photo by: Contributed/Photo by Adia Witherspoon

Students and parents of Limestone Community School meet at Barker Cafe, 1900 Barker Ave., in Lawrence, to prepare for its "bike bus" on Friday, April 11. The bike bus is part of an international movement aiming to create healthy communities.

Around 30 parents and students at Limestone Community School joined together in a “bike bus” to start their day Friday morning.

A bike bus is a group of children and families bicycling to school together along a set route, according to Bike Bus World. The group, which advocates for bike buses — citing benefits to health and well-being, the environment and community-building — lists over 50 registered bike buses organized across the U.S. as well as multiple international bike buses in countries such as Austria, India and Indonesia.

One parent told the Journal-World that the closest registered bike bus was in Joplin, Missouri, and that Kansas had none — though the group in Limestone hopes to add its name to the list.

The group met up at 1900 Barker Cafe & Bakery and traveled about 1.1 miles along 19th Street to Limestone, 2141 Maple Lane. Madeline Herrera, the co-founder and director at Limestone Community School, said the bike bus for the school normally has a few families who consistently meet. The bus recently restarted with the spring weather and has steadily picked up more people.

photo by: Bremen Keasey/Journal-World

Students and parents of Limestone Community School are pictured biking along 19th Street in Lawrence as part of a “bike bus” on Friday, April 11.

Along with the Limestone community, a couple of planners with Lawrence-Douglas County’s Metropolitan Planning Organization who focus on projects like Safe Routes to School and updates to the city’s bike plan were on hand, as well as City Commissioners Amber Sellers and Bart Littlejohn.

Hilary Carter, a parent at Limestone, said that it was great to have people with the city show up, especially as the city rethinks aspects of its bike plan.

As the Journal-World reported, the MPO approved a steering committee to update the plan, which was first created in 2019 to add a variety of infrastructure improvements for a safer, more comfortable and more accessible cycling environment in the city. This update aims to refine existing infrastructure plans and set the course for continued improvements.

Carter said that part of why the community invited people with the city to the bike bus event was to ensure the voice of children and routes to schools were included in the consideration of the bike plan updates.