‘Get To School On Your Own Fuel’ campaign!
Sligo Cycling Campaign along with cycling groups countrywide -- members of
Cyclist.ie, the Irish Cycling Advocacy Network -- has issued a call to
parents/guardians, to support the “Get to School on Your
Own Fuel” promotion.
This nationwide campaign encourages adults and children to explore their school routes and to practice cycling safely to school.
Everyone who participates in the #GetToSchoolOnYourOwnFuel initiative is
encouraged to register for a chance to win a hamper of cycle-goodies (register at www.cyclist.ie/school).
The campaign, now in its second year will run from Saturday 21st August to Saturday 4th September aims to develop confidence and joy in cycling everyday to school and encourages parents to come together to cycle as a Cycle Bus.
A Cycle Bus is a group of adults and children who follow a predetermined route to school, stopping at various stops to allow other cyclists join in. Parents and adult volunteers cycle on the outside of the children thus giving protection form motor traffic. Galway Cycle Bus was first established in 2019 and they have kindly made their Cycle Bus Planning Document available anyone interested.
Cycling as a group is one way of building confidence in parents and children. For the past year a Cycle Bus has operated to Strandhill National School. Principal JosephFogarty stated - "We at Scoil Asicus, have witnessed the benefits of the Strandhill Cycle Bus over the last year. Children arrive at school safely, having had exercise on their bikes and are wide awake and ready to learn in school. The success of theCycle Bus has reduced traffic congestion at our school gate, lessened the harmful greenhouse gasses being emitted by cars and brought families together in a healthy
and social activity. We had children cycling to school all through last year and look forward to the Cycle Bus continuing in September when we hope to have new bicycle shelters in place at the school."
The children love to cycle on a Cycle Bus says Gemma Woods, Sligo Cycling Campaign, they quickly gain confidence on their bikes and chatter away amongst themselves as they cycle to school. Its a life long skill they develop and an introduction to sustainable, non-polluting mode of transport. We urge parents to give it a try, have a look at your local school route, get on the bike this weekend and do a few practice runs. If you have any queries or are interested in cycling to school with a few friends and are just not sure what to do next, contact us at sligocycles@gmail.com .
Also, during National Bike Week 2021 (12th-18th Sept) Sligo Cycling Campaign is organising An Adult Cycling Refreshers Course which will include topics on road positioning and group marshalling. We have found that many parents, though they love in principle the idea of their children cycling to school, they themselves feel ill equipped to cycle on our present day roads. This course is designed to help. If interested please contact us at sligocycles@gmail.com for further information.