Cycling Without Age is a movement which was established in Denmark to help get elderly people back on bikes and non-exclusive licenses have now been granted to three Irish communities – Blackrock in Dublin, Clonakilty in Cork and Dublin City University
The movement was launched in 2012 by Ole Kassow. Ole wanted to help the elderly get back on their bicycles, but he had to find a solution to their limited mobility. The answer was a trishaw and he started offering free bike rides to the local nursing home residents.
He then got in touch with a civil society consultant from the City of Copenhagen, Dorthe Pedersen (now Cycling Without Age), who was intrigued by the idea and together they bought the first 5 trishaws and launched Cycling Without Age, which has now spread to all corners of Denmark, and since 2015 to another 28 countries around the world.
How it works – Volunteers (pilots) sign up for bike rides with the elderly through a simple booking system as often or as rarely as they want to. It’s all driven by people’s own motivation. At present (February 2017) more than 225 chapters around the world offer Cycling Without Age from well over 1,000 trishaws – and the numbers are still growing. More than 8,000 pilots ensure that the elderly get out of their nursing homes, out on the bikes to enjoy the fresh air and the community around them. They give them the right to wind in their hair.
You can find out more about the movement in Ireland and how to set up a chapter in your community here: http://cyclingwithoutage.ie/
Wexford has begun the process too. A lot of health & safety to consider to satisfy the Irish context.