Advocacy, Dero

Dero Supports Bike Bus World

August 20, 2026

Helping More Kids Ride to School Together

We’re proud to support the mission of Bike Bus World, an organization dedicated to improving children’s well-being, strengthening communities, and creating a healthier future through group bike rides to school. Bike Bus World helps communities launch Bike Buses with resources, guidance, and advocacy support.

10% of sales of our Bike Bus Racks directly supports the Bike Bus World Program to help schools, parents, community groups, and local advocates create safe, welcoming, and joyful routes for students to bike to school as a group.

What Is a Bike Bus?

A Bike Bus is a group of children and adults who ride to school together along a planned route with designated pickup stops—just like a school bus, but on bikes.

Benefits include:

  • More active, confident kids
  • Less traffic around schools
  • Stronger neighborhood connections
  • A fun and social ride to school
  • Increased visibility and safety for cyclists
kids riding bikes to school together

Starting Your Own Bike Bus

Starting a Bike Bus is easier than you might think. Begin with a few interested families, choose a safe and bike-friendly route, and commit to riding on a regular schedule—even if it’s just once a week. Partnering with your school can help build awareness and attract new riders. As your Bike Bus grows, focus on creating a safe and welcoming experience for children by riding at a pace comfortable for younger cyclists, placing adults throughout the group for support, and reviewing basic bike safety before each ride. Encourage helmets, lights, and bright clothing, and don’t forget to make it fun—special themes, music, and celebration rides can help keep kids excited to participate.

Learn More

Ready to bring a Bike Bus to your community? Visit Bike Bus World for planning guides, resources, and inspiration:

Bike Bus World

Together, we can help more kids discover the joy, freedom, and confidence that come from riding to school with friends.

Advocacy

Boise Bicycle Project Launches New Bike Parking Program

August 11, 2023

The Boise Bicycle Project Launches New Bike Parking Program to Help Boise’s Businesses and Neighborhoods

Bicycle advocacy organization Boise Bicycle Project partners with Dero to help inform local businesses how best to meet the bike parking needs of the growing number of people who ride.

Boise, ID – Boise Bicycle Project (BBP) and Dero have teamed up to help Boise companies and communities meet the growing demand for bike parking. BBP has over 16 years of experience advocating for better bicycling in Boise and Dero has been a leader in bike parking since 1995. As an official Dero Dealer, BBP has the local knowledge, expertise, and products to help Boise businesses and developers welcome bicycle riders. 

“We are more than avid bicyclists at BBP – it’s our mission. We believe that Boise has the potential to be a place where everyone can choose to ride a bike as a safe and easy form of transport. We know all too well the challenges and frustrations people encounter when trying to find secure bike parking when riding around town. We hear about it all the time. This is a great opportunity for us to reach out to local companies to let them know we’re here to help. The business community plays an integral part in the bike friendliness and vitality of our community.” says (Nina Pienaar, BBP Advocacy Director). 

BBP will help customers navigate Boise’s bike parking standards and permits, recommend quality bike racks to best meet their needs, and offer free site visits. BBP’s partnership with Dero enables the organization to offer exceptional customer service locally, quick turn-around for quotes and invoices, and free CAD layouts. All bike parking sales benefit BBP’s bike advocacy efforts.

For more details on BBP’s bike parking program, please visit www.boisebicycleproject.org or contact Nina Pienaar at [email protected].

About Boise Bicycle Project

The Boise Bicycle Project promotes the personal, social, and environmental benefits of bicycling. Through inclusive access to refurbished bicycles, repair, and empowering educational experiences, they strive to build a stronger bicycling community. Since 2007, BBP has donated over 10, 000 bicycles to communities in need across Boise, and helped many more keep their bikes rolling. BBP believes that Boise has the potential to be the bicycling capital of America, a place where everyone can experience the freedom and the countless opportunities a bicycle can create. Partnering with Dero to ensure Boise has the best bike parking gets BBP one step closer to their goal. 

About Dero

Since 1995, Dero has been supplying innovative bike parking and bicycle transit solutions to architects, contractors, municipalities, higher education, and parks and rec. Our bike racks, public repair stands and pumps, shelters, and lockers are high quality, thoughtfully designed and secure. We also offer the award-winning Dero ZAP, an automatic system to track bike commuters. We are located in Minneapolis, MN. www.dero.com 

CONTACT INFO:

Nina Pienaar

Advocacy Director 

Boise Bicycle Project

[email protected]

(208) 580 8707

Advocacy

Building the Cycling Community with Oaks and Spokes

November 2, 2022

Last week we were thrilled to visit our advocacy partner Oaks & Spokes in Raleigh, NC. Just mention the name Oaks & Spokes to any locals who appreciate safe on street bike routes and your certain to be met with a big smile. The organization, which started in 2012 has a history of getting lots done with a handful of dedicated rotating volunteers, a supportive community, and more recently some part-time staff. Looking to expand, their mission the next goal is to bring on a full-time Executive Director. Most recently Sara Ellis is the driving force behind the effort. A planner by trade, whose passion is building community, Sara sees bikes as an important building block for making cities and communities better. Her affable nature, easy smile, and dedication makes her an excellent champion for the cause. If you’re in Raleigh October 30th sign up to attend Crank For A Cause their annual ride/fundraiser and membership drive.  

Long Term Bike Parking Session
Long-term bike parking session

During our visit we met with businesses and the City of Raleigh to discuss how to make sure bike parking is done right, both long-term (two or more hours) and short-term (less than two hours). We learned about the role of Go Triangle who provides regional public transportation to the rapidly growing research triangle anchored by Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill.

