Your new ride
to school.
Lycée kids and families riding to school together — fresh air, exercise and a bit of independence with their friends.
You had me at “Vélo!”
The Lycée VéloBus is like a school bus — but with bikes! Ride along as we pick up kids and families at every stop along the way. Children arrive at school awake, with their friends, on a safe route.
No car, no drop-off queue, no engine idling, no $8 gas.
On foot
Walk this way.
PédiBus is the same idea at walking pace. Same stops, same times, same two adults front and back — no bicycle required.
It suits younger children, anyone not yet confident on two wheels, and families who live close enough that cycling was never the point.
View PédiBus routesHelp Out
You probably do this already.
If you already ride or walk to school with your own child, you are one morning away from being a Lead or a Sweep.
It is very nearly what you are doing now — same route, same morning — except you travel at the front or the back of a group, and several more children get to school because of it.
Running a route is simpler than it sounds. It just needs these roles filled:
Lead
Rides at the front and sets the pace. Knows the route, which after one morning is anybody who has ridden it.
Sweep
Rides at the back so that nobody is left behind. The easiest role to start with, and the one most often short.
Route Captain
Takes a line on and keeps an eye on it. Many captains ride as a Lead or a Sweep too, but they don’t have to — the job is making sure somebody does.
A given morning starts running once 2 adults have stepped up to help out — a Lead and a Sweep. That is the whole threshold.
Why bother
Skip the drop-off queue.
The worst part of the school run is the last two hundred metres.
Cars nose to tail along the block, engines running, doors opening into the bike lane, everybody waiting for the car in front to move. A VéloBus does not join that queue. It rides past it and stops at the gates.
- No queue to sit in, and no circling for a space
- No engine idling outside a school full of children
- No fuel to buy, at San Francisco prices
- One fewer car on the road each morning, per family
And the children arrive having already done something with their morning — awake, outdoors, and with their friends.
The map
Find your corner.
Every route is drawn like a transit line, because that is what it is: a named line in its own colour, with stops and times you can plan a morning around. Find the corner nearest you and you have found your morning.
Open the mapRiding with us
Ready for their own bike?
A child riding their own bike on a VéloBus should be able to do all four of these comfortably:
- Control their bike
- Get on and off it
- Slow down and stop
- Ride a mile on level ground
Not quite there yet? Two good options. Ride alongside them yourself, so there is someone to help if they drop off the back. Or bring them aboard an adult’s bike — a cargo bike or a child seat is every bit as welcome.
Younger and less confident children are also very welcome on a PédiBus instead. It is shorter, slower, and on foot.
Join our VéloBus Community!
Pick a line, pick the morning that already suits you, and put your hand up.
Questions
The things people ask.
Do I have to ride along with my own child?
No — not if they can ride on their own. That is rather the point: two adults take the whole group, so the other mornings are yours. What matters is whether your child is ready for their own bike, and there is a short checklist for that. If they are not there yet, ride with them for a while — plenty of parents do, and it is how most children get ready.
Are parents able to ride along?
Of course! Especially with younger kids who aren’t yet comfortable riding solo. Cargo bikes, kid seats, bike trailers, and everything in between are welcome. The more the merrier!
In fact, if you are riding along anyway, you are most of the way to being a Lead or a Sweep — same route, same morning, you just ride at the front or the back. Two of you is what turns a morning into a running one, so if you are coming, put your hand up.
Do they need a helmet?
Yes. Every rider wears one, every morning, adults included.
What happens if it rains?
Rain or shine — it runs. San Francisco mornings are rarely the problem they look like from indoors. The exception is a genuine downpour, and that call belongs to the adults riding it: if the Lead and the Sweep decide a morning is not worth it, they cancel it and let the group know.
Does my child need to be able to ride on their own?
If they are going to ride without you, they need to be comfortable on the bike they will actually be riding: able to control it, get on and off it, slow down and stop, and manage a mile on level ground. The route itself is the easy part — it is chosen to avoid the hard parts. If they are not quite there yet, you’re always welcome to ride! More the merrier.
What do the Lead and the Sweep actually do?
The Lead rides at the front and sets the pace. The route is the same every week, so after one morning anybody who has ridden it knows it. The Sweep rides at the back, so nobody is left behind. Those two are what a morning needs — there is no third job.
What is a Route Captain?
Somebody who takes a line on and keeps an eye on it. They do not have to ride every morning; the job is making sure somebody does. A line needs a Captain before any of its mornings can run, and more than one is welcome — they share the line between them.
What happens if only one adult signs up for a morning?
It does not run. Two is the whole threshold, and the Route Captain confirms a morning once it is covered. You can see exactly where every morning stands on the Routes page — nothing is hidden, including the mornings that are one person short.
Do I have to commit for the whole term?
No. You offer the mornings that already suit you, one at a time, and you can add or drop any of them whenever you like. If something changes in week three, change it in week three.
How do I change or cancel what I have offered?
Go to My VéloBus and enter the email address or phone number you signed up with. Everything you have offered is there, and changes save as you make them. No password, no account to remember.
None of the routes work for us.
Say so. Every line here is a proposal, not a fixture — it exists because somebody asked for it, and stops can move. The WhatsApp group is where that conversation happens.
Who do I talk to with questions?
The WhatsApp group. It is where the people actually riding these routes are, so anything not answered here gets answered there — usually by somebody who did the same morning last week.