Musings, adventures and opinions of Lauren Hefferon, owner of Ciclismo Classico

Pedal pushers Parents in bicycle-friendly Arlington are divided over an effort to get children to ride their bikes to school

Posted by on Mar 24th, 2010 in Uncategorized | 1 comment

If one were to name some particularly bike-friendly suburbs of Boston, Arlington might be first on the list.

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No corner of the town is more than a few miles from the Minuteman Bikeway, the most popular bike path in the country. The town is home to two bicycle stores and a bike club whose members set off on long rides every Saturday and Sunday morning. A bicycling committee advises town leaders on bike issues. And yet, until recently, school officials informally banned children from biking to school.

So far, none of the schools have bike racks. Last year, a pilot project to encourage children to ride their bikes to the Hardy School, the elementary school in East Arlington, was controversial.
“My view was, if you can’t ride to school in Arlington, then there’s no place you can ride to school in Massachusetts,’’ said David Watson, an Arlington resident and executive director of MassBike, a Boston-based bike advocacy group. “It’s already a bike-friendly community.’’ To those who want to encourage children to ride their bikes to school, the advantages seem clear: It’s better for the environment. And in an age of increasing fears about childhood obesity, they argue, it’s better for kids.
 
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One Response to “Pedal pushers Parents in bicycle-friendly Arlington are divided over an effort to get children to ride their bikes to school”

  1. Jim Nariel says:
    March 24, 2010 at 10:43 pm

    Yes how could you not agree Cycling to school for these kids MUST be allowed. So many positives – environment, good for kids, good for parents, gives them a sense of responsibility etc etc etc

    Reply

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