Bike buses give Portland commuters a ‘more fun’ way around the I-5 closure

As the Interstate 5 southbound closures through Portland’s Rose Quarter continue to disrupt metro area commutes, some people are getting to work on two wheels — together.

They say it helps create a sense of community, a sense of safety and relief that they’re not caught in traffic.

Every Wednesday through Oct. 14, the Portland Bureau of Transportation is running special bike buses from North and Northeast Portland to downtown. The rides are part of the city’s effort to give people alternatives during the closure, and to encourage biking as a transportation option.

The city’s broader bike bus program began in 2024 as an internal program for city employees. It was initially planned as a single Bike Month event, but proved popular enough that the city continued monthly rides through October. In 2025, the program opened to the public. This year, city staff and community volunteers have both served as ride leaders.

The bike buses operate primarily on Portland’s neighborhood greenways, traveling at a leisurely pace and picking up riders at designated time points. All of the routes converge in downtown Portland at Salmon Street Springs at 8:15 a.m.

The weekly rides during the I-5 closure are a special edition; the other six routes are still only happening once a month. The goal was to focus on the neighborhoods most affected by the I-5 southbound closure.

Creating community and safety

Karin Wohlert, who works downtown, already commutes by bike regularly. She said the I-5 closure has made her especially grateful not to be sitting in traffic.

“I see the traffic. I’m just happy that I’m not down there,” Wohlert said.

She began joining the bike buses this summer and thinks it “creates great community and it also creates safety.”

That sense of safety can be especially important for less experienced riders — including the youngest participant on the Sept. 30 bike bus.

Aiden Forsi joined the group with 4-year-old Conor. The two normally take the same route to school and join the bike bus when they encounter it.

“This is just kind of happenstance,” Forsi said. “This is our normal route to school. So when we see it, we stop, and when it’s not here, we just keep going.”

Forsi said other riders helped keep Conor protected when they first joined the bike bus.

“It’s good vibes,” he said.

Multi-modal commute options

Not everyone on the bike bus was using it for their entire commute.

Abby McFeeters-Krone leads a connecting bike bus to Nike’s campus. McFeeters-Krone said the group gives people an opportunity to try biking to work in a supportive environment.

“I just like giving new riders the opportunity to kind of see what it’s like to bike into work,” McFeeters-Krone said. “Ideally, it would be a comfortable space to try it for the first time.”

“This is a broader effort with our company to get more people to bike in. This seemed like a good opportunity to take advantage of what the city’s already doing and have a meeting place.”

The bike bus to the Beaverton campus is often multi-modal, combining biking with riding the MAX light rail. Florin Veja works with McFeeters-Krone and said he normally bikes from Vancouver, Washington, to Beaverton. He said he also sometimes combines biking with MAX.

The Sept. 30 Northeast Portland route was his first time joining a city bike bus.

“I just wanted to experience it and join my colleague,” Veja said.

‘More fun than sitting in traffic’

Jack Gordon regularly volunteers as a bike bus leader on the East Portland Community Center route. He joined the special Sept. 30 northeast bike bus because he had the morning off and wanted to go on a ride.

Gordon doesn’t work downtown. He said he participates because he enjoys the social aspect.

“I just think it’s really nice and fun to get out in the morning and be with other people,” he said.

For people who are nervous about joining a group ride, Gordon said the bike buses are intentionally low-pressure and participants ride slowly.

“I think that it’s a lot less serious than people think it will be,” he said. “It’s really fun to see everybody come together and just having a good time in the morning. It’s so much more fun than sitting in traffic.”

PBOT has added a few features specifically for the I-5 closure bike buses. The north and northeast routes have live GPS tracking so riders can see where the bike bus is in real time. And riders can receive $5 in market currency for the Shemanski Park Farmers Market as an incentive for changing their commutes.

The weekly rides are also an opportunity for PBOT to test a more frequent bike bus schedule. The city says it will evaluate the program at the end of the season, including its frequency, routes, resources and staffing capacity, before deciding what changes to make for 2027.

For now, the special north and northeast bike buses continue with two more Wednesday rides through Oct. 14.