These kids get to school on a pedal-powered bicycle bus
It’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey. Never has this over-used nugget been more true than for the lucky kids in Rouen, France who get to ride a revolutionary bike-bus to school with their friends.
This terrific transportation vehicle is aptly named the S’Cool Bus because, hello, it’s awesome! The bus is fuelled by its kid passengers (aged 4 through 12) pedalling, along with a trained volunteer to steer. What could be s’cooler than that?
Well, there’s more. It’s free for parents, comes with adjustable seating, safety side netting, and even an electric motor that takes over if passengers need a brief rest.
The benefits are huge. The S’Cool Bus promotes physical activity and co-operation. And gets kids moving at a time of day that they are often sitting passively in a car. This is a huge win because studies show that kids who are active before school have better attention span and focusing skills.
But here’s the best part: it’s so much fun kids won’t have any idea how good this is for them. Which means you’ve totally achieved the parental dream: getting your kids to be healthy without coercion, bribery, or blackmail. Just imagine.
The concept was launched in the Netherlands where there are already 20 bike-buses roaming the streets with happy passengers. Other programs have been launched in Belgium and Germany to great success. France is even talking about creating a bicycle-bus for adults!
Admittedly, this sort of transportation may not work everywhere, but we can take some inspiration from the idea and make the trip to school active and fun for our kids, whether they are biking, running, riding, walking, jogging, or on a skateboard or scooter.
The Law of Children may dictate that kids will fight going to school some mornings, but if you encourage yours to take the active route, there’s no telling what wonderful paths that will lead to.
I too would love to see these take flight in Canada. We have many parents driving children to school because what classifies as a walkable distance in kindergarten vs. first grade is different. Families with children qualify for bus usage, while children in the same household come grade one do not…are you going to put one child on the bus and let the rest walk…no they drive!! This little beauty would be a wonderful addition to our town : ) Maybe I should just buy one…what’s the going rate? Insurance..hummmmm?…….. : ) xo Kh
I would love to see these in Canada! We try and ride as much as possible to school and work but I think having an active bus like this would encourage more families to join in with active transport to school.
I would LOVE this. We walk about 2 kilometers to school daily and this would be way fun. Only thing is we have some serious hills in the Beach area. This would only work in cities that are flat and more rural maybe? Also Toronto drivers are not known for their patience with Bikes or cyclists in general. They don’t even respect school buses half the time. Sadly I fear we would not see such a great idea take hold here.