13 March 2018

Community bike fund open for round two applications

The second round of Auckland Transport’s Community Bike Fund is open for applications.

The fund can be used for events, activities, training programmes, and the development of resources and information for specific communities to encourage bike riding in Auckland

Kathryn King, AT’s Walking, Cycling and Road Safety Manager, says the first round of the fund attracted a wide range of applications.

“We’ve funded groups wanting to establish bike libraries, organisations wanting to bring cycling to older people, and to groups hosting bike rides for new riders. We are really pleased with the response that the fund has had, and we look forward to receiving more applications and hearing people’s ideas to encourage bike riding in Auckland.”

Cycling Without Age Point Chevalier received a grant in the first round for a bike festival and open day at Selwyn Village in Point Chevalier to share cycling with older people via rides on a trishaw.

Organiser Greer Juul Rasmussen says the funding provided the extra kick-start needed to hold the event.

“Cycling without Age has huge benefits for elderly and the wider community but it is not a simple concept and it is quite costly to set up. After meeting with village residents and possible funding providers, we realised we needed to demonstrate the benefits in a 'real way' to get buy in from the community,” she says.

“We wanted to host an event with a trishaw to give the village and community a taste of how the project would look and feel. We used the bulk of our funds to loan a trishaw from Wellington and to promote the event.

“The event was really successful. We had about 300-400 people attend and it was great to see all different generations spending time together and enjoying the sunshine. The process has also helped residents to become aware of cycling infrastructure coming to their area.”

Funding is available during 2017/18 for community-focussed projects that encourage riding a bike as a regular transport option, improve cycle safety, and contribute to the normalisation of cycling in Auckland.

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