Columbia's "Bike Train" program receives national attention

Centerlines, the e-newsletter of the National Center for Bicycling & Walking, recently reported:

According to a May 1st news release from PedNet Coalition in Columbia, MO, "The Walking School Bus program has been such a success that the PedNet Coalition is now piloting the bike version-the Bike Train program. Columbia's Bike Train is one of just a handful of similar programs in the country.

"Through the end of this school year a group of four elementary-age children and Ian Thomas, executive director of the PedNet Coalition, are riding their bikes to and from Fairview Elementary School one day per week. All of the participating children have completed PedNet's youth bicycle proficiency
program, Bike Pro. The concept of the Bike Train is the same as for the Walking School Bus -- an adult mentor rides to pick up each of the children at their homes, and they proceed to school..."Funding for this pilot program comes from the Active Living by Design grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation which was awarded to the PedNet Coalition and the Columbia/Boone County Health Department in late 2003. One of the main goals of the grant is to promote physical activity to children and families within the area."