The Global Bike Bus Summit connects leaders who bring joy to children’s bike ride to school. This year, Global Bike Bus Summit met in Lisbon, to learn about the work of BiciCultura who have been managing ‘Comboios de Bicicletas’ for over a decade. It is the fourth Global Bike Summit, following Bike Bus Summit Barcelona 2023, Frankfurt 2024, and Worcester 2025, but it had all the love, joy and community that one can expect from a Bike Bus gathering.
What was new this year?
It was bigger, for the first time we paid for tickets, there was more private sponsorship, and a greater US/Canadian presence. There were poster sessions, the venues were grande, and for the first time we had a donor announcing funding to support bike bus projects.
But at its core… Bike Bus Summit in Lisbon had the same grassroots feeling. The community, the creativity, the joy and the love remained at the heart of the vibe. I enjoyed meeting Bike Bus leaders from California (Michael Karric) and New Jersey (Jess Tillyer and Martin Ceperley. It was also nice to reconnect with the Canadians, Maya Goldstein from HUB Cycling, and Omar Tahmiscic from Vancouver. We all shared an admiration for our host, BiciCultura, and their extraordinary team. We all wanted to learn what they had done, recognizing that the Comboi de Bicicleta has served as an valuable governance model for us. I had not fully appreciated how BiciCultura organizes Bike Buses in Municipalities across Portugal, beyond the Lisbon metropolitan area.
What were my highlights?
- PhD Thesis summary by Gemma Simon-i-Mas
The first PhD thesis devoted exclusively to bike bus summarized main findings, including that frequent bike bus participants are 5 times more likely to cycle more frequently. Her presentation gave a closure to the project. Gemma is a huge asset to the bike bus network and it would be really nice if we could keep her expertise focused on this topic.
2. The Panel Discussion that Asked the Difficult Questions
We need to ask the difficult questions in the Bike Bus Summits because this is our precious time together, face to face, and these questions are much more difficult to work out online.
- Does bike bus really need money?
- How should bike bus respond to political polarization?
- How do we coordinate to leverage our impact?
- Should the bike bus community consider formalizing as a loose federation?
- How do we avoid burnout?
- Do we focus on building community or demanding better infrastructure?
We had a star panelist, Oscar Collier, who gave us perhaps the most memorable moment of the Summit. He was joined by Rosa Suriñach (BiciBus Eixample), Maya Goldstein (Hub Cycling Vancouver), Dan Brothwell (Bike Worcester), Hamish Belding (Fridays Bike Bus), Sam Balto (Bike Bus World), Andre Peres Dias (Bici Cultura).
3. The Horizon Workshop
Dr Deirdre Harrington is leading a proposal which, if granted, could give a huge boost to the bike bus movement. We are fortunate to have Lorena Axinte (Bax Consulting) as part of the team, as well as Gemma Simon-i-Mas and many others who participated in the first consortium in the Fall of 2025. I hope next year we have something to share about this project.
Emerging Collaborations
The most interesting collaboration I saw emerging was between Professor Rita Cordovil de Matos and Omar Tahmiscic on early childhood cycling. They have both studied how children learn to ride a bike, from different angles, which are highly complementary. Over lunch, with one of Dr Cordovil’s postdocs, Henrique Brito, we discussed the transition between a push bike to a pedal bike. The question emerged: What is the earliest possible age that a child can push the pedals? Is there a physiological limitation? Do some muscles not develop until a certain age that inhibits this rotation? Understanding the earliest age a child can pedal would be valuable for early childhood cycling. On the one hand, it would avoid pushing pedal bikes onto kids too early, but it could also tell us at what age such a transition is physically possible. We all agreed that more attention needs to be focused on younger children, getting them on bikes as soon as possible, and this key question should be resolved. We are open to the possibility that someone has already studied this question, but if not, it would be a great research paper.
Omar Tahmiscic brings years of experience on this question, and Dr Cordovil de Matos brings extensive scientific expertise. It would be brilliant if they could work together to take advantage of the synergy.
Feeling of gratitude
Once again, it goes without saying how grateful I am to BiciCultura, Bike Worcester, Bike Bus World, BiciBus Eixample, BiciBus Sarrià, and everyone at the Summit. It is such a privilege to be a part of this community. Everyone was particularly grateful to Nádia Morais and Andre Peres Dias who led the exhausting effort to organize the event. It was such a gift to all of us.
Looking Ahead to Bike Bus Portland
At the dinner we already started sharing ideas about what the next Bike Bus Summit may look like. Sam Balto and Lauren McCune will be organizing, hopefully with lots of help from other West Coast Bike Bus leaders. The time is ripe for a Bike Bus gathering in North America. I hope to see many of you in Portland next year!
