ways2work > Who does it > The Swindon Workplace Cycle Challenge
The Swindon Workplace Cycle Challenge
Organisational challenge/context
One of the most effective ways to encourage more people to cycle is to get them to experience what it is actually like to ride a bike. Giving people a fun 10-minute cycling experience quickly breaks down negative feelings towards cycling and replaces them with new, positive attitudes.
Sustainable travel intervention(s)
The Swindon Workplace Cycle Challenge was the UK pilot of a CTC Challenge for Change programme. Run over two weeks in July 2008, it involved 38 organisations, and the departments within them, competing to see who could encourage the most staff to ride a bike for 10 minutes or more. Winners for each size category won an award.
The primary target audience was non-cyclists and the aim was to get 200 non-cyclists to get back on a bike and give it a go.
Results/benefits
-
38 Organisations and 250 departments registered
-
914 people participated – 310 of whom were ‘non-cyclists’
-
49,190 miles were cycled – the equivalent of cycling twice around the world
-
5,407 cycle trips, 65% were for transport purposes saving 15,174 kg of CO2
-
Three months after the event, over half (55%) of the respondents who reported they hadn’t ridden a bike in more than a year before the Challenge, were classed as either occasional or regular cyclists
-
At the end of the Challenge period, 20% of former non-cyclists were regularly cycling to work each week.