Coimbra, Portugal, May 29, 2026 (Lusa) - A wooden whistle resembling a locomotive signals the start of a bike bus heading to school in Condeixa-a-Nova, in Coimbra district.

The project aims to encourage independence among young children and rethink mobility.

It was just before 8.30 a.m., and Leandro Alves was getting his three youngest children ready to join the bike bus at its first stop, which picks up children and parents along a route of around two kilometres to the school.

The youngest, Simão, aged one, is in the child's seat on his bike, Samuel, aged six, is already riding with relative independence amongst his classmates, and bringing up the rear is Sofia, aged three, who still needs a bit of help and her mum’s watchful eye to keep up with the rest.

“Sofia started with training wheels and, with encouragement from the group on the bike bus, she let them go,” Leandro Alves told Lusa.

The initiative began as a sort of pilot project in 2025, but in 2026, as soon as the weather improved, it started taking place every Wednesday and Friday, involving around 24 children from Condeixa-a-Nova Primary School No. 3, with the help of volunteers and parents.

Coordinating the initiative is Luís Oliveira, who moved from Lisbon to Condeixa three years ago, bringing with him the idea of bike buses , promoted by the bike culture.

“I thought: ‘Let’s make this happen in Condeixa-a-Nova’,” the 41-year-old computer engineer and father of six-year-old Rodrigo, who rides in the convoy, told Lusa.

At the end of 2023, the initiative’s coordinator met primary school teacher Isabel Menezes, who was teaching children to ride bicycles, and together they founded the "Condeixa para Pessoas" (Condeixa for People) movement to encourage reflection on mobility in the region.

After a few past failed attempts to involve the local council, they decided to proceed on a voluntary basis.

With two routes, one serving the eastern part of the town and the other the western part, the project involves parents accompanying the bike bus and has several volunteers who act as drivers, picking up the children and guiding them to school.

Carlos Galvão, aged 62, has been one of the project’s bus drivers since it began and decided to join in to help children cycle safely to school in an area with almost no cycle paths.

He sees the project as beneficial for the little ones and for the parents: “It forces them to run and cycle.”

That’s exactly what Gonçalo does. While the four-year-old Afonso cycles along, his father runs alongside him.

“If it were every day, Afonso would come every day,” his mother Patrícia said.

For Kim Almeida, who has a daughter in Year 3, the project's large-group aspect makes it more appealing.

“[On Friday], there were even mums here walking along and clapping for us in the street. That makes all the difference,” she said.

The project helps foster the children’s independence, breaks up routines and builds a sense of community within the school and the neighbourhoods, she added.

Samuel Anjos, the father of an eight-year-old girl in the same class as Kim’s daughter, also sees the project as a way of breaking away from a society that is too attached to screens.

"It also makes it easier at the weekend to grab them and go for a bike ride. It’s part of a lifestyle we want to establish," he said.

Pedro Camarinho, a council technician, is another of the cyclists, volunteering his time, recalling that, even before the pandemic, he had tried something similar with the local authority, but had no success.

"When you see a line of bicycles, people drive more calmly. Awareness is a process," he admitted, noting that it takes some patience and persistence to change habits, which he believes have plenty of scope to flourish in Condeixa.

“The slope isn’t anything special; it’s a local council where the highest population densities are mainly near the centre, which is yet another reason for children to take up cycling to get to school."

"Every child who comes on this bi ke busis one less car parked outside the schools. It’s a struggle, but it’s an opportunity,” he emphasised.

For Luís Oliveira, the initiative also highlights the difficulties of cycling in urban centres that were designed 30 or 40 years ago with the car in mind.

He therefore believes that priorities must also change, in the very design and use of public spaces and roads.

In the future, the project aims to extend to another school in the centre of Condeixa and seeks to influence public policies focused on soft and active mobility.

A Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) in Condeixa would be a starting point, said Luís Oliveira, who believes that if there is the political will to move forward with such an initiative, some of the barriers that make the journey between home and school unsafe could be overcome.

JGA/MYAL // ADB.

Lusa