Let’s Get Ready to Ride!
We’re a group of families who bike to Parkdale Elementary together once a week in the spring and fall. The kids that ride are all Elementary age, some as young as UPK. Our goal is to encourage a healthy active lifestyle, personal independence, and community engagement. Any student of Parkdale as well as parents, neighbors, grandparents, or community members are welcome and encouraged to ride with us.
FAQ
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The East Aurora Bike Bus rides in the Spring and Fall each year. You can find an updated schedule on our website and Facebook page. We typically start the first Friday of the school year and ride until Halloween. Then we begin again in the spring starting the first Friday after April break and ride until the last day of school.
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The ride meets at the parking lot for Village Play, 651 Oakwood Ave. East Aurora. We ride down Oakwood Ave then over to Prospect and on to Willow where we cross Main and continue on to Parkdale. See the map below
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The official meet time is 8:10am, some riders begin showing up around 8:00am. We have a safety talk and group meetup around 8:20 and ride out from there. The group arrives at Parkdale Elementary around 8:40am.
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The East Aurora Bike Bus route is 1.7 miles long with three brief stops to re-group and cross busy streets.
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We pace the ride between 8-10 miles per hour. Please be sure your child is able to keep up with the group, we need to stay together for the safety of everyone and to avoid being delayed getting to school. We will stop three times to tighten up the group and we won’t ride again until the entire group is caught up.
-If your kid can ride faster than you can run, they’re probably good to go.
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There are many different options to participate! Tag-alongs or bike trailers are a great way to involve kids that are still building biking skills. Cargo bikes are also a great option for carrying kids along with the group. Riders can also join along the route. You can wait anywhere along the route and jump in (towards the middle or back) when the group comes by. If you’re unsure, try starting halfway and see how it goes. Good places to stop are at the corner of Main St and Willow, or Willow and Prospect.
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In order to keep up with the pace of the group, riders need to be independent on a bicycle. Training wheels, balance bikes, kick-bikes, scooters, and the like have shown to struggle to keep up with the group, leading to unsafe gaps in the ride and delays getting to school. Please only do the full ride if you have an independent rider. There are lots of great options to work your way up to the full ride, or participate with younger riders.
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In short, you are! We are a group of families who ride together. Averaging around 80-100 kids per week, the organizers can not be responsible for every child. Each child needs to have a responsible adult or parent / guardian along with them. Falls and scrapes are rare but do happen, mechanical issues also occur, we need to have a parent or adult that can be responsible for their kid.
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Dress for the weather and wear bright and reflective clothing if possible. The more visible we are the safer we are.
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Helmets are required for anyone under 16 and strongly recommended for everyone else. Let’s set a good example and show kids that helmets are a good idea.
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We encourage families to make their own smart decision about whether or not to ride. Look at the weather forecast, take into account the riding level of your group, and make a smart decision about joining.
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The East Aurora Bike Bus is and will always be free. We have many amazing sponsors and volunteers who contribute to making the Bike Bus successful. There is a “Donate” page on our website if you’d like to make a contribution.