Increasing Access to Cycling Mobilities of Care

Increasing Access to Cycling Mobilities of Care is a project, in partnership with the Bernard van Leer Foundation, Chain Breaking Women, Purpose (Bengaluru Moving), and Bicitekas, that focuses on supporting cycling uptake for care journeys.

This initiative follows the publication in 2020 of the report “Cycling Cities for Infants, Toddlers, and Caregivers”. Based on the recommendations of the report, our focus narrowed in on cycling awareness, education & access pilot programs for women caregivers in different urban contexts, led by community stakeholders and providing key learnings for city representatives.

This new document explains why and how policymakers and practitioners can support uptake for care journeys. It primarily focuses on mothers and other women who care for children, who conduct a significant and often disproportionate amount of caregiving labour, and trips.

Access The Report

Although care journeys account for up to 30% of trips taken by adults, they are often not well considered in transport literature and policy agendas. Very little research to date has provided a detailed account of people’s experiences completing care trips with young children by bicycle, leading to cities struggling to accommodate young children and families in their cycling strategies.

Through the administration of a global survey and coordination of pilot programs across different cities, the project seeks to better understand the mobility patterns and barriers of caregivers and facilitate uptake of cycling.

Aggregating learnings from these events enables the creation of two knowledge products in the form of a insights report and accompanying toolkit for city representatives and urban stakeholders.

The first critical step in this project was a global survey that sought to better understand the mobility patterns and barriers of caregivers, especially related to riding a bicycle, as well as potential solutions to address these barriers.

This was conducted in English, Spanish, Turkish, and Dutch, and received over 200 responses.

Cycle Schools for Caregivers Program – Bengaluru, India

In Bengaluru, the social agency Purpose developed cycling education programmes and engaged with caregivers to understand their experiences and aspirations to cycle.

Chain Breaking Mamas Program – Istanbul, Turkey

In Istanbul, the NGO Chain Breaking Women developed a 2 month gamification program for mothers to start cycling with their children in the Kartal Municipality.

Bicicatarinas (Wings of Freedom) Program – Mexico City, Mexico

In Mexico City, the NGO Bicitekas developed a dual bike-lending and cycle-training program for low-income mothers and caregivers in Gustavo A. Madero, Azcapotzalco, Tláhuac and Xochimilco municipalities.

Based on the results and findings from the pilot programmes, as well as the global survey, and previous work on the topic, BYCS has put together two key knowledge products that will be instrumental in centring the needs, and addressing the barriers, of caregivers and young children for cycling in cities.

The Insights Report is now available to read, and will be followed by a Mobilties of Care toolkit later in 2023.

Access The Report

To find out more about the project, you can watch the project Launch Webinar, featuring a keynote from Oxford University Researcher Lea Ravensbergen on cycling and mobilities of care, followed by a panel session featuring speakers from ITDP, Bicitekas, the City of Bogotá, and WowMom Kenya, and closed with previews of the pilot programs from our implementation partners.

To inquire about working with BYCS on a technical assistance project, or view other programmes, please get in touch or visit the below:

Email  BYCS Projects & Programmes  Bernard van Leer Foundation

Program Coordinator – Alex Baum
alex@bycs.org

Research & Advocacy Manager – Lucas Snaije
lucas@bycs.org