Bike It for the community
Bike It officers are now based in 40 local authority areas, and we are expanding further as our success grows. On average, Bike It schools have five times the national levels of children cycling to school - although we are also seeing as many as 45% of children cycling at some time during the school year.
The benefits to their health and the school environment from travelling independently to school without the use of the car are obvious when you consider that 20% of all traffic on the roads on a school day is taking children to school and almost a third of British children are obese.
Bike It's influence goes much further than the school grounds. Through backing from sponsors such as the Deptartment of Transport, Cycling England, Transport for London and the bicycle industry, in 2009-2010 we will work with over 500 schools and at least 60,000 children, with the eventual aim of placing a Bike It officer in every local authority region. We know we can achieve this because:
Bike It supports key government objectives (in England):
- Every school to be a Healthy School by 2009
- Every school to have a travel plan by 2010
- Every school to become a sustainable school (acting as a model of sustainable travel) by 2020
- Every local authority to report progress with reducing car use on school journeys
- Every local authority encouraged to deliver national standard cycle training in schools (Bikeability)
Throughout their intense one or two year programme of organising cycle training, safety lessons, safe route planning and outside events, Bike It Officers' work touches almost every sector of the community from the parents and everyone involved with the school through to local businesses, PCTs, community groups and charities and many different local authority departments.
We are careful to invite as many people as possible to witness our successes, from the local mayor to sporting celebrities and government ministers who often come to see Bike It in action in our schools. We also receive widespread coverage in the national and local press.
How does our local authority get a Bike It officer?
Some local authorities co-fund a Bike It Officer (some have more than one), who will usually be based in their building. Some have officers who are funded from different sources or who are based in regional Sustrans offices nearby.
To register your interest in Bike It, please encourage schools to fill in our Ask For Bike It questionnaire.
You can find out more by reading the latest Bike It Project review, or get a quick overview by downloading our 'Brilliant Bike It' booklet (pdf).
There is also a documentary on a successful Bike It school on Teacher's TV right now, see www.teachers.tv/video/20010.
To keep abreast of Sustrans Bike It and School Travel activities, sign up for one of our e-newsletters which we'll email to you three times a year.
We hope to be working with you soon.