The wheels on the (bike) bus go round and round… It’s a sight that causes walkers and drivers alike to stop in their tracks to watch a group of children who regularly pedal their way to school alongside their grown-up escorts as part of the Shawlands Bike Bus in Glasgow.

Not only is the Bike Bus a thing of beauty, but the Shawlands group is one of over 400 bike buses globally. However, the Glasgow-based bike bus is special because it’s the subject of an innovative piece of cross-Faculty research at Strathclyde, co-produced with the existing bike bus community. The University also hosted the world’s first international bike bus research meeting online in February 2025.

Cross-Faculty research

This on-going bike bus research is led by Strathclyde’s Active Mobility Hub and looks at the community-led nature of bike buses and the role they play in sustainability, climate change and health. Led by Dr Deirdre Harrington of the Physical Activity and Health group in the Department of Psychological Sciences and Health, the research is also being worked on by colleagues from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The project is an outstanding example of cross-Faculty research, encompassing different research approaches and methods.

The Shawlands group describe their bike bus as “a gentle protest” - everyone involved would like to see a time when bike buses are not needed i.e. so that children can cycle to school safely without the need for a pre-organised group. As it is, their existence amplifies the message that children have the right to have safe space on the road, by highlighting the lack of decent infrastructure to make it possible for them to get to and from school without putting them at risk.

In the research, a wide range of methodologies are being used - including arts-based activities; a postcard survey to help understand local perceptions of and reactions to the bike bus; and an examination of other bike bus models across Europe. The team also worked to reach vehicle drivers to gauge their reaction to bike buses.

Emerging themes

Emerging themes from the initial research project included questions about the sustainability of these parent and community-led initiatives. The team found that some bike buses flounder or fail because of lack of parental time or interest, fluctuating commitment and a lack of confidence that some parents have for ongoing active transport activism. The team have also been asked about the equitability of bike bus participation - are bike buses purely a middle-class pursuit?

For the team, the project has provided a unique opportunity to work collaboratively across Faculties, and in partnership with vibrant communities of bike buses locally and globally. Being able to ride along with the bike bus is a bonus! Many fantastic ideas have been hatched thanks to the multidisciplinary nature of the research, some of which could make a genuine contribution to tackling some of the huge climate and sustainability problems we all face. But best of all has been the opportunity to find out how a local active transport community initiative is organised and maintained - those learnings can only be good for other grassroots organisations trying to tackle big sustainability issues.