It’s a bright, sunlit fall morning when I meet Sam Balto, or Coach Balto as he’s known to millions, outside his Northeast Portland home. His dog trots out to greet me while Balto rolls his cargo bike onto the sidewalk. We trade quick notes about our bikes—he’s riding an electric Urban Arrow; I’m on my human-powered Omnium Mini-Max—before an elementary-schooler pedals up, backpack bouncing, and we roll out together.
A few blocks later, two more kids and a parent join in. The kids show off their skills, carving tight turns and hopping up and down curbs while we wait for more riders to join the Bike Bus, a weekly bike-to-school ride that’s gone viral on Instagram and TikTok.
When we get moving again, the group has swelled into a rolling pack of thirty, including children, parents, stuffed animals, and even a dog riding shotgun. Up front, Balto stands out in his yellow ride-leader poncho, greeting kids by name and blasting music from a large loudspeaker. All millennial hits, “for the parents,” he notes.
All too soon, we arrive at the school gates. The pack fans out, kickstands snapping down, kids spilling toward the playground. An eight-year-old wants me to know just how much she loves the Bike Bus, especially the music, the friends and “going down that big, big hill.”
A four-year-old nods shyly in agreement. She, too, loves the music, but also getting to ride with her big sister, who’s in elementary school. Her mother adds that the preschooler has never known life without it. They’ve been riding with Balto since the early days.
“It’s just such a fun community thing to do,” she says. “I also think it helps regulate the kids. Bike Bus mornings are easier. It energises them.”
And that’s exactly the point.
Going Viral
(Image credit: Anne-Marije Rook)
The Bike Bus, Balto says, is “the Swiss Army knife” for everything that ails us. It cuts through the noise of modern childhood — the screens, the stress, the isolation — with something refreshingly simple: movement and community.
“They do better academically when they’re physically active. They get in trouble less, they have better social relationships, it’s a great way of helping kids build their independence skills, and it’s great for their mental health. It’s good for the environment, too,” Balto, 40, says.
“ All the kids say their number one reason they like going to Bike Bus is because of their friends and because it’s fun. They don’t even see it as a healthy way to get to school. It’s just community. There’s this narrative that kids want to sit on the couch playing video games all day, and I think there’s nothing farther from the truth.”
The idea of biking to school isn’t new. But by harnessing the power of social media, Balto turned a small neighbourhood ride into a global movement.
It all started in Boston, where Balto worked as a physical education teacher and commuted by bike because, as he puts it, “it was the most logical way to get around.” His school had a Safe Routes to School program, and Balto began organising walking school buses, groups of kids and parents walking to class together.
“I remember thinking, this is the best thing ever,” he says. “It was the perfect mix of exercise, routine, and connection.”
When he and his wife moved to Portland in 2018, he continued leading walking school buses at his new school. Then, one day, he came across a video from Spain showing a group of children riding to class together in a bicibús. The spark caught.
He tried it first for Earth Day 2022. “I thought maybe it would be a one-time thing,” he recalls. “But the kids loved it. The next week, they were already asking, ‘When’s the next Bike Bus?’”
Soon, hundreds of families were joining the weekly rides through Portland. And when Balto began posting short clips online, the internet took notice. Thousands, and then hundreds of thousands, watched as kids happily pedalled their way to school in the mornings. For decades, biking to school had quietly faded from American life, a casualty of car-centric cities and rising traffic dangers. But these videos flipped that narrative. They showed something joyful and entirely possible: a safe, communal and joyous way for kids to start the day on two wheels.
And then came Justin Timberlake.
Timberlake’s music, always a hit with the millennial parents riding along, had long been part of Balto’s morning playlists. When the pop star announced a Portland show, Balto posted a cheeky video inviting him to join the Bike Bus.
“The video did very well,” he says, humbly.
Within days, it had 15 million views. The internet rallied behind Balto and the kids, prodding Timberlake until he agreed. On Sunday, January 12, 2025, the pop star and several of his dancers showed up, pedalling alongside 200 kids and parents on their morning ride to Alameda Elementary.
“It all blew up so fast,” Balto says, looking back over the last three years.
Just last week, Balto tested the power of social media again, this time inviting Washington-native Benson Boone, whose hit Beautiful Things had become a Bike Bus regular. Sure enough, the 23-year-old turned up, singing along to his own song from atop a bikeshare rental.
Bike Bus World
Of course, the Bike Bus isn’t about getting celebrities to ride bikes. Though those viral moments have certainly helped amplify the message.
Three years after that first ride, the Bike Bus had become a global symbol of joyful, sustainable commuting. Balto quit his PE teacher job and now runs Bike Bus World, a nonprofit devoted to helping others start their own Bike Bus in their communities.
”Our aim is to support more people starting Bike Buses. To elevate Bike Buses that already exist, to strengthen the community and network and just be an overall hype group for people who are doing Bike Buses all around the world.”
According to a 2024 study, Bike Buses are growing rapidly, with already 200 regularly run Bike Buses nationwide and 470 Bike Buses globally.
Balto insists that anyone can do it; that it doesn’t necessarily require significant amounts of infrastructure or a bike-friendly city like Portland.
“There are always ways that you can prioritise and create opportunities for children’s mobility and independence. Bike Bus is the software, it’s the social infrastructure, it’s the safety in numbers, but it’s also a call to action to our leaders to create the hardware, the physical infrastructure that makes it safe for kids to be able to do this on non-Bike Bus days,” he says.
For Balto, every day is a Bike Bus day. He leads two weekly rides in Portland and spends the rest of his time coaching, fundraising, and helping cities around the world start their own two-wheeled parades.
It’s joy, it’s community,” he says. “And once you see it in motion, you can’t help but want to join in.”
When we finally say our goodbyes, the street has gone quiet. The school bell has rung, and children are now attentive in their classes, bikes piled five rows deep in the rack. Balto and I head off toward our opposite ends of Portland, his playlist still stuck in my head.
How to Start Your Own Bike Bus
(Image credit: Anne-Marije Rook)
1. Start small. Pick one route and a meeting point.
2. Add music. Make it a party!
3. Recruit helpers. Parents or volunteers can block intersections and cheer kids on.
4. Make it weekly. Consistency builds momentum and community.
5. Share your story. Post a video, tag #BikeBusWorld, and connect with others doing the same.
