Making Cycling Easier

Sarah Adams
Kalamunda Senior High School
103

As we reflect on our feedback from students and the school community we have found that there are some perceived barriers to cycling to school.

One student told us that they didn't ride their bike to school mainly because they were worried about being able to secure it once they were on campus. "What if I forget my lock?" came the question - and this sparked an idea.

Using our Your Move bonus points from posting here in the community, the sustainability committee has gained permission to donate bike locks to our student services team. Using one of the Office Works vouchers, we found keyed bike locks that are supplied with 2 keys. This way if a student forgets their lock and is already at school, they can sign out an emergency bike lock for single-day use through our amazing student services team. The locks come with two keys so one can stay at student services (just in case) and the other can go with the student, to be returned at the end of the day. We felt opting for combination locks would be more difficult to manage and that it might be problematic if combinations were forgotten.

We look forward to monitoring the use of these locks. If there is demand, perhaps we will look at a bike-lock scholarship where we could potentially provide locks to students if there is an ongoing trend of needing access to our emergency supply.

Along with promoting the security of riding to school, we have used Bike Month as an opportunity to encourage students to access the new Bikelinc website and register ownership of their equipment.

We have also encouraged our staff to join the Department of Education Team on the Bike Month site through daily messages of encouragement.
We look forward to next year's Bike Month, where hopefully students can be actively involved in the registration on the website!

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James (Your Move)

I love this simple solution to a real barrier (I remember when I was at school, the worry about my bike being stolen inhibited me from riding). I have given you 25 points for the bike lock loan scheme, plus a bonus 15 points for the innovation. You also received 40 points for your staff's involvement in Bike Month, plus 10 points for your detailed posting. By the way I wonder what "Mike" thinks about being the centre of "WA Mike Month"? Hint: see your last dot point!

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