The Bike Bus Program
The Bike Bus is a former school bus with a wheel chair lift, already owned by WCCOG, currently being retrofitted as a mobile bicycle repair workshop.
The Bike Bus will provide free bicycling-related programs to youth in Washington County to help them build skills and establish life-long healthy habits.
Underlying goals that guide the Bike Bus Program are to help youth in Washington County:
- Improve their physical and emotional health and well-being.
- Build technical, social, personal, team-building, leadership, and business skills.
- Deepen connections with their natural environment and inspire stewardship of the region's natural assets.
- Engage in community service and community initiatives.
We hope the program will help instill a love of bicycling in more children...and perhaps even inspire young entrepreneurs to develop more recreational opportunities and services in the region!
We also seek to provide bicycle-related services to the public to provide income for the program, provide safe access to bicycling for more people, and help fill a gap in the region’s capacity to develop safe bicycle infrastructure and encourage bicycle tourism.
The Bike Bus will serve as a mobile Bike Shop and provide a stock of refurbished bicycles, parts, and supplies for purchase by the public. The Bike Shop will offer riding safety skills, bike maintenance and repair skills, and guided bicycle rides. We hope the Bike Bus will evolve to include group riding tours for the public and concierge or emergency roadside assistance to traveling cyclists.
Click here to learn about bicycling opportunities on the Bold Coast.
Click here to watch the promotional video for the Bold Coast Scenic Bikeway.
Click here to learn more about bicycling safety and accessibility in Washington County.
Why Bicycling?
Bicycling promotes positive health and well-being. Youth often spend very little time in the out of doors. Many do not have bicycles, and some have never ridden a bicycle. Access to and awareness of the many diverse outdoor resources through safe, organized bicycle-related activities enables more youth and their families to utilize and enjoy the region’s wealth of outdoor opportunities. Transportation and other family circumstances can impede the ability of children to attend after-school programs, and schools are without resources to provide bicycle-related programs. The Bike Bus will solve transportation and adult mentor staffing challenges for rural families, and allow more children across the region to participate in bicycling-related enrichment programs.
Active engagement and emotional investment in the outdoors instills a sense of pride and personal ownership, and teaches us become better stewards of our environment and community. Awareness of and access to the many and diverse opportunities that exist right here in Washington County helps create a sense of appreciation and pride for this place we live. Through bicycle repair and riding programs, youth will explore their own talents and creativity, and experience the rich natural environment that exists right here at home.
Staffing the Bike Bus
An Island Institute Fellow will work with WCCOG to design and implement the program, in partnership with the Ed Greaves Education Center. The Fellow will lead the program for two years beginning in September 2019. The Island Fellow will ultimately achieve three main goals:
- Mentor and guide youth to understand and develop their personal skills, interests, and physical achievements.
- Establish and run a mobile bike shop for the public to provide parts and supplies, repair services, and other opportunities
- Prepare the program to continue beyond completion of their two years in Washington County.
Year 1 of the Fellowship is dedicated to orientation and training for the Fellow, program development, and program implementation in several EdGE partner schools. Year 2 expands the program to include schools outside of the EdGE partnership, incorporate new aspects into the program, and move the program toward sustainability.
The Community Bike Shop in Biddeford and other existing community and youth bike programs are successful models for the Fellow to develop the Bike Bus program to fit Washington County’s needs. Once established, the Bike Bus will form a regional chapter of Trips for Kids and work with Teens To Trails to offer youth bicycle rides and events.
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Our Partners
The Ed Greaves Education Center will assist the Fellow as they establish working relationships with EdGE partner schools.
WCCOG maintains a strong partnership with Bicycle Coalition of Maine (BCM), whose mission is to improve biking and walking opportunities in Maine. Since 2016 we have collaboratively trained and certified 9 Community Spokes (bicycle advocacy) members and 30 Washington County businesses and organizations in the region as “bicycle friendly” through BCM’s Bicycles WelcoME training program.
We work closely with Maine Department of Transportation, Maine Office of Outdoor Recreation, and Maine Office of Tourism to create and promote healthy alternatives for recreation and transportation in support of economic development and community well-being.