Whose streets? Our streets! Bicibús in Barcelona through a justice lens

Mobility justice examines how power and injustice shape unequal (im)mobility patterns along gendered, class, and racialized lines. Even grassroots cycling initiatives may be entangled in systemic inequities and mobility injustice. Bicibús is a growing movement of children and adults who go to school together by bikes, skates, or scooters, occupying the streets for safer and healthier cities. We analyze whether and how Bicibús initiatives reflect and reproduce inequalities based on gender, class, or migration in Barcelona. Through interviews with 22 parents, including Bicibús organizers and non-participants, we outline processes of exclusion and inclusion. While we find gender parity, the movement is also comprised mostly of middle-class and white families. The schools that mobilize and benefit are predominately in higher-income neighborhoods, while no routes connect marginalized students from lower-income schools. Barriers to participation include work obligations, materials, confidence and physical abilities, social integration, and logistics. This analysis suggests unequal active mobility to school and biased representation in cycling initiatives. To help address mobility injustice in grassroots cycling initiatives such as Bicibús, we recommend raising awareness about racist and classist inequalities, creating supporting structures, and involving schools to make pro-cycling actions more inclusive and diverse.