Author: Thomas Stokell

In the short, medium, and long term, it makes good sense to support and encourage more people to ride bikes.

In the short and medium-term, while social distancing is being recommended to help contain the spread of Covid-19, biking makes a lot of sense.

• Biking is the original SDV (Social Distancing Vehicle) – biking is an ideal way of getting around while maintaining social distancing. 

• People are avoiding taking public transport – being in a confined space with other people is not recommended at this time. People who use public transport might not own a car and yet they still need to travel safely from A to B. Biking there can make sense for some of these people. Our data also shows that people who use public transport to get to work are the most likely to switch modes and start riding for transportation.

• You can get to a lot of places you might need to go by bike (the store, pharmacy, to visit or care for others). For many people who are traveling short distances, riding a bike is a great option.

• Improve mental health + combat loneliness, isolation, and cabin fever – We all know how it feels to be stuck inside the house all day and then when you finally get to go outside it’s a breath of fresh air on so many levels: physically, mentally, and emotionally. With people being recommended to self-isolate and to work from home, loneliness and disconnection from your community are real problems. Riding a bike is an ideal way to get outside, get some exercise and fresh air, go places, and reconnect to the big wide world around you.

• Exercise strengthens your immune system – 20-30 minutes of moderate exercise per day (like riding a bike) helps to boost and strengthen your immune system. Exercise also helps reduce stress levels and stress hormones (cortisol) which in turn also helps to strengthen your immune system. People are already taking steps to help improve their immune system, supporting them to start riding or to get out and ride more often is another way that we can combat Covid-19.

And of course in the long-term, all the benefits that people, cities, businesses and our planet gain as a result of more people riding bikes all still stand. Biking helps people to be healthier and happier. Biking helps make our communities more liveable and it brings a host of benefits to businesses – from healthier staff, fewer sick days, and increased productivity.

There are going to be people in your community who will want to start riding a bike again or start riding for transportation but don’t have the knowledge, confidence or ability to ride yet. Love to Ride can provide support and encouragement to get more people in your community to ride.
Love to Ride is already supporting cities, businesses and people around the world to realize the benefits of riding – in the short, medium and long-term. Please do get in touch if you’d like to learn more about how we can support more people to ride in your area – hello@lovetoride.net

To register on Love to Ride it’s lovetoride.net

Cycle September – The Global Bike Challenge – is coming up again in (you guessed it) September. The annual event has grown in size and scale and we’re particularly excited about this year’s event as it continues to expand it’s reach and impact.

Cycle September is, at its core, a cycling encouragement program designed to get more people riding, more often, and for transportation. It is a fun, friendly ‘challenge’, that’s easy for anyone to get involved in – from occasional riders to people who haven’t been on a bike in years.

At Love to Ride, we’ve been running workplace bike challenges for 12 years now, so we know a thing or two about how to make them successful and hoe to achieve great results for our clients and partners.

So why are cities, and local and regional government agencies working with us on Cycle September? 

It’s because Cycle September is…

A proven approach to getting more people riding in your area – behaviour change theory and techniques are at the core of all Love to Ride programs. We provide measurable behaviour change results to our clients.

Easy to run – we know how busy you are, so over the last 12 years, we’ve worked hard to develop systems that make it quicker and easier to roll-out the program at the local level. We can also do all the work involved in delivering the program locally, or, depending on the level of capacity you have, we can share certain roles and tasks where it makes the most sense.

Localized program – we localize the Cycle September program so that people and businesses in your city or region experience a local platform (with options for local branding, Love to Ride site, leaderboards, marketing materials, etc). At the same time, people can navigate to see and experience the national and global leaderboards and the wider reach and global flavour of the Cycle September intervention.

Generate and give Access to Data – Love to Ride programs generate a wide range of data: from survey results about local barriers; to ‘new rider’ experiences in your area; to real and perceived barriers to bike commuting. Using our integrated mobile apps, we also generate trip data (distances, days, times, trip purpose etc), along with data about your local companies’ end-of-trip facilities, databases of regular, occasional and new riders, non-commuting riders, and key contacts and ‘champions’ within local participating businesses.

Business Engagement – Cycle September is an ideal tool to provide to your local businesses. It’s easy for them to run, it’s fun and it delivers a host of benefits – from healthier, happier employees, to lower car parking costs, an easy way to achieve and measure emission reductions, promote team cohesion, etc. We engage your business network and support them to engage their staff, and thus we’re able to efficiently get thousands of local people engaged in your local Cycle September program.

It’s Exciting – a little friendly competition, both within your office, locally among businesses and friends, and within your industry locally, nationally, and globally – all helps to get people engaged and enjoying taking part in the bike challenge program.

Value for Money – due to the economies of scales we achieve and the delivery systems we’ve developed that make it quick and easy to roll out in another city/region, the programs we deliver are very good value for money. If you compare taking part in Cycle September versus developing and implementing a bespoke behavior change program locally, there are huge savings to be made.

Easy to run – did we mention that already?

In summary, cities and regions around the world are bringing Cycle September to their area because it’s a proven approach to getting more people riding, it’s easy to run, localized to their area, gives them great data, engages their business community and existing rider networks, is great value for money, and again, it’s easy for them to run 🙂

Interested in exploring options for bringing Cycle September to your area?  Then please do get in touch and we’ll send you some more information – hello@lovetoride.net

For those that spotted it, please note that this is a global article and we have chosen to use US English on this occasion!

Watch this short presentation about a global trend between ‘Cycling Frequency’ and Gender.

More about Love to Ride at partners.lovetoride.net

We’d love to talk with you about how we can work together on our shared mission of getting more people riding. Please do get in touch: together@lovetoride.net

Happy riding!

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This October, we’re running the first of many national campaigns across the US to encourage more people to enjoy the benefits of riding. Everyone is invited to take part and form a team of 8 other riders. We’ve some great prizes that people can win, including a new bike, bike gear, b

We made a little video for our partners in cities, advocacy groups, regional and state government, Transporation Management Associations and other organizations who we partner with to run our bicycle encouragement programs locally.

 

 

Got questions?

Keen to promote Biketober in your area?  We can send you a promo pack to make it easy to spread the word and get more people involved.

Get in touch! – partners@lovetoride.net

 

Curious what lessons can be learned from 70,000 new, occasional, and regular riders from across the UK?

We’ve surveyed more than 70,000 people in the UK and asked them what barriers they face to cycling and to cycling to work. The findings have been very interesting as we compare responses from the many different UK regions we’ve worked in over the years.

We are sharing some of the core research lessons in a series of webinars over the next few months.

This first webinar will discuss barriers, motivations, and demographics. It will provide interesting insights to anyone working in cycling promotion and/or transport planning.

There will be a 25 minute presentation followed by Q and A. Tune in for the first 30 minutes or stay for the whole hour.

 

To makes sure as many people as possible can attend, we have two dates available:

Friday 16 December – 2pm – Register

Thursday 12 January – 2pm – Register

 

We are excited to share these insights with you and your colleagues. So please do invite your colleagues to also attend this free and insightful webinar.

 

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