We love the beginning of a new semester, because that means we are back in gyms and playgrounds practicing walking and biking safety with our students. Lately, more families and school staff are asking us, “How can we get more kids walking and biking to school?” That’s a great question, and we have some ideas:
Tag Archives: news
When Dad had to give up driving, he had to give up his freedom
By Amy Scrivner, BikeWalkKC Director of Development Five years ago, our family had to take the car keys away from my dad. It remains one of the worst things I’ve ever done to another human being. It meant he had to leave his home in the suburbs and move to an assisted living facility. Dad […]
Hale Cook launches KC’s first bike bus ahead of Bike to School Day Oct. 8
By Ellen Schwartze, School & Community Engagement Coordinator Just in time for International Bike/Walk to School Day, Hale Cook Elementary, part of Kansas City Public Schools, has launched a bike bus for students. According to data from Bike Bus World, it’s the first bike bus in the Kansas City metro area. The new program is […]
I need a transportation system designed for people, not cars
By Shawn Tolivar, community member My name is Shawn, and my wife and I are a single car family. We moved to downtown Kansas City from the suburbs partially for the transportation options. Our move enabled both of us to have easy access to a bus route that took us directly to our jobs in […]
Advocacy in the Wake of Tragedy: What we can learn from a stoplight at 51st and Troost
By Avery Jones, BikeWalkKC Community Organizer For years, neighbors and students raised concerns that the intersection at 51st Street & Troost was unsafe. When Yuxi Wu, a University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) conservatory student who planned to graduate with a degree in piano performance, was tragically struck and killed on September 26, 2024, the concerns […]
How a hand-me-down bike brought me more joy than I can keep to myself
By Brandon Schubach, BikeWalkKC Youth Education Instructor A decade with BikeWalkKC This year marks my ten-year anniversary at BikeWalkKC, a milestone that has me reflecting on the journey that brought me here and the impact our work has on the community. Over the past decade, I’ve had the privilege of teaching kids how to ride […]
2025 Policy Platform “Troll”-out
Content warning: the following video contains disturbing language and material that is inappropriate for some people. Viewer discretion is advised. During BikeWalkKC’s policy platform rollout on February 26, 2025, an unknown individual took over the virtual meeting and engaged in disparaging and disruptive acts. The disruptions occur between the 3:30- and 5:30-minute marks. This included […]
2025 Policy Platform
As we turn the page to a new year, BikeWalkKC is continuing efforts to advocate for the policies, plans, and projects that make it safer and easier for people to walk, roll, and bike, and use public transit in the Kansas City region and beyond. Each year, we develop a policy platform. The policy platform […]
What’s a VRUSA and what does it say about Kansas and Missouri?
A new report compares Kansas and Missouri with four other Midwestern states. Walking, accessibility, biking, and transit saw considerable improvements in policy and funding with the adoption of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. An often overlooked piece of those legislative changes was the creation of a new document: the Vulnerable Road User Safety Assessment (VRUSA, also […]
Is equitable enforcement possible?
How KCMO can limit harm and traffic violence with its Automated Enforcement Policy By Avery Jones, BikeWalkKC Community Organizer In the wake of rising concern with instances of police bias and violence within traffic stops, a growing number of city officials and transportation advocates alike have turned toward automated enforcement systems as the solution. Red-light […]