Bike Train AR
The Bike Train Map Builder helps schools, neighborhoods, and organizers create, share, and manage safe bike routes for students and families. A project of Arkansas Moves built for better mobility across the state.
What we did for Bike Train AR
Schools and neighborhoods know that biking to school is safer and healthier when kids ride together—but coordinating it has always been the hard part. Bike Train AR started from a simple question: what if any parent, teacher, or community organizer could plan a safe bike route in minutes and share it with the families who need it?
We built the Bike Train Map Builder for Arkansas Moves so anyone can drop pins, draw paths, and snap routes to real roads on an interactive map. Routes can be shared inside a group or made public with a single click—so families can view stops, pickup times, and safety notes without ever creating an account.
Better mobility, simpler tools
Bike Train AR is built for parents, teachers, school administrators, and community organizers across Arkansas. It turns the idea of a “walking school bus, but on bikes” into a planning tool anyone can use—safer travel, consistent schedules, and stronger community connections, all in one map.
Groups make it easy to organize a school, neighborhood, or bike train team. Public sharing means a single link is all a family needs to see the route, the stops, and when to be there.
Deliverables
- •Interactive map builder for safe bike routes
- •Stop details, pickup times, and per-stop safety notes
- •Group management for schools and neighborhoods
- •Visibility controls: private, group, or fully public
- •Shareable public map viewer that needs no account
What is a Bike Train?
A group of students and adults riding together along a set route to school, picking up riders at designated stops along the way—safer, more consistent, and more fun than going it alone.
Ride together
A bike train is a group of students and adults who ride together along a set route to school, picking up riders at designated stops along the way.
Safer travel
There is safety in numbers. Kids riding together with adult leaders are more visible and more protected on the way to school.
Consistent schedules
Published routes with pickup times mean parents and kids know exactly when and where to meet—every ride, every week.
Stronger community
Bike trains build friendships, encourage physical activity, and reduce car traffic around schools.
How it works
Simple as riding a bike. Sign up, create a group for your school or neighborhood, build a route on the map, and share it.
Sign up
Create a free account in seconds—no setup fees, no contract.
Create a group
Add your school, neighborhood, or team and invite the parents, teachers, and organizers who need access.
Build your route
Use the map to plot stops, draw safe paths, and add pickup times and safety notes for each stop.
Share it
Publish a public link or share inside your group—families can view routes without creating an account.
The Build: Modern, Map-First Web App
Behind the simple interface is a modern, type-safe stack designed to make interactive maps, group workflows, and shareable routes feel effortless for non-technical users.
Built for parents, not for engineers
The app is built on Next.js 16 with the App Router and TypeScript end-to-end. The interactive map builder uses Mapbox GL JS for pin-dropping, route drawing, geocoding search, and auto-snapping routes to real roads.
Authentication runs on Auth.js v5 with email and password credentials, while MongoDB and Mongoose store users, groups, maps, and invites. Forms across the app use React Hook Form and Zod for validation, and the UI is styled with Tailwind CSS 4.
Transactional emails—group invites, welcome messages, password resets, and support form receipts—are sent through SendGrid, and avatar uploads can use DigitalOcean Spaces for storage.
Tech Stack
- •Next.js 16 (App Router, TypeScript) and Tailwind CSS 4
- •Mapbox GL JS for interactive maps, geocoding, and directions
- •Auth.js v5 with email/password credentials
- •MongoDB with Mongoose models for users, groups, maps, and invites
- •React Hook Form + Zod for forms and validation
- •SendGrid for invites, welcome, password reset, and support emails
- •Containerized with Docker; deployed on DigitalOcean App Platform with Spaces for asset storage
Map-first architecture
Mapbox GL JS powers the route builder and viewer—drop pins, draw paths, and snap routes to real roads. Geocoding lets organizers add stops by searching real addresses.
Groups & visibility
Groups, invites, and per-map visibility (private, group, or public) are modeled in MongoDB, so each route can be shared with exactly the right audience.
Public viewer
A dedicated public map route at /map/[slug] lets anyone view stops and schedules without an account—perfect for school newsletters and group chats.
Better Mobility for Arkansas Communities
Bike Train AR is a project of Arkansas Moves, working to improve active mobility across the state. Whether you're a parent, teacher, school administrator, or community organizer, you can help make biking to school safer and more accessible.
It takes about five minutes to set up a safe bike route for your school or neighborhood—and once it's published, you can share it with everyone who needs it.
How we can help you
From strategy and software to stories, engagement, and experiences—we bring clarity and execution to complex challenges.
- •Strategy: Clarify your vision, positioning, and roadmap
- •Software: Build modern apps, sites, and integrations
- •Stories: AI-powered video and narrative craft
- •Engagement: Content systems and community growth
- •Experiences: Events and activations that connect