Greens lead in Bikewise Challenge

by Kevin Hague

This month is Bikewise month, with events up and down the country promoting the cause of more people riding their bikes more often. Events include the Mayoral Challenge, the Bikers’ Breakfast and the Workplace Challenge, where the people working in a particular workplace compete with other workplaces for the most bike riding during the month.

The emphasis is on participation, so the main competition is over the proportion of people in the workplace taking part.

You might expect the many people working in Parliament to show a leadership role on something as important as this. After all, more people riding more often benefits everybody. And indeed Parliament is entered as a whole workplace, with separate teams registered as part of the competition. For example the Clerk’s Office has a team, as does the Translation Service, Finance, Library, IT and so on.

On the political side, the offices of Kate Wilkinson, Jonathan Coleman, and Chris Hipkins are all entered. (Kate and Jonathan aren’t members of their own teams, while Chris is the only member of his!) Phil Goff’s and Lynne Pillay’s offices have both registered, with 1 member each, but neither has actually done any cycling.

But the leader of the competition, by a very long way, is the Parliamentary Green Party. Counting MPs and parliamentary staff, we have 30 possible members, of whom 57% are cycling. Our team has also ridden the furthest — 1,262km so far in February. Our two newest cyclists deserve special recognition: Nive Kennach and Catherine Delahunty. Well done you two! It’s great to see everyone “riding the talk”.

Transport Minisiter Steven Joyce and I both spoke at the Bikers’ Breakfast in Wellington (attended by about 700 people, and a great event). Steven told me he has a bike, but doesn’t get to ride it as often as he should. Well come on then Steven — now’s the time! With one week to go, it would be great to see you cycling the roads of Auckland or Wellington, even once, and getting to experience first hand how important it is to prioritise improving road safety for us, the most vulnerable users. John can be in your team too.

Green MP Catherine Delahunty on a bicycle again. (Blur suggests speed.)