Great bike give-away

[adaeze]

Our local branch of Sustrans, on whose name be many, many blessings, run a scheme to lend reconditioned old bikes to people who couldn't otherwise afford even that much mobility.  And they offered us a few to lend to impecunious students.

Several months' worth of hassles followed, mostly due to lack of anywhere at all to store said bikes until the students all arrived and we were ready to start searching for Worthy Recipients.

But we ended up with
6 mens' bikes
4 womens' bikes
6 men applying for a bike and
4 women applying.

Neat or what?

Then today we've been issuing them, and I've been feeling rather as though it's Christmas.  The looks on their little faces as they come to pick them up!

Comments

[adaese.livejournal.com]

Much as I hesitate to say anything in defence of your employers - most travel plans also aim to stop people who don't currently use a car from taking to driving. So anything that will re-inforce an existing healthy habit, such as walking to work, is worth doing.

Although the approach of one university's Vice-Chancellor (not mine!), who, on being ordered by his doctor to start walking to work, arranged for the university car to come out and collect his papers each morning, is not encouraged.

As to the bikes - do check out the tax position first before you get anything for ExMemSec. If it's the tax-free-bike scheme that I suspect it is, you need to commit to using it yourself regularly for part of your journey to work.

[muuranker.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the headsup on the rules and regs of buying a bike under the scheme... although with second-hand bikes going for the pittance that the scheme suggests, I do think that we would be better off with freecycle or ebay.

It is so easy to stop people from driving! Simply poke sharp sticks into their eyes!

I am deeply sympathetic to the V-C who didn't want to carry his papers. There is a lot of difference between 15 mins brisk walk with and without a heavy breif-case.