Melbourne-based RideKola and Good Cycles' Equitable Commute Pilot Project has won WeRide Australia’s Cycling Luminaries 2024 Bike Culture Award.
The project aims to deliver improvements to the lives of residents in social and affordable housing by installing e-bike hubs in their housing developments. Bicycle Network has partnered on the project to deliver adult e-bike training courses at three locations in Melbourne.
The Cycling Luminaries Awards builds on more than two decades of recognition of the leaders, projects and infrastructure that have made Australia a better place to ride a bike, and were presented at Deakin University in Melbourne.
Adam Lana, head of brand and Bike at Good Cycles (pictured above right with Chris Arnott from RideKola), says the Ride Kola partnership is an extension of Good Cycles' community and commercial programs.
"In the background our Good Bikes division is helping young people face barriers to employment, and at the coal face the Equitable Commute Project, is allowing people who may not be able to afford an-ebike, access to free transport.
"A huge thanks to the team at Building Communities (Tetris) for allowing us to get this project off the ground.”
Toowoomba’s Safe Active Street program received the Built Environment Award.
The program, a Queensland first, was run in the regional town's Pierce Street, which has a 30km/h speed limit for all vehicles and a bold, bright design that makes it clear bikes have priority. Cars must stay behind bikes until it is safe to overtake, pass within one metre of riders and give way to oncoming traffic.
Melbourne-based Anthony Aisenberg was awarded the Leadership Award for his work on Australia’s largest crowd-sourced bike data project and the smash hit "unconference" Transport Camp, held in Melbourne September.
Ainsberg, an urban planner and CrowdSpot founder, has brought his expertise and passion to create better connections for vibrant cities. He is one of the bike industry's most innovative leaders in user-generated data and public engagement and is making a significant contribution to people who ride bikes and better communities in Australia.
Sunshine Coast Council presented its RideScore Active Schools Program’s report to the awards audience.
Under scheme, children’s bikes were equipped with beacons, which provided real-time notifications to parents when they arrived safely at school and when they left for home. A total of 201,400km was travelled and students recorded a 55% increase in cycling and scooting to school. The report can be accessed here.
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