Families biking back to school in San Mateo County

The trek to school is nearly 4 miles, but thanks to the electric cargo bike with pedal assists, Madere said the trip is completely manageable. That electric bike is what saves him from arriving at work sweaty — which totals his one way trips to around 7 miles some days — addressing a common concern for many considering biking.

Both Madere and his wife Seema Patel work full-time jobs and when it came time to consider a second vehicle to get around, it was a quick decision to opt for an electric bike rather than a car.

“It was actually a pretty easy choice,” he said. ‘The only uncertainty was just because we hadn’t done that before.”

Getting into a flexible routine to accommodate both their schedules and still prioritize biking often has been smooth, Madere said. Even light drizzling rain doesn’t deter Madere from biking his children, as long as they’re well prepared.

Now, the kids look forward to any time they get to hop on the bag of the cargo bike, and to get around San Mateo, his kids pedal their own bikes regularly.

Another way parents are reapproaching biking to school to mitigate safety concerns is gathering students to bike in groups.

Up to eight families meet up at 8 a.m. at the Hayward Park Caltrain station and can be seen biking en masse toward the Fiesta Gardens Elementary School in San Mateo. Anyone interested is welcome, said Heather Wolnick, who has planned mapped out rides to the school.

“We show up to school with bikes, people talk to us or someone in the group says they have a neighbor who’s interested,” Wolnick said, who with her husband David Hunt, have two children at the school. “It kind of formed geographically for our ride, like who’s in the neighborhood to come meet us.”

A similar herd of bikers can be seen trekking up the steep hill to Clifford Elementary School in Redwood City — a site Mark Waldrop, who bikes with his 9-year-old son, said is notoriously unsafe for bikers due to its uphill climb and highly residential area with no bike lanes.

Waldrop began the “bike bus,” which meets up at Stafford Park about a mile away every Friday.

“It’s good because it allows kids to learn about bike safety and to understand that they can bike to school and I think we all have a really fun time going down the road and ringing our bells,” Waldrop said.

Although he knows the herd, which can gather up to 30 students who may be more novice to biking, may upset some drivers, Waldrop said making the route safe for children is worth any scrutiny.

“I know people are trying to make it safer but it may not happen in my generation,” he said. “The ‘bike bus’ allows for safety while that’s in the works.”

Getting in tune with the neighborhood

A common value for parents interested in promoting biking to their children, whether it’s to school or around their homes, is to get them familiar with the world around them.

For Wolnick, their third grader who is 8 years old has been biking around for years and has a keen sense of his neighborhood.

“We have a babysitter that drives them around sometimes and he gives her directions on where to go,” she said. “I think that’s just telling that he’s been paying attention instead of sitting in the back of the car and [spacing] out. On a bike he has to pay attention to where he’s going and I think he’s learned that skill.”

In addition to recognizing streets and neighborhood monuments, Lauren Obenshain, a mother of two, said she’s noticed her 2-year-old child recognizing neighbors and those they run into on their bike rides. Car rides tend to be more stressful and her child could see far less, but biking around gives her the chance to interact more.

“It’s a very immersive experience biking and I want my kids to grow up knowing their community and neighbors,” Obenshain said, who is excited to build the habit in her children from a young age. “They said there’s a loneliness epidemic in San Mateo County and this is what I’m doing to address that, getting to know the people around us.”

Building independence, freedom and caring about personal health are all factors that parents hope their children gain through biking to school regularly.

Staying healthy, safe

For Hunt, the health aspect is a big factor that works twofold if he bikes with his children.

“Males in my family have a history of heart disease,” Hunt said. “The more activity I can build into my day, the healthier that I will be, and they will build those good habits as well.”

Although car accidents are one of the leading causes for death of children in the United States — and a reason Hunt said he wanted to promote alternate ways to get around — part of that concern still remains as children bike the streets.

“I don’t worry that they are gonna not know what to do,” Wolnick said. “I worry that drivers won’t see them, won’t expect them, will be aggressive, will be angry, will be thinking that they don’t deserve to be there.”

In response, Wolnick said she tells her children and students she promotes biking and that it’s OK to go on the sidewalk, as long as they understand the different dangers they should look out for while there.

With limited safe bike routes in some cities, parents are seeing the need to promote more established support for those who wish to go an alternative way. With two little ones under 3 years old, Obenshain said it’s become more and more evident how unsafe the streets really can be.

“Biking with my kids and for myself, it gives me a purpose to go and advocate for more safer streets and protected bike infrastructure,” Obenshain said. “Talking about it is really important.”

Climate help

Although not all bike riders are as dedicated as Sonia Elkes, a sustainable transportation advocate at San Carlos Bikes who said she will always “forge through the Wild West streets of San Carlos,” many families in the county still see significant benefits to making it a part of their weekly, if not daily, lives.

“We’re only a couple miles from all the things we want to get to and I really enjoy biking,” Madere said. “I want to promote it because with the weather we have here, we should promote more biking. It seems crazy not to bike almost.”

An ecological motivator is also a factor in many of family’s decision, who want their kids to understand the impact of their carbon footprint.

Elkes biked all four of her children to elementary school. As they’ve grown up, not all have maintained the specific practice, all still use alternative methods to get around, whether it be biking downtown on the weekends or skateboarding to class.

“They have that autonomy,” Elkes said. “Even if it’s not biking with me to school, they’re comfortable riding. That’s enough for me.”

Parents notice how that sense of independence that comes from biking builds confidence in their children. Elkes said when children get freedom, social connection, exercise and fresh air built into their day, they’re happier.

“It’s building in adventures, community became an adventure. It was fun for me, interesting for them, it made it not a grind,” Elkes said. “Elevating the mundane, that’s really what it is.”