Nike employee Abby McFeeters-Krone is leading a bike bus that connects Portland's city-run group rides to the company's Beaverton campus. The connector gives coworkers a car-free commute option during the Interstate 5 closure.
The route, first reported by OPB, is part of a broader push inside Nike to get more employees biking to work. Riders join Portland's weekly Special Edition bike bus on Wednesday mornings, then peel off with McFeeters-Krone for a multimodal trip that combines cycling with MAX light rail to reach Nike's global headquarters.
McFeeters-Krone told OPB the Nike connector grew out of an internal company effort. "This is a broader effort with our company to get more people to bike in," she said. "This seemed like a good opportunity to take advantage of what the city's already doing and have a meeting place."
The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) launched the Special Edition bike buses on Sept. 16 to help commuters in North and Northeast Portland cope with the I-5 southbound closure. The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) shut down all southbound lanes through the Rose Quarter on Sept. 11 to replace a two-mile stretch of highway concrete untouched since 1985.
About 120,000 vehicles use that corridor daily. ODOT warned commute times could double or triple near the construction zone.
PBOT's Special Edition routes run every Wednesday through Oct. 14. All routes converge at Salmon Street Springs in downtown Portland at 8:15 a.m. Riders travel on neighborhood greenways at a leisurely pace, picking up new cyclists at designated stops.
McFeeters-Krone's Nike connector adds a Beaverton-bound leg to that downtown arrival. Florin Veja, a Nike employee who normally bikes from Vancouver, Washington, to Beaverton, joined the Wednesday, Sept. 30, northeast route for his first city bike bus ride. He said he sometimes combines cycling with MAX on his regular commute.
The city offers $5 in farmers market currency for the first 500 riders each week, redeemable at Shemanski Park Farmers Market, according to the PBOT bike bus page. PBOT also added live GPS tracking to the north and northeast routes so riders can locate the group in real time. Riders who lack a bike can use BIKETOWN e-bikes.
Two rides remain: Wednesday, Oct. 7, and Oct. 14. PBOT plans to evaluate the program's frequency, routes and staffing at the end of the season before deciding what changes to make for 2027.
Whether the Nike connector outlasts the I-5 closure is unclear. McFeeters-Krone described the effort as giving new riders a chance to see what bike commuting feels like, suggesting the goal extends beyond the freeway disruption.
