Bike Bus Bill has Hearing at Legislature Monday the 20th

One of the most exciting bills at the Legislature is HB 3014, which would fund more flexible school transportation than merely yellow bus service. Chief sponsor Rep. Pham is calling it the "Bike Bus Bill."

There's a hearing on Monday the 20th - which seems a little odd because of Presidents Day, but that's what everything says.

via Twitter

Part of the bill says:

The rules adopted under this subsection must allow for the reimbursement of costs incurred by a school district in lieu of providing transportation, including public transit passes, payment for crossing guards or pedestrian or bicycle group leaders and payment for the promotion and coordination of alternative transportation options.

Projects like bike buses that depend on volunteers are hard to sustain year after year. By making jobs out of it, a more sustainable structure can be put into place.

See the discussion at BikePortland, "‘Bike Bus Bill’ would give school districts more flexibility with transportation funding."

Mayor Hoy and Manager Stahley on left
Councilor Gonzalez out of camera - via FB

It was great to see Mayor Hoy, Councilor Gonzalez, and City Manager Stahley, in pictures from the winter Walk + Roll to School Day last week.

How often did Mayor Bennett and Manager Powers do stuff like this? I think this is a real change in tone and interest. It's very encouraging.

The Bike Bus Bill would help fund walk leaders so walks like this could be more frequent and not depend on parent volunteers. It would allow Safe Routes staff, who are also in the photos, to build out more programming not dependent on their presence. The bill has a force multiplier effect.