Last fall, Maplewood dad Martin Ceperley was inspired by his daughter Nora — and an enterprising group of biking parents in Montclair — to start a weekly “bike bus” for Seth Boyden Elementary students.
Village Green rode along and captured the “kidical” mass of the Seth Boyden Bike Bus last fall, just as the bike bus revolution was spreading to other South Orange-Maplewood elementary schools, largely guided by the SOMA Bike Bus organization co-founded by Ceperley who blasts updates via instagram at @somabikebus.
As the SOMA Bike Bus wrapped up the 2024-25 school year with the final ride on Friday, June 13, Village Green checked in with Ceperley and Marshall Bike Bus organizer Rob Howley to see how the bike buses had faired through the winter and into spring — and what the future holds for this summer and beyond.
A Revolution, Two Wheels At a Time
Since the Seth Boyden Bike Bus launch last fall, a grassroots network of parent volunteers has helped lead additional routes to Tuscan, Marshall, Clinton and Bolden schools. Each school has a parent serving as the ride leader, who helps organize the week’s ride. Every group also has a “sprinter,” who blocks traffic along the route as necessary.
Despite these assigned roles, the atmosphere of the bike bus is hardly strict or rigid.
“At its core, the bike bus is a party on two wheels every Friday morning,” said Ceperley. “It’s a fairly straightforward setup that’s not particularly regimented, loose in the best way possible,” said Rob Howley, who organized the Marshall Bike Bus.
The bike bus may have a casual air, but its founding touches on much deeper issues within SOMA. Ceperley had long been a witness to the dangers of SOMA’s car-centric culture. The density of Maplewood and South Orange frequently causes traffic congestion, creating conditions dangerous to pedestrians and bikers, which in turn forces many residents to rely on cars even to travel short distances.
“It seemed like we had become hostage to dangerous driving in our town, at the expense of having a safe community to raise independent, healthy kids who can walk & bike to school safely on their own,” Ceperley said.
Seth Boyden Bike Bus, October, 2024
The turning point came in October 2023, when Ceperley and similar-minded organizers rode as a group from Maplewood Town Hall to South Orange’s Spiotta Park, which was dubbed “The SOMa Critical Mass Ride for Safer Streets.”
One of those participating organizers was Howley, who created the Marshall Bike Bus after seeing the success of Ceperley’s Seth Boyden route.
“Starting a bike bus was something myself, Martin, and others have spoken about countless times but all a little too hesitant to take the leap,” Howley said. A year later, in fall of 2024, the first bike bus was organized, heading to Seth Boyden Elementary School. Despite starting out with just a few riders, now over 100 SOMa families ride with the bike bus every Friday morning of the school year.
One of the most positive aspects of the bike bus has been its effect on young riders’ confidence and independence. Howley recalled “seeing…how much stronger and more confident [a student biker] got over the course of the year,” to the point where she asked if she could be a junior sprinter. “The sense of ownership she has over the bike bus was inspiring,” he said.
One factor that has widely worked in the bike bus project’s favor is social media. The Instagram accounts for each elementary school’s route provide more practical information such as routes and logistics, but the real star is the plethora of photos and videos showcasing the bike bus in action. “Social media…has really been invaluable in showing the pure joy of the rides,” Howley said.
Ceperley also sees social media as a great outlet to spread the bike bus message.
“Personally, being a trained photographer, I’ve really enjoyed having the opportunity to tell our story to a wider audience, and challenge myself creatively to tell a compelling story,” he said.
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What’s next?
Since the first bike bus rides in fall of 2024, special routes have been expanded to include more locations outside of school commutes. These include holiday-themed rides and trips to fun locations, such as the South Mountain Reservation.
The founders see no reason why the bike bus can’t expand even more.
“There’s also demand for some learn-to-ride resources or clinics from the parents of kids just getting old enough to join the bike bus,” Howley said.
Another consideration is that the elementary school-age participants will eventually attend middle and high school, and may want to continue biking to school. “If we can find leaders at schools like our middle and high schools, we’d love to start a bike bus at these schools as well,” said Ceperley.
Regardless of the updates to the bike bus project in the year and half after being established, the philosophical core has remained the same. “I hope to inspire folks to think more about how we can raise strong, healthy, independent children,” Ceperley said. “Focus on their joy, their independence, their confidence, their strength. Because it’s really the kids who are teaching us the lessons here. We’re just facilitating it.”
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