Tower Hamlets Wheelers
NEWS RELEASE 27 July 2003
For immediate release
Ref THW18BikeBuddy270703
CYCLE ACTION GROUP WINS GRANTS FOR 'BIKE BUDDY' SCHEME TO HELP LOCAL PEOPLE
START CYCLING
Ashraf Ali, Transport Planner for Tower Hamlets council, helped launch a
'Bike Buddy' scheme to help people in Tower Hamlets start cycling as a
healthy means of transport.
Run by the Tower Hamlets Wheelers (1), the scheme has won funding from Tower
Hamlets council, the St Katharine & Shadwell Trust (2) and the Department
for Transport (3) and is aimed at people new to cycling, or thinking of
taking it up again.
Anyone over the age of 16 who lives, works or travels mainly through Tower
Hamlets is eligible to apply for a place on the scheme, which includes two
free cycle training lessons from professional trainers at the London School
of Cycling and Cycle Training Ltd. Clients in the scheme will also be paired
up with an experienced local cyclist from the Wheelers - a 'Bike Buddy' -
who can accompany new cyclists on journeys once they are able and confident
enough to ride on the road (4).
Ashraf says: "This scheme uses the knowledge and experience of local people
who cycle in Tower Hamlets to help more people get on a bike. Cycling is the
quickest way to get about town, it's easy exercise, good for the environment
and low-cost too."
Rona Rahman is a student of Tower Hamlets college who has joined the Bike
Buddy scheme because she wishes to learn to ride a bike. Rona lives in
Limehouse and says: "I walk to and from college but sometimes I want to go a
little bit faster. I walk past bike lanes all the time and the cyclists
whizz by and I think: 'I want to do that'!"
Indira Madhar from Poplar helped the Wheelers trial the scheme. As a child
she did not learn to ride a bike but now as an adult the Wheelers helped her
learn to ride confidently on the road:
"Cycling is fun, you see lots of things you can't see when you're
trapped in a car, and it has given me freedom and independence. I was
envious of people who rode a bike before I learned, but I thought 'if they
can do it, I can do it' and now I can!
"It's amazing how many cyclists you meet out and about when you're
on a bike. In a car you're boxed in and it's a waste of money: I was driving
two minutes to the gym!" (5)
Linking in with the Bike Buddy scheme, the Wheelers are holding a series of
group bike rides in Tower Hamlets that new cyclists will find particularly
easy and will help boost skills and confidence. These 'Easy Evening Rides'
are routes of only five miles in length, mainly traffic-free or on quiet
back streets. (6)
As well as promoting the scheme via the Wheelers website (7) and promotional
postcards (8) the Wheelers are finding clients for the scheme by working
with community organisations the Bow People's Trust and the Cedar Centre.
Anyone wishing to join the scheme can call Alix Stredwick on 020 8880 6873
or email bikebuddy@towerhamletswheelers.org.uk
ENDS
Notes for editors
(1) The Tower Hamlets Wheelers is the local cycle action group in the east
London Borough of Tower Hamlets, campaigning for better cycling facilities
and encouraging more people to cycle - for health, the environment and for
London. The Wheelers are affiliated to the London Cycling Campaign, the
largest urban cycling campaign in the world.
(2) The Wheelers received a grant of £4,456 for various activities from the
Community Chest, which is part of central Government's Neighbourhood Renewal
Fund, administered in Tower Hamlets by the St Katharine & Shadwell Trust.
Nearly £1,000 of this grant is going to the Bike Buddy scheme, and it
compliments the £1,200 Wheelers have been granted by Tower Hamlets Council
(thanks to Lyndal Peters), £500 of which is for the Bike Buddy scheme and
£100 for the Wheelers Workshop, to which clients of the Bike Buddy scheme
will have access.
(3) Wheelers also won £1,000 from the Government's Cycling Projects Fund,
administered by the Department for Transport. The money will be spent on the
Bike Buddy Scheme and the Wheelers Workshop. Tower Hamlets Wheelers are also
putting group funds towards the scheme, raised partly through sales of their
'congestion charge' t-shirt.
(4) Full details of what clients of the scheme will be provided with:
- At least two free cycle training lessons from professional trainers. If
needed, lessons will be provided on how to ride a bike, and every client
will get a lesson on how to ride safely in traffic. We will use the London
School of Cycling and Cycle Training Ltd.
- An experienced local cyclist - a 'Bike Buddy' - to accompany clients
on a minimum of two journeys (e.g. to work) once the client is able and
confident enough to ride on the road;
- Copies of the Highway Code;
- Advice on what bike and bike gear to buy (e.g. locks);
- Help with minor repairs such as fixing punctures;
- Access to the Wheelers monthly self-help bike maintenance workshop;
- Some bike accessories e.g. visibility strips;
- Copies of the London Cycle Guide maps and 'Rough Guide to Cycling in
London'. Both were produced free to the public by Transport for London and
the London Cycling Campaign, and are available in this scheme as long as
stocks last.
- Access to group bike rides in the local area...
...and a low-cost recycled bike if the clients own funds will not stretch to
a new or second-hand bike. Please note, there is a very limited stock of
these bikes.
(5) More quotes from Indira Madhar:
"I gave up my car four years ago and then used public transport and
walking to get from A to B. But it can be quite expensive: £74 per month for
a Tube pass or £32 per month for a bus pass. If you buy a £200 bike it will
pay for itself in terms of fares savings within months.
"I wanted to cycle as my main form of transport but I didn't know how. Then
I discovered the Wheelers and they paid for some cycling lessons at the
London School of Cycling. Now they're going to provide me with a Bike Buddy
so that I can go on bike rides locally and gain more confidence.
"There's no way I'll go back to driving - I didn't realise how anti-social
cars are. I'm certainly not going back to 'car culture'."
(6) The Easy Evening Rides run on the following Wednesday evenings: 6 & 27
August, 3 & 24 September, 22 October. Meet 6:30pm on top of the Green Bridge
over Mile End Road (near Mile End Tube) and bring bike lights. Other easy
bike rides of under 20 miles held by the group at weekends start from the
same place: Saturday 16 August, 10am, 'Tour of Useful Places in Tower
Hamlets'; Saturday 23 August, 8am, 'Visit Kew and Richmond'; under 30 miles:
Saturday 13 September, 10am, 'Hertfordshire Mystery Ride' with free lunch.
(7) http://www.towerhamletswheelers.org.uk/bikebuddy
(8) A picture of the promotional postcard is attached to this email.
Tower Hamlets Wheelers
wheelers@towerhamletswheelers.org.uk
www.towerhamletswheelers.org.uk
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