Author: Christina Sorbello

Christina Sorbello is Love to Ride’s Regional Manager for Asia Pacific.  As a graduate of the School of Social Entrepreneurs, she is passionate about social impact and how effecting change in local communities can mean transformative shifts for our cities.

Christina took a trip to Melbourne for the 2019 Australian Bike Summit and sums up her day here.

Stepping off the plane in Melbourne last week was a bit of a rude shock for this sunny Queenslander.  As a Sydney sider for almost a decade, you’d think I’d be accustomed to the cooler climes, but alas, it seems I’ve been happily ensconced in a mild Queensland Autumn forgetting just how brutal those icy southern winds can be.  Nonetheless, Melbourne has plenty to distract oneself from the biting chill, including, of course, the good coffee and fine food. But this trip it wasn’t the double ristrettos or cannolis I had come for (although those were good too!), this time, I was delighted to be attending my first Australian Bicycle Summit.

Hosted by We Ride Australia and held at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium – a national treasure for footy fanatics – AKA, the whole of Victoria – the event was well attended by industry folk, city representatives and academics alike.  It’s always great to be in a room filled with passionate people, so clearly committed to getting more people on bikes in Australia – all bushy tailed and bright eyed!  The focus of this year’s event was smart tech, active transport, and the ‘Towards Zero’ message – a theme reiterated through much of the summit and a welcome one to all.

Towards Zero

For any interstate or antipodean readers who may not be aware of this campaign, Towards Zero is a combined partnership between the Transport Accident Commission, VicRoads, Victoria Police, the Department of Justice and Regulation and the Department of Health and Human Services. Working alongside the community, they share a belief that zero deaths and serious injuries on Vic Roads can be a reality.  In line with this, we heard from the CEO of the Transport Accident Commission, Joe Calafiore, who reiterated their commitment to safer roads for Victorians and Australians. 

As Melbourne continues to urbanise and the demand on the public infrastructure sharply intensifies, Melbournites eagerly seek alternative modes of travel.  The TAC is committed to ensuring that those of us choosing to embark on active travel, equally and increasingly find the roads conducive and inclusive:  An important message not only for those of us on bikes but for everyone using our roads.  And, as we heard, we are now sharing our roads more than ever….

Micromobility

It’s true we share our roads with cars and pedestrians, but cities globally are recognising the importance of micromobility: bikes; scooters; e-bikes; as the future of transportation too.  As delegates, we were treated to a broad-ranging and thought-provoking speech by Tim Papandreou who has lead projects on automated and emerging transports for Waymo and Google X.  By 2050, 75% of the world is predicted to urbanise and cities are already struggling to move people and things around on a road network that cannot expand (although we can go up, yet flying cars are not in our short term future!). 

A strategy increasingly adopted by smart cities who recognise this is the reuse and repurpose of the existing road to maximise the space.  After all, there are a number more bikes that can fit into the same space as a single occupancy car but encouraging more cyclists and other types of micromobility, means offering them the same prime infrastructure offered to those driving vehicles and the same direct routes.

More transportation options than ever before!

We also heard from Tim on how San Francisco had managed to grow their bicycle mode share to 6%, in part, by restructuring the layout of many arterial roads enticing more modes to use them.  This also contributed to the rise and proliferation of new transport options never seen before, primarily enabled by smartphone technology and driven by the on-demand and sharing economy.

Infographic: San Francisco Mobility Trends Report 2018

Ride to Work Scheme

It was also interesting to learn about the new Ride to Work Scheme being launched by Swisse. This is a ‘salary sacrifice’ scheme that gives employees big savings on new bikes and enables them to pay in monthly installments. Based largely on the very successful and popular Cycle to Work Scheme in the UK that has been running since 1999, we look forward to working with employers and providers across Australia to promote this scheme as a great way to make cycling really affordable from the outset, potentially removing the purchase of a bike as a barrier to riding. Love to Ride is working with Cyclescheme in the UK and we hope to emulate this work in Australia too.

Coming away from the summit I had much to think about and what a better way to ruminate and the warm the cockles of my (now frozen) heart but to wend my way around the Yarra on my bike.  I recognised the summit and the speakers had given me a sense that the greater vision is shared by so many and if we can continue on this path, I feel confident for the future of an ever metropolitan, micro-mobile, Melbourne and our Australian cities beyond.

