Guildford’s First “Bike Bus”

Published on: 10 Jul, 2025
Updated on: 11 Jul, 2025

The Boxgrove Bike Bus

By Bethan Moore

Boxgrove Bike Bus organiser

Taylor Swift’s Shake it off is playing to the sound of bike bells and cheering as a group of around 15 children and adults ride their bikes around the corner and along the road.

The children, in their red school uniforms, are on their way to Boxgrove Primary School.

More children and parents on bikes are waiting on the grass verge between the road and the pavement. The lead rider, wearing a special high-vis jacket, blows her whistle and everyone carefully stops on the side of the road.

The new riders join and after some quick checks, they all set off together, the group growing as it travels along its set route. Soon they arrive at school and park their bikes in the packed new bike racks.

This is the Boxgrove bike bus.

There are now about 15 families joining in

In May, three families started travelling by bike each Friday morning from Stoke Park to Boxgrove Primary School. They follow a published route and timetable, just like a bus, and invite others to join them.

“We now have about 15 families joining regularly and on average ten children riding each week. But we’re ready to get the word out and have more people join,’ said Beth Moore, one of the parents who started the bus.

“I love the bike bus, it is fun and I feel safer in a big group,” said Naomi (aged 8). “I look forward to Fridays when I can ride my bike with friends to school in the bike bus,’ Jessica (aged 9).

The school supports the bike bus but this is a parent-led initiative. Too many cars on the school run is a major cause of traffic jams, causing stress and pollution which can seriously damage all our health.

“It’s not easy,” said one of the parents, “to change your habits when you’re a busy parent trying to drop off kids and rush to work – everything is on such a fine margin and you just need to get through
the week.”

“Even though we all know changing to walking or cycling reduces congestion, saves money and is better for our health and communities, there’s little practical help on offer right now.”

Surrey’s school travel survey found that the biggest factor, when deciding how to travel to school, is safety.

The parent continued: “The London Road active travel scheme gave many of us hope that we’d have safer ways to get to school. But after it was cancelled, we decided to make the changes we needed ourselves.”

“The idea of the bike bus is to offer a little bit of support and motivation to get going. We’ve researched a good route for little legs; we have volunteers who help us navigate the scarier junctions and, by cycling in group, we’re hard to miss.”

“At the heart of it all, it’s just really fun. The regulars are really getting into it now and when someone new joins, we all help each other out. We building a nice community.”

And it is hoped that this is just the start: “Instead of waiting for the streets to get safer, anyone can start a bike bus and we’d encourage any of you to try. There is lots of help available and do get in
touch if you want to find out more.”

The Boxgrove Bike Bus timetable and how to join.

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