Hundreds of schools across Oregon are celebrating Walk + Bike Challenge Month with the help of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance and Portland’s Safe Routes to School program.

All month long, students will keep track of their active transportation trips as they walk, bike, scoot, skate, and roll to school. Four local schools will also be implementing a new Safe Routes program – the Saris Hub – to help students track those active trips with a new online system.

Hub schools Beach, Hayhurst, Lent, and Sunnyside will each display a tracking box in a central hallway location. Students will swipe their personal trip card every time they make an active commute, which will automatically be recorded on the Hub website.

Students can see how many miles they have travelled as well as other fun facts like calories burned and dollars saved on gas on the Hub website. Coordinators can see group statistics, like how many miles a class has walked and biked in total.

While healthy competition is a fun aspect of the Walk + Bike Challenge Month, two Hub schools will also be adding their students’ cumulative miles to see how far they can “Walk across Oregon” together. Students will follow a Golden Sneaker as it makes its way across the map to Bend, Crater Lake, Pendleton, and beyond!

Next year the Hub will be available for schools to borrow all year long. For now, let the challenge begin!

For more information contact Gabe Graff, Safe Routes to School Manager.