Yesterday, for the first time in 13 years, I took the bus to school. It just looked a little different than I remember.
That’s because, technically, it wasn’t a bus at all—it was the Toga Bike Bus, a group of Lake Ave Elementary students and parents who meet up on Fridays to ride their bikes to and from school.
You may have seen something like this on social media: In recent years, Portland, OR’s bike bus has gone viral for its massive rides that have attracted celebrities including Benson Boone and Justin Timberlake. Saratoga’s version is a bit smaller and less star-studded, but follows the same (figurative) road map. Various routes leave from set locations around the school zone at set times, passing by “stops” and picking kids up along the way. The “West Side” group I tagged along with left from the intersection of Glenham Road and Glenmore Ave and took West Circular Street all the way across West Ave and South Broadway to Circular and finally Regent Street, where it met up with the other three Lake Ave bike bus routes. Then, everyone proceeded to the school, where the PTA was serving Dunkin’ coffee as part of a new First-Friday-of-the-month initiative, and the music teacher was playing the saxophone on the school steps to kick off the second day of the 2026-27 school year.
But back to the bus stop. I arrived way before the 8:36am departure time, and passed the next 20 minutes with a couple of DuoLingo lessons (just because I wasn’t actually going to school didn’t mean I couldn’t learn a bit of French). Then, kids from the neighborhood started arriving. I met third-grader Liam and kindergartener Ella and their dad, Ian, plus first-grader Erin, who rode up with her feet raised above her pedals and skidded to a stop in front of the group. “I’ve been doing this since kindergarten,” she told me of the bike bus. “So I’m used to biking on the main road.” Erin’s mom was carrying her daughter’s pink and purple backpack, which contained cupcakes for Erin to share with the class to celebrate her sixth birthday, which was the day before school started.
When another couple of bikers turned down the road and headed our way, one of the kids yelled “Bikers!” and everyone proceeded to ring their bike bells as they rode up in what I heard called a “bell party.”
“I don’t have a bell,” someone whined.
After running through the safety reminders (ride single file; listen to cues from adults; have fun but don’t be too wild) Katie Rocque, the route leader, said, “OK, I have a really important question: Music or no music?”
Katie, a mother of two Lake Ave students, is actually one of the founders of Toga Safe to School, the organization that operates the Toga Bike Bus. A few years ago, she, Maddy Zanetti, Erin Conklin, and Lindley Hickox were talking about how their kiddos could get to school safely by bike. Saratoga already participates in National Bike to School Day in May, so bike routes already existed. They took that framework and ran (or, rather, rode) with it. They launched the Toga Bike Bus in the spring of 2025, making this the program’s second full school year. In addition to the four Lake Ave Elementary Routes, the Division Street and Caroline Street schools each have a route.
“The bike bus isn’t just about riding to school, although it’s fun and just a great way to start our Fridays,” Lindley told me the next day at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market, where Toga Safe to School had a tent. “It’s giving the kids in our community a means of independence when they get older. To accomplish this, we do need city government to make it safer to walk and bike by putting in the infrastructure that will make it safer for pedestrians, bicyclists, and even drivers.”
At the farmers’ market, Lindley and Erin were handing out bike bells, showing people a map from Saratoga’s Complete Streets Plan, and encouraging kids to write postcards to city council members explaining why they love riding their bikes. This week, Maddy dropped some two dozen handwritten postcards destined for City Hall in the mail. The hope is that someday, Saratoga may institute something like Charlottesville, VA’s Safe Routes to School program.
“Saratoga Springs may too be big to access on foot, especially by a kid, but if you bike, you can cover some serious ground,” Lindley said. “There are concerns that kids are online too much, but if we get them offline, where are they going to socialize and how will they get there?”
As the group at the West Side bike bus stop grew in the minutes leading up to 8:36am, first-time rider Ella asked a very important question: “Which way are we going?”
An older boy turned to her matter of factly and said, “To school!”
—Natalie