Healthy Campus Champions
WestTrans has found that students aged 16%plus% can be highly receptive to changing their travel behaviour. As they begin to travel independently, it is vital to steer them towards sustainable modes such as cycling, rather than towards car ownership.
To support this goal, in 2016 WestTrans worked with the London Cycling Campaign to appoint a Student Cycling Champion. This was a dedicated resource who would integrate into colleges and universities across West London with the aim of increasing the numbers of students who cycle. Jess Strangward was recruited to the post, with Max Mills in a supporting role, and their enthusiasm and experience have fuelled positive achievements for student cycling across all the chosen sites. The programme was successful in 2016-17 and again in 2017-18, and is now halfway through its third academic year.
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Highlights of 2016-18
- Running the London By Cycle events programme, which included 987 interactions with students, 104 one-to-one cycle lessons, 440 bike trials, 134 bike repairs and 10 second-hand bike sales.
- Building on successes from the first year at Brunel University London: crowd-funding over £85,000, which was match-funded to a total of £186,000, and helping to deliver a Santander Cycle Hire scheme in Uxbridge.
- Successful loan bike programmes at West Thames College, Harrow College and West London College. This is a free two-week bike loan for students to get them started with cycling.
- SEN bike clubs: expanding cycling to students with special educational needs. A fleet of OFO bikes was used for cycle clubs, which attracted 20 SEN cyclists.
2018-19
For 2018-19, the Student Cycling Champions are shifting to a wider 'Healthy Campus Champion' role, aiming to continue their work in increasing student cycling while placing it in the context of healthy travel. A core challenge of the project is how to embed a cycling culture in the colleges and universities, so that staff resource continues to be allocated to cycling after the Champions have left the site. For this reason, the third year is divided between work at the same sites as before, and work at new sites. Universities such as Brunel have proved a success for the project, but require sustained effort for the cycling legacy to develop. Meanwhile new colleges will offer the opportunity to expand cycling and active travel to a wider audience of students.
For the 2018-19 academic year, the Champions are working at:
- Harrow College
- West Thames College
- West London College (Ealing and Hammersmith campuses)
- Brunel University London
The ultimate goal, of increasing numbers of students cycling, remains the same, and this twin-pronged approach is a strong way to both build and embed cycling at higher & further education sites.
