"Call it Critical Mass for kids going to school. Every Wednesday for the last three school years, a caravan of about a dozen cyclists in green vests helps kids ride in the bike lane on Bergen Street from East New York to Downtown Brooklyn. The adults provide a safeguard between vehicles and the kids in the bike lane, who are headed to school in the vicinity of the roughly 4-mile route."
""It's even dangerous sometimes for adults on bikes. A lot of aggressive driving and to have a kind of a buffer of bikers around the kids is really nice and helps them feel like they're safe," volunteer Alex Goulet, 37, said as he prepared for the inaugural ride of the new school year's Bergen bike bus. He added, "You see the look on their faces. It's just pure joy riding the bikes to school.""
"As Sterling navigated potholes and double-parked cars on a road slippery from rain, adult cyclists formed a perimeter around her. While focusing on the ride, Sterling confirmed biking is better than walking or taking the bus to school. "It's such a New York thing to bike on the street," Charles-Sims said as she trailed her daughter on her own bike. "So I wanted her to get her started early.""
Every Wednesday volunteers in green vests guide a caravan of about a dozen cyclists escorting children along Bergen Street from East New York to Downtown Brooklyn, covering roughly a 4-mile route to nearby schools. Adults form a protective perimeter in the bike lane to shield kids from aggressive drivers, potholes, rain-slicked roads and double-parked cars. The bike bus is free and offers a website tracker so parents can time pick-ups. Organizers drew inspiration from programs in Portland and Barcelona. Public crash data show more than 40 cyclists were injured on the stretch in five years. The group mostly stays in the bike lane rather than blocking traffic.
Read at Gothamist
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]