Waaaay back in the beginning, in the early noughties, the New Zealand Transport Authority (NZTA) was one of the very first partners to get behind the Workplace Cycle Challenge concept that gave birth to a social business now known as Love to Ride.

After 15 years of development, and expansion to 12 countries, Love to Ride returned to New Zealand again in 2017 and partnered with the NZTA to launch the ‘Aotearoa Bike Challenge’. 

Having since been delivered three consecutive years, this country-wide event, has now successfully grown into the most popular and successful program of its kind in the world. In 2019 this culminated in a whopping 0.5% of the entire NZ population participating.

This blog explores some of the key features and findings of our most successful cycling encouragement and behaviour change program yet.

The flexibility within the Love to Ride platform allows for regions within a country to localise a site for their area and provide a local flavour to their participants.  New Zealand regions did a particularly great job of this and this type of collaboration is reflected in the below levels of participation.

2% of the working age population of the Greater Christchurch Region (population 396,000) participated in this year’s Love to Ride Aotearoa program.

Mobilising the Choir

Our programs give existing riders the tools and resources they need to encourage the ‘interested but concerned’ would be riders of our communities to give cycling a go.  Across all of our programs globally we see an approximate 1:1 ratio – that is for every regular rider who participates, they encourage a new or occasional rider to participate too.

Women love to ride too – of course we do!

It may come as a surprise to some, in what is largely considered as a male-dominated recreation, but the below gender split graph is typical of what we are seeing in our Love to Ride programs around the world. As a team, we’ve worked hard to buck the gender imbalance trends and it’s refreshing and exciting to see this work paying off in so many more women riding.

It’s also interesting to see that it’s fairly consistent across the regions:

It’s also interesting to note that the major urban centres like Auckland and Wellington, have higher proportions of male riders taking part (~60% male), while the more provincial areas like Northland and Southland have the opposite (~40% male and ~60% female).

Current modes of travel

It may come as no surprise at all that driving alone was the most frequent method of commuting to work at 37%. This was closely followed by travelling by bike at 33%.

By splitting the data into regions, we can also see the greatest opportunity for potential behaviour change with 50% or more participants commuting to work by driving alone in Northland, Southland and Bay of Plenty:

New Zealanders strive to live sustainably

New Zealanders are well known for their commitment to sustainable living and this was reflected in the data when we asked them to tell us what motivated them to ride. 

Living sustainably was the 3^rd most important motivator at 33%, followed by 56% for enjoying the outdoors and 88% for improved fitness.

In fact, sustainability was more frequently cited over improved health for most of the regions except Tasman, Nelson & Marlborough and Waikato.

We can also compare the data by region to provide some insight into our communities.  Saving money was more commonly cited in Canterbury as a key motivation (16% of respondents) compared to Northland (7%).

Barriers, real and perceived

Globally, we consistently see weather as a barrier people tell us they face when riding a bike. By understanding what barriers people face, we are able to give them the tools to overcome them and move them along a personal journey of change.

Whether it’s cycle confidence training for those who feel uneasy on the roads, discounts of great wet weather gear for riding in the rain, or a short video on how to fix a flat if the bike is in disrepair, Love to Ride works to break barriers down and, in doing so, open up the many benefits that riding brings.

However, when we deep dive into rider type, we unveil more about what each group perceives as their main barriers.  This information provides real insight into the kinds of interventions we can help facilitate to overcome these hurdles and ultimately change behaviour for the better.

For most of the regions, ‘not feeling confident’ was the main barrier for new riders. This was closely followed or surpassed by ‘not knowing a safe route’.

Auckland and Northland occasional riders cited not knowing a safe route as their main barrier to riding more often – all other regions attributed the weather as their main barrier. This was particularly notable in Wellington where 25% of respondents cited the weather as a barrier to riding or ridng more often.

End of trip facilities – the way to your employee’s heart?

Bad weather is more prominently a key barrier for regular riders largely due to it being one of a few barriers that are outside of our control. It is also the case that many of the other barriers have been whittled down to almost being non-existent, something that comes with time and experience.

Up next

The team at Love to Ride feel an incredible sense of pride having created a program that engaged so many people and through them achieved these results. For me, as a social marketer interested in social impact, it’s exactly these kinds of outcomes that get me excited for the potential for positive change in our cities and our communities globally.

In 2020, we hope to turn the needle even more and take the challenge to new heights.  Mind-blowing!

Can we help you get more people in your community or business riding bikes? Email hello@lovetoride.net or take a peek at partners.lovetoride.net