There’s a new tradition in the neighborhood of Pleasant Ridge. Every Friday morning, 40-50 students, parents, and neighbors bike together to our local elementary school, Pleasant Ridge Montessori. It’s a fun way to get to school and spend time with friends. It’s also a great opportunity to meet new friends, and to get a little exercise and fresh air!
Students arrive at school energized, focused, with big smiles and a sense of accomplishment. There are currently 3 different routes, each departing at 7am. Riders can join at any point along the routes. The ride is about 1 mile and arrives at school by 7:30am. Kids learn bike and traffic safety skills, and gain confidence navigating their neighborhood independently.
The Pleasant Ridge community has really rallied around this weekly event. Many of the adult volunteers are neighbors who don’t have children at the school, including retirees, young adults, and our local librarian! Our local police officers have started riding with us as well, helping stop traffic at intersections. We’ve held rides in honor of the 25th anniversary of 9/11, to celebrate the start of BLINK Cincinnati, and to help get out the vote and support the levy for our public schools. Thanks to Imagine Cincinnati who got her a new bike, our school principal has joined in the fun!
Working together to overcome challenges
One of my favorite parts of this experience is all of the ways we’re tackling challenges together. Every week I watch the kids’ bike skills improve. Many of them struggle with the hills, but they keep coming back and they keep getting stronger. It’s wonderful to hear their successes. “That’s the first time I stood up to pedal!” “That was the first time I made it up the hill without stopping!”
My own comfort zone has been pushed too, as I’ve needed to ask for help and be vocal about the bike bus. It’s been really encouraging to see the positive response and so many people eager to participate and help. As a result, I’ve made many new connections with my neighbors.
The bike bus is also demonstration of the generosity of our community. Neighbors are offering their time and their money. During the first week of school, it quickly became apparent that we had outgrown our existing 20-bike rack. Within a week, a local V.F.W. lodge donated two more bike racks thanks to the coordination of one of our route leaders.
Pleasant Streets
Our neighborhood’s Bike Bus was launched by parents in collaboration with Pleasant Streets, which is part of Pleasant Ridge Community Council. The committee’s objective is to advocate for measures that improve the safety of pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers in Pleasant Ridge.
In 2021, as an effort to help people gain confidence riding on the streets with traffic, the committee partnered with local non-profit Queen City Bike to host monthly weekend group rides.
This experience made launching the Bike Bus a natural progression of our existing work and activities. Queen City Bike very generously sponsors the bike bus, offering supplemental insurance to all registered riders.
The Pleasant Ridge Bike Bus held its first ride in April of 2026. It gained momentum very quickly and many other Cincinnati neighborhoods began reaching out about starting their own bike buses. In August, Queen City Bike hosted a Bike Bus Summit where we shared what we’ve learned. Our primary message: our neighborhood has all the same challenges as yours. It can be done. Just get started!
Now there are 7 other bike buses that have launched or are coming soon, including Hyde Park, Norwood and more!
Momentum with Community Partners
Imagine Cincinnati is proud to be a community partner in the Bike Bus movement, helping support a community-led effort that makes it easier for kids and families to get to school safely, actively, and together. We believe that children thrive when they have access to safe places to play and learn, supportive relationships, and schools ready to welcome them. By supporting the Bike Bus and advocating for safer streets and stronger public schools, we’re working alongside families and neighbors to help every child arrive ready to learn, connect, and grow.
Policy & Advocacy
Pleasant Streets has been advocating for safety improvements since 2016. We want to see the priority shift from solely traffic throughways to streets that serve all users. The Bike Bus shows us how many families want safe transportation alternatives; how many people will choose to bike when they feel it is safe. We are seeing 4x as many children biking to school this year compared to before the Bike Bus began. And that’s on non-bike-bus days. There was a latent demand - people just needed to see that it was possible.
We are also advocating for more bike education to be offered by the schools and the city. Kids need to know how to safely share the sidewalks with pedestrians and how to share the road with cars. Policy around e-bikes has been proposed on the state level. Through the visual momentum of the bike bus, we can bring these topics and policies down to a local level, led by parents and kids with experience and passion.
Bike Bus Links:
GroupMe for announcements and weather cancellations
Route Map, FAQ, and Registration: bit.ly/PRM-bike-bus
Press Links:
