Safety – Up to 30% of all morning peak traffic is caused by that daily routine for parents across the country, the school run. Despite catchment areas in the public sector being relatively small, sometimes only a few hundred metres, the danger presented by motor vehicles still leads many parents to drive their kids to school, rather than letting them cycle, scoot or walk. 

Cycle growth – Thankfully the growth of segregated cycle lanes, quiet ways and LTNs is reducing the hazards to children on the roads, but there’s much more to do before everyone feels safe enough to make a more sustainable choice.

Our guarantees – Pedal Me has been transporting unaccompanied children regularly since our inception and we have never had an accident that impacted on a passenger in more than 4 years. This is a testament to the quality and industry-leading nature of our training, which has been given ‘assured’ status by City and Guilds. All our riders are DBS-checked as soon as they start their employment and we are able to provide a tracking link for parents so they can see the precise location of the bike at all times, or we can also send a message to confirm the kids’ safe arrival. 

We hope that by involving schools and collecting information from parents as to their reasons for driving and the concerns that prevent them from walking or cycling, we can identify the parents who need our help. By plotting postcodes of willing participants, we’ll be able to find work out routes that collect up to three kids on a bike and find the safest routes for the rider and passengers to travel on segregated cycle lanes and quietways, or through LTNs and avoiding any busy junctions.

We are open to the idea of demonstrations either in school playgrounds or quiet streets surrounding schools, to allow parents unfamiliar with cargo bikes to have a ride or observe their kids taking a ride. 

We hope to encourage communication between years at the same schools and between schools and parents at different schools in the same patch of London. Some of this will be driven by parent advocacy in school channels like forums or whatsapp groups and we’ve also set up a handful of private Facebook groups to help parents find each other and figure out which days it might be convenient for their kids to ride together.