$5000 granted to the Bikes @ Massey Team

After the hypothetical survey ran for a couple of weeks, the team realised they would need to buy some bikes to start a fleet for the students and staff at Massey to actually try out. For funds the team turned to Pukeahu ki Tua's contestable fund to apply for funding. They got it!

The proposal
There is both a need and a desire to introduce a fleet of bikes onto the Wellington campus. We propose to invest in two trial bikes (one standard bike and one electric assist) with helmets, racks and panniers for carrying items. The bikes will be piloted on the Wellington campus and will be available to hire for free from 7:00am to 8:00pm as they will be securely stored and managed at the Massey University Gym.
We are seeking $5000 of seed funding for the initial trial of this project that aims to help students and staff to travel more efficiently, collect supplies and contribute to Massey University’s Carbon Management Plan. From the pilot evaluation, we will review the sustainability of the project, and hope to increase the fleet of the bikes and share lessons with other Massey campuses.

The verdict
The judges of the contestable fund agreed to fund Bikes at Massey for $5,000! Their comments about the project and how they want to see the money going towards the growth of the Massey bike fleet:
 
This is an excellent pilot project — we would like to see a report at the end that talks about how this might be scaled across the University and how this would be funded. There was some concern that $5000 would be sufficient to act as a springboard for other funders to engage in this idea. Clearly stating how the 'hire fee' might help fund a larger project and be part of the business plan is essential.

Next steps from here
The Bikes @ Massey team meet on Friday last week to discuss how to allocate the funds to use and how to execute the judges feedback. Next steps:

• Buy either 2 electric assisted bikes or 1 electric assist and 1 peddle power
• Buy helmets, bike accessories inc. panniers, mud guards, lights
• Look into having high vis vests for bikers
• Set up a system at the gym for people to hire bikes out and T's and C's
• Leave it as a free hire for this year, but gather as much data from bike users to inform growing the fleet and if charging for hire is a good idea
• Look into painting the bikes Massey blue with vinyl sticker decal detailing safety information and contact info
• Look into insurance around the bikes

The team is also looking into a new bike sharing system called MT Share to see if there is a potential collaboration to increase the amount of bike available on campus.