The highly-acclaimed Sustrans project, 'Bike It' continues to grow in London. The Bike It project encourages

and supports children to choose two wheels instead of four for the school journey.

Bike It officers work directly with schools to raise awareness of cycling, organise bike training and plan the
best and safest routes to school. Participating schools across England have seen levels of cycling treble within
a year- bucking the trend in declining numbers of children cycling to school.

Holly Bruford is the latest Sustrans Bike It Officer to join the team in London, with £306,650 of funding from the
Big Lottery Fund. She is currently working with 11 schools across Wandsworth, Hammersmith and Fulham and now Hackney.

Holly said: "I am really looking forward to working with three new schools in Hackney. The response so far
has been brilliant, on the first ever 'Bike to School' day at Whitmore Primary School we got 85 cyclists,
which is a tremendous achievement. I expect to be working with over 1000 children across the three schools. 

"We know from our research that almost a third of children would like to cycle to school when only 1% currently
do - there's an enormous potential for increasing cycling levels in this country. It is vital that we give young
people the opportunity to travel in ways, which are healthy, sustainable and fun."

The project, aimed at 9-12 years olds, works first by raising awareness about the benefits of cycling.
Next, steps are taken to enable the young people to cycle to school - this could be new cycle parking,
or cycle training sessions. The third stage is all about action - organising events and incentive schemes
to encourage the children to cycle more often, such as bike to school breakfasts and competitions between
schools. 

Bike It is a nationwide scheme, managed by sustainable transport charity Sustrans. Nationally
the project is funded by Cycling England, and the cycle industry through the Bike Hub, locally
Bike It is supported by the Big Lottery Fund and local councils.

Further information about Sustrans and Bike It, including other news releases,

is available through our website: www.sustrans.org.uk

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