Cork Cycling Campaign declared their support for the new traffic restrictions on St Patrick’s St and the broader strategy of improving movement through the city centre. However, the group also sympathised with the concerns of traders and car drivers about disruptions caused by the ban.

The partial car ban prioritises high density, highly efficient public transport over the inefficient use of public space by private vehicles. It increases the speed and reliability of bus travel, making Cork’s bus service more attractive.

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1. Humans of Dublin, interviewed us and here is the cheery feature they did
2. We now have a CWA Facebook Group, which is open to all, so if you have not already joined, please feel free, as this is where we will add regular updates and happy news!
3. Bikes: In addition to the six trishaws already up and running (three in Co. Cork and three in Dublin), there are at least five more on order. These are going to Waterford, Sligo, Leitrim and two for Co. Dublin. If anyone else has ordered their bike, do let me know, as we are now linking up with organisations such as Age & Opportunity, ChangeX, and others who will assist in promoting and working alongside new affiliates. Also, if you are ordering a bike, do sign up as an Affiliate to us. There is no charge and you will receive additional support and information from Copenhagen.
4. Tips for Pilots and short videos on how to operate your bike: We have put together some short videos to demonstrate how to operate your trishaw, and some helpful Piloting Tips. Feel free to ask me to send you these. They work well in conjunction with actual pilot training.
5. Pilot Training:   If people want pilot training and can come to Blackrock in Dublin, I am happy to offer pilot-training in our local park. I will not be able to travel all over Ireland, but if you can come to me, that offer is there!
6. Volunteer pilots: As bikes arrive, I can start to match up the offers I have from volunteer pilots to their nearest bike and care home.
7. Corporate Sponsors: Nursing and care homes and their supporters are fund-raising to get bikes. But, we would welcome offers from companies/organisations willing to come on board as sponsors or part-sponsors of bikes. Most of the bikes already operating here have been sponsored or co-sponsored by corporates. It offers great profile to the corporates, and some of their staff are acting as pilots. We are happy to talk to sponsors if you need us to.

Latest update newsletter from Cycling without Age (CWA – group member of Cyclist.ie)

Trishaws:   In addition to a trishaw now in St Luke’s, in Mahon in Cork, and one in Clonakilty, we now have three in Dublin: one in Sybil Hill Nursing Home in Raheny, sponsored by Canada Life Re-Insurance, one in TLC Care Centre in Santry (who have three care homes), sponsored by Hidden Hearing, one in Mount Carmel HSE Community Hospital, sponsored by Zendesk.com, and at least two more on order.

Awards: Social Entrepreneurs Ireland Academy 2017 awarded us €1500 which we have put towards promotional expenses, and KBC Bank Bright Ideas awarded Kilkenny Recreation & Sports Partnership CWA) €1750. This confirms that CWA is being recognised as a valuable social enterprise.

New Brochure: With the award from Social Entrepreneurs Ireland we got a brochure designed and printed. If you would like to get copies printed, go ahead. Or you can make colour photocopies. I can also provide a .pdf version of the brochure marked up for printing.

Having the brochure was essential when we attended as guests of the Nursing Homes Ireland annual conference in Citywest on 16^th November, with 300 delegates and many trade exhibitors. We greatly appreciate their invitation to showcase our demo trishaw ‘Daisy’, and talk with nursing home owners from all over Ireland. On his arrival, Health Minister Simon Harris sat into our ‘Daisy’ and the photo appeared in the next day’s Irish Independent, with a broadly smiling Minister! He has asked us to go in and talk to Healthy Ireland in his Department.  Our thanks also to Ashbury Nursing Home in Deansgrange for providing their jeep, trailer and driver to get us to Citywest and back on the day.

Public Liability Insurance:  We are delighted to announce that Insurance Brokers O’Driscoll O’Neil have located an insurance company willing to offer all Irish CWA trishaw owners Public Liability cover. For more details, please contact Declan Troy, Tel: 01- 639 5860.

Hi-Vis Vests:  Given that we need to educate other road users on the appearance of CWA trishaws on our roads, I recommend that owners ask all pilots to wear identifiable RED hi-vis vests with the words VOLUNTEER PILOT on the lower back panel. I can give you a link to a print company who has already supplied some. Identifying the pilots as volunteers has already had benefits in the form of free coffee to passengers and pilots in some coffee shops!

Networking countrywide:  Our database for communicating with you is sortable by location. In this way, when I get enquiries from one region, I can link you up with others in that region. This is important, as we are volunteers and CWA is very time-consuming! We have been invited to give talks in places as far apart as Waterford and Donegal. While this shows the super level of interest, we cannot easily get to all these places, though we do try to cover local (to Dublin area) requests. Going forward, I would like other CWA affiliates to get out there spreading the word! We can help with details and information if requested. I can also supply you with graphics for a pull-up banner for using at events, talks and launches.

New Affiliates:  If you have signed up – or want to – as a CWA affiliate, do let me know.  I can then put you in touch with others including volunteer pilots in your area. Likewise, if you have recently received your CWA trishaw, do let me know, so we can promote you. We have held photo-calls for each of the Dublin launches, which generate good media and other responses, always building on the branding and profile of CWA.

Ordering your trishaw: All the specifications and details of the Trio Taxi Bike and the Christiania are on CWA; click on Order Bikes. Copenhagen Cycles can quote you up-to-date prices and delivery dates directly.

Pilot Training: I am currently offering pilot-training to those who have got trishaws in the greater Dublin area. An initial option is for me to train new pilots using our demo bike ‘Daisy’ in Blackrock, and then those pilots can train others when they get their own trishaws. We will need to train other pilot-trainers to cover the rest of Ireland. If you can help with this, please let me know.