BikePortland Shifts to Guest Stories as Jonathan Maus Takes on College Coaching

BikePortland will continue as a platform for community voices and local coverage, while its longtime editor, Jonathan Maus, steps back from daily journalism. After 21 years running the site, Maus says he won’t return to his former role as an active journalist and community concierge. He plans to help the publication carry on from an advisory position.

The change leaves a clear question for Portland’s transportation and urbanism coverage: who will take up the daily work of reporting on mobility, streets and public space? Maus hopes to help find that person. He is seeking an intern to train in community-first advocacy journalism, with the aim of passing the publication’s work to a new journalist. A formal listing is expected later. Interested applicants or people who know a good fit can contact him at maus.jonathan@gmail.com.

For now, the site and its social channels are staying active. Maus expects to publish more guest articles and opinion pieces, along with lighter news items and announcements. That approach could keep a place open for local perspectives and useful information as the publication changes hands, while making room for a new journalist to develop a distinct voice and take on more of the reporting.

Maus says the decision came after a long period of thought. He describes it as both a move he knows is right for him and a difficult moment for a community advocacy network that, in his view, is weaker without BikePortland’s voice. He won’t continue that work himself, but wants to help make it possible for others to do it.

After two decades in the same line of work, stepping into a different field is a substantial change. Maus has begun his first season as an assistant coach with the women’s basketball team at Warner Pacific University, a small school south of Mt. Tabor off SE Division. At 51, he is joining a new community and beginning a new career around a sport he says has been a passion since his teenage years.

The coaching job may not look like a conventional career move, Maus acknowledges. He draws a parallel with starting a bike blog in 2005: both choices follow an interest, even when the expected career path points elsewhere. For him, the new role offers a chance to return to a longstanding love of basketball while closing a chapter of intensive daily publishing.

He’s also looking for flexible, part-time work where he can draw on 21 years of experience managing a community media outlet. Organizations that may have a role or an idea can reach out directly. The request sits alongside his search for an intern: Maus is looking both for ways to contribute his experience and for someone who can help take BikePortland into its next phase.

Looking back, Maus describes the work as a record of the people and events that shaped the community around the site. He points to stories, public gatherings, disputes, tragedies and achievements, and says he gave what he could to the publication and its readers. He also acknowledges that he made mistakes. The archive preserves not only the reporting but the ideas, decisions and opinions that came with building the site.

That archive is part of what he hopes readers will continue to support. Maus thanks subscribers and supporters for standing behind the work, especially at moments when he needed reassurance that people were still there. He hopes they will stay involved as BikePortland maintains its library of local information and inspiration, and as the site makes its transition with him offering advice.

For Portland readers, the next step will be watching how the publication sustains its coverage and who joins to carry it forward. Maus is stepping away from daily reporting, but his stated aim is to help keep the platform available for community voices and the local stories that gave it purpose.