SALT LAKE CITY — A mother in Salt Lake’s Rose Park neighborhood is trying to change how students get to school.
Trina Perez is organizing a “bike bus.”
The concept involves students and chaperones riding bikes to school in a critical mass, promoting a healthy lifestyle, community engagement and improved air quality.
“The streets are for all of us,” Perez said. “Streets are for people.”
She was inspired by several videos on social media of successful “bike bus” groups in other cities – including Portland, Oregon.
Videos of one elementary school’s “bike bus” have garnered hundreds of thousands of views on TikTok and Twitter.
“The kids just absolutely love it,” said Sam Balto, a physical education teacher and bike bus champion in Portland. “They have taken to it more than I could have ever imagined.”
Coach Balto sat down with FOX 13’s John Franchi in a virtual interview.
As much as his students have embraced the idea of riding to school together on bikes, a worldwide audience is falling in love with the phenomenon.
“So many of the comments are people saying, ‘I am crying watching. Why am I crying? Why am I getting so emotional?’ I think it touches something inside of us – our genuine desire of pure joy,” he said.
Coach Balto is trying to spread awareness and is encouraging others to organize bike buses in their communities.
He believes students who are involved achieve better results in the classroom, have a better chance of staying out of trouble, become well equipped to make healthy choices and establish connections with their peers and community.
“That takes a level of interaction that might not have been there before,” he said.
Back in Salt Lake City, Trina hopes students at Rose Park Elementary can achieve the level of bike bus success that is happening in Portland.
She knows there are challenges that need to be overcome.
“It’s hard to have a bike bus if kids don't have bikes,” she said. “We are trying to find bikes for kids to ride.”
Trina is raising money and working with community groups to acquire 150 bikes for students at Rose Park Elementary.
“The bike rack at Rose Park Elementary is consistently very bare and empty,” she said.
The first bike bus event is scheduled for mid-October. The plan is for children and families to meet at a park and ride to school together.
Acquiring bikes by that date will not be easy, but Trina believes it’s worth the work to give students a potentially life-changing set of wheels.
“Bicycles to me are freedom,” she said. “Out-of-car experiences are where the magic happens.”
Those who would like to contribute to acquiring bikes for children can do so here.
