Written by Anna Jensen

I am a senior in college in Saint Paul and have been regularly biking around the Mac-Groveland neighborhood for three years now. Originally I biked mostly recreationally to the river to enjoy the beautiful scenery and water, or I biked back into Minneapolis on the Greenway if I felt homesick. I am a leader of the biking club on campus, and one of the joys of that position is leading group rides around the Cities. Biking in large groups seems cumbersome at first, but there is no greater feeling than heading down the road in a swarm of bikes, outsizing the cars and feeling a bit of extra security on the road. Those group rides were purely recreational until this fall, when I had a senior seminar class at night. After class one day, we realized most of us had biked to campus. Instead of scattering and heading straight home (which would have felt pretty good given the fact that it was 10pm), we set out together on the road in a “bike bus”, making our way to various turn-offs and streets, dropping people off. We joked about the idea, but it was a great ride home together where we had a few more minutes to chat and laugh, but also get everyone home safer, better lit and more visible than if we had all gone alone. We didn’t invent the idea of a Bike Bus, but we extended its application to a group of adults instead of elementary-aged kids, like it’s usually used for.

Our decision to bike together home from class feels small, and maybe it is. But the decision is more impactful than first meets the eye. Our Bike Bus fused our community with our bicycles, creating a mobile yet concrete space to enjoy each others’ company, something that is often lacking in cycling circles, encouraged each other to ride our bikes (if we weren’t already convinced), and it made us safer and allowed us to take on the roads confidently, enjoying the cool night air and creating something special and memorable on an otherwise mundane and tired commute home from school.

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