Bike Month: Encourages New Yorkers to Participate in National Bike and Roll to School Day on Wednesday

Photo Courtesy of NYCDOT

Students across the city are encouraged to participate in Wednesday’s Bike and Roll to School Day on May 7. The national event aims to inspire young people to embrace cycling as a means to enhance their well-being while also promoting cycling as an environmentally friendly and convenient mode of transportation.

Schools across the city have organized ‘bike buses,’ volunteer-run efforts helping to navigate students in larger organized group rides through city streets to school. Run by local parents, teachers, and volunteers, bike buses create safe and predictable routes for students and their caregivers to bike to school with regularity. New Yorkers can visit bikebus.nyc for more information on events and resources. 

New York City Bike Buses include the following groups:

Brooklyn

• PS 110K Bike to School
• Bergen Bike Bus
• PS 372K Bike, Walk or Roll to School

Manhattan

• Manhattan Country School Bike Bus

NYC DOT’s Get Kids Biking in-school initiative has expanded to 18 schools this spring providing New York City Public Schools (NYCPS) and charter schools with bicycles, allowing seventh-grade students to integrate biking into their physical education program. Approximately 13,000 students have participated in the bike safety program since the program’s inception in fall, 2017. NYC DOT has rolled out new bike storage trailers to assist school participation as well as improved coordination with school partners. NYC DOT estimates the program will serve roughly 5,000 students over the next year.

The Get Kids Biking initiative is a collaborative effort involving the NYC DOT, NYCPS, and the non-profit entity Bike New York (BNY). The program serves about 30 schools a year. Each student receives six 45-minute sessions of bike safety education over a one-month period through bike instructors, provided by Bike New York, who work alongside trained school physical education staff to deliver the curriculum.

NYC DOT manages six fleets of 40 bikes and their storage trailers, and helmets for each participant. Bike New York delivers curriculum, teacher training, and on-site assistance during the program’s launch and continues to maintain the bicycles. NYCPS offers support to both schools and the program overall.