The Buzz is up and running! Meet the team behind Walk Ride GM’s new flagship travel to school project: The Buzz!
We’ve been really busy since launching our new walking and bike bus project across Manchester and Trafford. After researching schemes from across the UK to shape our approach, we’ve been engaging with local schools and existing community-led initiatives to understand what works and where support is needed most. We’re now developing a three-strand model: stabilising existing buses, launching new bike and walking bus corridors, and setting up new walking buses – making sure every school gets the right intervention for its local context rather than a one-size-fits-all solution.
A key part of our work is filling gaps that exist nationally and regionally. Bike ride leader training is currently expensive or hard to access, and no formal training for walking bus leaders exists at all. We’re co-producing two bespoke guidance frameworks with the parents and volunteers who’ll actually use them – one for ride leaders and one for walk leaders, designed to be flexible, confidence-building, and deliverable on demand. We really want to help our communities to be able to set up and sustain their own schemes without depending on outside support.
Missie Hall
Project Coordinator
Missie is on the ground and out in the neighbourhood, getting schools, parents and the local community on board and building our Buzz network school by school. She’s working to get Bike Buzz and Walk Buzz routes up and running across Manchester and Trafford. That starts with listening: talking to parents, schools and communities to understand what each one needs to make the Buzz work. She offers guidance to set a Buzz up from scratch and helps map the routes, spotting the safe, sensible ways in, flagging tricky junctions, and finding the stops where children can join along the way. Whatever your school needs, Missie will share how-to guidance and work with you to find the best solution. She handles the practical bits behind the scenes too: schedules, sign-ups and everything that keeps a Buzz running smoothly week after week. And she brings the motivation, confidence and excitement that turn a first outing into a habit, cheering on first-timers, backing volunteer leaders, and getting more families involved. Missie’s goal is simple, get more children walking and riding together than ever before, making the Buzz the norm for children and families.
Cazz Ward
Project Lead
Cazz is managing the project, bringing everything together! She’s using her project management experience to make sure she keeps everything on track. She is responsible for making sure everything gets deliver on time and to budget and that we meet the requirements of our funding provider Active Travel England.
Elsa Devienne
Researcher
Elsa is the research expert for the project. She’s helping us develop our monitoring and evaluation framework and sort out how we will measure what works and what doesn’t so we can use our learning to inform what works best for walking and cycling buses.
Tiffany Chong
Project Administrator
Tiffany is the backbone of the project, making sure the the i’s are dotted and the t’s are crossed. She joins the team after successsful setting up and running a School Street and a Bike Bus at Brookburn Primary in Chorlton. Her role is much more than just an administrator, as she will also be supporting Missie on school outreach.
Harry Gray
Deputy Project Lead
Harry leads on communications and branding. Need a boombox on a bike to celebrate your Bike Buzz? He’ll be there. He’s also setting up the citizen science side project, using Telraam traffic-counting sensors.