Bike buses are a great way of helping people make everyday journeys, whether it's to school, to work or to services in your community. Find out how they work and the support we're offering you to set one up.
Bike buses are for everyone, but they're a particularly fun and safe way of helping children get to school actively. Credit: Colin Hattersley
What is a bike bus?
A bike bus is an organised group cycle on a set route with timetabled stops along the way.
It鈥檚 a great chance to get some fresh air and travel alongside friends on your daily trips.
You can hop on the bike bus as it passes your stop and leave wherever you need to get to.
Unlike trips made by sports or leisure cycling groups, bike buses are for everyday journeys.
They provide a safe and easy environment for people to cycle on roads, as a bike bus moves as a unit which is visible to other road users.
This is particularly important at busy commuting times when people may feel less confident cycling.
A bike bus is similar to a walking bus, which is most often made up of children walking to school together.
Find out how you can set up your own school bike bus.
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What journeys are they used for?
Bike buses can be set up to cover lots of different journeys.
For children, they鈥檙e used to create a safe and easy way of getting pupils to school in the morning and home in the afternoon.
They make the journey to school more fun, helping children get active and alert before the day starts.
They can reduce the stress of the school run for parents, as a bike bus only takes a few adults to organise and chaperone.
Bike buses are also run for adults to help people travel to work together, or to take people to local community centres or services.
Dame Sarah Storey, British Paralympian and Active Travel Commissioner for Greater Manchester
Bike buses are great fun - children get the opportunity to ride together in a formal way whilst also having fun.
It teaches them some life skills, and it also helps to get them out in the fresh air and sets them up for some learning.
What are the benefits of a bike bus?
Bike buses are great at encouraging children or adults who are new to cycling to get travelling actively together.
Being surrounded by others on bikes helps to increase people鈥檚 confidence and experience of travelling on roads amongst traffic.
Riding a bike helps children connect with nature and feel more empowered.
It also helps them learn more about their neighbourhood and local roads, which encourages independent travel as a teenager.
Teachers find that children who have an active journey to school arrive more relaxed, alert and ready to start the day than those who travel by car.
For everyone, an active start and end to each day brings lots of benefits to your physical and mental health.
It also helps reduce your carbon footprint by saving on the emissions that would have been created if you鈥檇 used motorised transport.
Wayne Brewin, GTV视频 Behaviour Change Coordinator, Midlands & East
Bike buses encourage children to cycle to school in a safer environment.
Once they鈥檙e cycling in a group, they can be seen better because they鈥檙e a larger unit, and it means they get to cycle there with their friends.
The long-term effect of that is they鈥檙e healthier, they鈥檙e more active, and it鈥檚 also getting people out of their cars and reducing pollution.
How do I set up a bike bus?
Bike buses are often run by community groups, schools or workplaces, but anybody can set one up.
All it takes is a few people to start travelling together.
The first step is to identify who wants to hop on the bike bus 鈥 in our FRideDays toolkit, we recommend you find five people to begin with.
Knowing who鈥檚 riding along will help you plan the route your bike bus will take.
It鈥檚 a good idea to keep the journey as simple as possible.
Try to avoid routes with too many turns or big roads which may put off less experienced bike riders.
Next, work out how often your bike bus will run - this will depend on everyone鈥檚 needs and availability.
The more often you can get it rolling, the better impact you鈥檒l have on your health and local environment.
Once that鈥檚 decided, it鈥檚 time to spread the word.
This will help people get involved, whether that鈥檚 as a rider or as a ride organiser.
Find out more about our FRideDays Bike Bus
FRideDays is our new initiative in partnership with to help school children cycle to school every Friday.
If you鈥檙e thinking of setting up a bike bus for your school, then download our toolkit.
It鈥檚 filled with all the information and support you鈥檒l need to get going.
It鈥檚 great for all levels of experience, whether you鈥檙e a confident rider who鈥檚 done similar things or you鈥檙e completely new to bike buses.
We offer free training to anyone wanting to set up a FRideDays Bike Bus.
And if you take our training and choose to become a GTV视频 volunteer, your bike bus is automatically insured.
Jai, pupil at Catherine Junior School
I enjoyed being part of the [FRideDays launch] bike bus because it was fun to cycle all together as a school, and I鈥檝e never cycled on the road before.
Our school鈥檚 motto is 鈥渢ogether we can do it鈥, and cycling to school makes me feel motivated.
