryant and
Wedgwood*elementaries. A few Thornton Creek folks showed up too. All
together, we
had 88 bikes! Coffee, orange juice, and even some cowbell too. And of
course the bike fairy was there!I rolled to Bryant with the bike parade and by the time we got to school
there were 120 bikes!!Then — since *Thornton Creek* starts a half hour later — I had just
enough time to catch up with the northbound Thornton Creek Bike Train to
roll up to school with them. The southbound train arrived a few minutes
later, and all told there were 25-30 Thornton Creek riders today too.Whew!! Two hours of roving bike to school celebrations and meetups! Some of
the schools had more bikes than expected, some had less, but all the events
were a success and all the kids had a blast!Hard for me to imagine a more fun or rewarding morning.
This afternoon is our inaugural kickoff event at Eckstein, complete with
obstacles, slow bike races, and a raffle. We are still trying to figure out
how to best tailor these programs to the middle school level, so wish us
luck!!
Comments
9 responses to “121 Bryant Elementary kids and parents biked to school today – UPDATED”
my kids school doesn’t allow them to bike to school. ridiculous.
How do they prevent it? Cops at the driveway issuing tickets to kids on bicycles? Cut the locks and haul away bikes parked at the school? Sounds like some good old civil disobedience followed by a letter from your attorney is in order.
What school? Is it in Seattle?
http://g.co/maps/zsu3e Looks like a good neighborhood to ride to school in. I’d want a bike train but the roads all look residential.
This makes my heart happy. Kudos
This one hit closer to home than most of your posts. At one level, it is cause for optimism – less kids dropped off from cars. However, it is also a measure of how far we have sunk. You see, I went to Bryant for six years. In that time, I cannot recall a time I rode my bike to go to school. Ever. Not even once. I cannot remember my friends doing it either. We rode our bikes to Bryant a lot – after school or on weekends. On school days we walked up that big hill. Nobody got dropped off by car. Unlike many of your readers, this post makes my heart both happy – AND sad…
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