Travel Safe

Competition was tight in this year’s Aotearoa Bike Challenge with a number of Bay of Plenty workplaces taking out places in the national workplace challenge.
 
Rotorua Trails Trust was second nationally for an organisation with 7-19 staff and Tauranga-based Lysaght Consultants was third nationally in the 20-49 staff category.
 
Tauranga City Council’s Travel Safe Coordinator Yvonne Rooney says this year’s competition was tighter than ever as rivalry heated up locally and nationally.
 
“A number of local offices competed as part of their national teams – and they had fierce inter-office competition,” says Yvonne.
 
“Biking is increasing as both a transport choice and for fitness or fun.
 
“This year we saw more workplaces than ever log rides in the Challenge,” says Yvonne.
 
“More than 372,000km were recorded in the Bay of Plenty. Of those, 100,000km were for transport purposes – potentially replacing car trips and saving more than 18,000kg of CO2.”
 
This year the month-long Aotearoa Bike Challenge was supported by a group of councils across the country, including Tauranga City Council, along with some major sponsors.  The Aotearoa Bike Challenge utilises the international platform - Love to Ride. The aim was to get more people choosing to ride their bikes as transport.
 
The challenge was complemented by Bike Month for Tauranga and Western Bay of Plenty, which provided people of all ages with opportunities to improve their cycling skills and increase their confidence to ride their bikes.
 
Travel Safe organised a variety of events such as guided historic, neighbourhood and commuter rides, maintenance workshops and cycle skills sessions. 
 
Travel Safe Team Leader Sonia Lynds says the Aotearoa Bike Challenge and Bike Month are great ways to encourage and support people to change their travel habits, save money, and promote active lifestyles that can improve mental and physical health.
 
Travel Safe continues to support school-aged children with bike safety and has a dedicated adult cycling role to support adults who are nervous, or unsure where they can ride safely. 
 
“For those of you who enjoyed the challenge aspect, this year participants in Tauranga can keep up the momentum by signing up to The Wednesday Challenge. Workplaces can set up teams, or you can compete as individuals, to use different modes of travel on Wednesdays.  Be in to win prizes while making a change for good,” says Sonia.
 
Sign up to The Wednesday Challenge here.

Aotearoa Bike Challenge results for Bay of Plenty region:  

2000+ staff - Bay of Plenty 

1. Bay of Plenty District Health Board (10th nationally)

 
500-1999 staff – Bay of Plenty

1. Tauranga City Council (7th nationally)
2. Lakes District Health Board
3. Trustpower

200-499 staff – Bay of Plenty 

1. Bay of Plenty Regional Council (10th nationally)
2. Rotorua Lakes Council
3. Classic Group

 50-199 staff – Bay of Plenty

1. Rotorua Police Station (4th nationally)
2. Mercury Rotorua
3. Patchell Industries

20-49 staff 

1. Lysaght Consultants (3rd nationally)
2. RAPHS
3. GHD Tauranga

7-19 staff 

1. Rotorua Trails Trust (2nd nationally)
2. Tiaki Engineering Consultants Ltd (8th nationally)
3. Pattle Delamore

3-6 staff 

1. P3 Research
2. Mourea Coffee Company
3. Retired Gentlemans Club Waihi Beach

Full results available here. 
 
For further information please contact:
Travel Safe Team
Phone: 07 577 7700
Email: workplacetravel@tauranga.govt.nz
 
For information on how the amount of CO2 savings is calculated visit Love to ride.
 

Cyclists enjoying a guided ride during February’s Bike Month.