The world’s most famous bike bus is about to roll out. At 7:30 on a crisp November morning, about 60 children—in shark helmets, in strawberry helmets, in doughnut helmets—and a smattering of parents are packed together on Northeast Klickitat Street on their way to Alameda Elementary School.

At the front of the ride, astride an Urban Arrow electric bike and wearing a yellow safety jacket, is Sam Balto. Known as @CoachBalto to his hundreds of thousands of followers on social media, the 40-year-old father of two started the Alameda bike bus on Earth Day 2022 when he was the school’s physical education teacher. The bike bus winds through the Beaumont-Wilshire neighborhood picking up students every Wednesday morning, rain or shine. Today, he leads the students in a chant.

He begins: “When I s

See Full Page