Honeycomb bike rack
Honeycomb shaped bike rack

Each city across the country forges its own unique path in figuring out how to address its bike parking needs. Inevitably it’s a partnership in some configuration of government and a determined staff, political leadership, innovative entrepreneurs, and committed advocates, not to mention a supportive public whose encouragement is essential along the way, whether that’s just utilizing the bike parking and/or making publicly known their appreciation on social media or kind notes to those instrumental in making things happen. Lots of people work tirelessly on these types of initiatives, but usually receive very little credit or recognition. If you’re a bicyclist who relies on good bike parking perfectly located, you know how valuable it is because of the frustration we feel when it’s not there. It’s not to be taken for granted.

bike rack in front of building
Prominently located bike parking

We took a moment to be sure to celebrate bike parking with a newly installed fully custom bike rack at the Brookside Bodega. The real-estate developer designed the rack in-house making it look like a truck, reminding everyone how many bikes can fit in a space the size of a pick-up truck. Truly, it was a moment worthy of a ribbon cutting. Raleigh is a beautiful city with lots of little surprises along it’s bike paths and trails. As it continues to experience extraordinary growth the bicycle will be key in keeping Raleigh accessible, charming, and community oriented.

Advocacy

The Path to Success: Securing Safe Bike Commuting Routes for Dero Staff

January 17, 2018
Ben, Colin, & Steph on Bike to Work Day.
everyday is bike to work day.
River view along the Mississippi River Regional Trail.
trail’s website:

“There is no trail maintenance during the winter, including plowing and clearing. Please follow the posted detour routes. Thank you for your patience during this process.”

 
Map of the closed trail section. Note the detour (yellow) takes riders across the river–opposite the side Dero is located.
a 4-lane, 55-mph highway. And when it snows the shoulder all but disappears, leaving us the unpleasant decision to take the lane, despite deadly speed differentials, or hike-a-bike on the unplowed path. However, Dero employees rose to the challenge (as any Bike Friendly Business would), and organized a multi-pronged email and call-in campaign to the City of Fridley and the Anoka County Parks department. We rallied our non-biking coworkers, building owners, and other commuters within the greater Minneapolis biking community to chime in too.
View of the plowed trail.
A plowed trail means Bri is happy. Thumbs up!
Projects

Dero ZAP Snapshot: University of Colorado Colorado Springs

June 27, 2017
Earlier in the year, we told you about how every day is Bike to Work Day at Dero. You might wonder, how do we track our daily commuting, and what do those metrics look like? That’s where Dero ZAP comes in, our commuter wellness program. With a few clicks, anyone signed up can see how times they rode into work, the amount of CO2 they’ve reduced, the number of calories burned and gallons of gas saved. At Dero, we recently surpassed 14,000 miles biked for 2017!

Not familiar with ZAP? Watch this short video and continue reading below!
Did you know that Dero ZAP isn’t just for business commuter programs? Programs have been successfully launched at campuses across the US. Recently, our ZAP Specialist Tony Spaaij interviewed Kimberly Reeves, the Sustainability Program Manager at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. Read on to learn about the implementation, results, and highlights of their Dero ZAP program.

Tony: Why did you choose ZAP?

Kimberly: Dero ZAP was the only all-in-one program we could find. Their RFID tags allowed for easy participation that helped move our bike incentive program away from self-reporting. And the online dashboard provides easy access to information for both participants and program managers.

What is your favorite part of using ZAP?

My favorite part of using Dero ZAP are the affirming stories from participants. Our front runner is a facilities staff person, and he’ll be the first to tell you how far ahead of the second place rider he is. There’s also a chemistry professor who can’t get enough of the ‘chirp’ every time he gets to campus. He says it’s like a little cheer that he biked another day; he rides for the health benefits.

What was your experience implementing the program and getting people to participate?

Thanks to our Facilities Services staff, we were fortunate enough to get our first (of five) stations installed before our annual Bike Jam/Bike to Campus Day. At that one event, we were able to sign-up 60 participants. Since then, we’ve held more, smaller bike events and are currently at 85 participants. I think our riders appreciate the elimination of self-reporting data. We’re hoping this upcoming year, since we have all five stations installed as of March 2017, we’ll have more participation.

What have your results been since implementing the program?

That original station is by-far the most frequented, but the data has shown two other entrances on campus that personally, I don’t see on a daily basis and wouldn’t have expected that much traffic. These stats will help advocate for bike infrastructure in these priority areas.

What is your favorite program feature?

My favorite program feature is the ease of randomly handing-out prizes. I’m able to give a concrete goal for the month, and the dashboard provides the ability to sort, draw a winner and automatically alert them with an email. This feature also helps us keep a more accurate inventory of prizes.

Why is it important to promote wellness at your organization?

With the location of our campus on a bluff and 15-30 minutes from amazing hiking trails (not to mention the trails on campus,) promoting wellness seems to be a way of life at UCCS. Active living not only keeps us healthy, but also hopefully provides ways in which we can deal with life’s stresses in a positive way.

And how does ZAP contribute to promoting wellness?

Dero ZAP has been a forum for talking about why colleagues bike to campus. These conversations sometimes involve saving money on parking or reducing their use of single-occupancy vehicles, but no matter the reason, health is usually a main factor.
Interested in learning more about how you can start a Dero ZAP program? Register for a webinar or contact us!