The overarching goal of this project was to lower the barrier to entry for daily cycling among youth by transforming local organizations into accessible cycling hubs. Specifically, we aimed to: Empower Youth Workers (Capacity Building): To train youth workers in specialized skills, including bike maintenance, ergonomic fitting, and road safety, enabling them to serve as mentors and technical resources for young commuters. Establish "Bike Corners" (Infrastructure): To equip partner organizations with the physical infrastructure (tools, spare parts, and shared bicycles) necessary to support low-cost or zero-cost bike ownership and repair. Promote Social Inclusion (Target Group): To reach young people with fewer opportunities who lack traditional cycling role models or private transport, providing them with the means to access education, employment, and social services. Normalize Sustainable Commuting (Behavioral Change): To transition cycling from a niche activity to a primary mode of transport for daily errands, school, and work by removing financial and technical obstacles. Create Local Support Networks (Sustainability): To foster community hubs that provide ongoing encouragement and a safety net for new cyclists in AT, ES and IT.
This project was a common work of BIKE, Acarbio and Illipula, and we tackled the cycling culture in our surroundings, targeting young people that could, but do not cycle for all the reasons that we previously defined. We were additionally motivated by the changes that are taking place in Graz (Radoffensive), Italy (Napoli Pedala advocacy campaigns and tours via Tramonti), and the new bike lanes in Purchena in Spain and increased number of people who do Bike touring via the town. We believed that with a bit of funding and a lot of work, we could make our organizations hubs that support young people to start commuting by bike daily, or simply get interested in the topic and discover cycling themselves. In this way, we could practice our preaching on sustainable mobility and green transport at the very offices or premisses we have, and enable young people to find, fix and use their bikes safely at minimum or often 0 Euros investment. We addressed the needs of young people from marginalised communities and backgrounds for increased mobility on a budget, as well as tackled the sedentary life-styles of these generations by motivating them to cycle daily and reach the recommended 20 minutes per day by the WHO.