Walking and Rolling Back to School! 🍉🍉 August 2026 Newsletter (2 of 2)

Congratulations to TA Edison Elementary School & Friendship Heights Neighborhood: Last week, these KCK families won funding for a new sidewalk in their community!

“When I walk to school, we are so close to cars, and sometimes we walk in the ditch. That is why I would like sidewalks.”

- a T.A. Edison student's testimony at a recent UG Public Works Committee meeting.

BikeWalkKC is working with T.A. Edison Elementary and Friendship Heights Neighborhood for a year-long pilot program exploring the needs of the community and the potential impact of intensive Safe Routes to School engagement with kids, families, school staff, and neighbors. We have lots more good news to share about this project - stay tuned!

This pilot program is made possible by a grant from John W. & Effie E. Speas Memorial Trust, Bank of America, N.A., Trustee.

You can be a hero for KC kids this semester!

We’re teaching kids to walk and bike safely, and we’re training the whole neighborhood to win safer streets. BikeWalkKC needs your financial support to help more kids walk and bike safely this fall. Will you give joy and safety to kids headed back to school?

Mini-grant applications now open for Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day

In 1960, six-year-old Ruby Bridges etched her name in history when she integrated her all-white school in New Orleans. Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day honors the living legacy of civil rights activist Ruby Bridges. Safe Routes Partnership is offering a limited number of mini-grants to help schools celebrate Ruby's courageous and historic act. Grant applications are due by Friday, October 2.

Aug. 23 📆 Bike Bus Info Night + Paint Party

Anyone from any corner of the KC metro who interested in bike buses is invited to join us for this biking-back-to-school-bash! Come ask questions, meet other families interested in bike buses, and paint your own BIKE BUS t-shirts! Click here to register

Want more youth education news, events, and stories? Subscribe to our Safe Routes to School mailing list to get inspiration direct to your inbox. 

When it comes to Bike Share KC, you have options!

Which Bike Share KC pass is right for you? Ride YOUR way in any Bike Share KC service area - Kansas City, MO; Kansas City, KS; North Kansas City; Overland Park; the Aspiria Campus; and Lenexa. Click here to read the Frequently Asked Questions

Walk-up registration: $1.00 to unlock and 25 cents per minute. 

Explorer pass: $15 - No unlock fees. Includes unlimited rides, each up to 4 hours. Expires 24 hours after purchase.

Bike Wrangler monthly membership: $39 - No unlock fees. Includes 80 minutes of free riding time per day. Expires 30 days after purchase. Includes automatic enrollment in the Bike Wrangler program, offering riders a chance to earn their next month’s membership FREE.

Annual membership: $149 - No unlock fees. Includes 80 minutes of free riding time per day. Expires 365 days after purchase.

NOTE: For all pass or membership options, additional minutes are 25 cents per minute (the same rate as pay-as-you-go trips). Parking rules apply– you must lock to a hub to avoid a $2 convenience fee. One membership or explorer pass per account.

Want to be the first to hear Bike Share KC news? Click here to sign up for our Bike Share mailing list! 

These surveys need your feedback now

Aug. 20 ✅ Safe Streets Leawood Plan Survey and Interactive Map (Leawood)

Aug. 31 ✅ Wornall Corridor Plan Survey (KCMO)

(No end date) ✅ Comprehensive Plan Virtual Open House (Blue Springs)

(No end date) ✅ How would you like to be engaged with local advocacy? (Metro)

New e-bike and e-moto regulations in KCMO: Two steps forward, one step back

A new KCMO law addresses youth on dangerous and illegal e-motos, provides legal protection for safe electric bicycles, but also imposes speed limits on adults riding legal e-bikes in KCMO bike lanes and criminalizes kids without helmets.

Click here to find out what's next for people who ride e-bikes in the KCMO region

Transportation Talks in KCK and E. JaxCo

What's going on with walking, transit, and biking in your area? Join us for Transportation Talk to talk with BikeWalkKC staff about local, state, and national efforts for safe streets + how you can work with your neighbors to make change right where you are!

Aug. 26 📆 Transportation Talk: KCK

Sept. 22 📆 Transportation Talk: E. Jackson County

Want timely news and action items just for your zip code? Click here to sign up for our Advocacy Alerts!

This spring, attorney Paul Anderson answered common questions about bicyclists' rights and responsibilities in our series, Rules of the Road with Popham Law. You can find the full set of questions and answers on our blog!

• Are bikes treated like cars or pedestrians?
• Do I have to stop at red lights, and how long do I have to wait?
• What should I do if I get hit by a car?
• Why do I need uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage?
• What do I do if a dog chases and bites me?
• What is a vulnerable road user (“VRU”)?

Paul Anderson and Mark Schloegel are trial lawyers at Popham Injury Law in Kansas City, where their practice focuses on representing people injured by dangerous drivers and unsafe road conditions. Popham Injury Law is a team of dedicated trial lawyers who represent injured victims, on a contingency-fee basis, in Kansas City and across the country, fighting to ensure they receive full and fair compensation.

Many thanks to Popham Law for sponsoring our adult bike education series this spring!

What we're reading

KC bus riders prepare for route cuts, free fare program expansion | More than a dozen routes are expected to be suspended by September if the KCATA can't find more funding for operation costs. "[I take the bus] at least five days a week. It's very important," Kevin Beard said. "I really don't know how I'd get to work."(KSHB 41)

Blue Valley parents worry about student walker safety near new middle school​​​​​​​ | Sam and Ellie Kolchinsky will walk to the new school along the white line of 175th Street — a route their mother says puts them at risk. (KSHB 41)

Federal attacks on bike lanes won’t make Kansas City streets safer | The infrastructure works. Deleting it from a federal website doesn't make roads safer. It just ensures local engineers and planners have fewer tools to save lives. (Kansas City Star - no paywall with our link)