Welcome to our friendly community!
Because walking and cycling is the natural way to get around our beautiful city.
Our impact
York Bike Belles has been working in York since 2014 and has directly engaged with many thousands of people in that time. In a 2015 survey, 75% of respondents said contact with us encouraged them to increase their cycling levels. In a 2018 survey of cake confidence participants, 92% started cycling or cycled more often after our support.
Our vision
Our vision is that everyday walking and cycling becomes the natural choice of transport across York, so that everyone can enjoy better health, well being and quality of life.
We are an independent, volunteer-led community organisation, with an inclusive ethos. We offer a core, regular programme of cycling and walking support activities, all free of charge to the community. We have committed to continue our most popular activities on a volunteer basis to ensure the sustainability of essential cycling support in York, regardless of the external funding environment.
Our team
We are led by a management committee of local women and men passionate about increasing everyday walking and cycling in York.
We have a core delivery team who are trained in ride and walk leading, bike mechanics, first aid, and are all DBS-checked. Our work is people-centred and responsive to need. We pride ourselves in making all our activities safe, sociable, supportive and, above all, fun!
Our work
We have a focus on everyday walking and cycling, encouraging those new to cycling and supporting people to walk and cycle for transport and to become car lite or even car free! We target York groups and communities currently under-represented in walking and cycling, such as women, parents of young children, older adults, those with low physical or emotional well being and lower income communities.
Our work has been recognised nationally – York Bike Belles #travelwithtots won a national award in 2016 for Excellence in Cycling from Modeshift; we gave a presentation on good practice in women and cycling at the House of Commons in 2017 to the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group (APPCG); we feature in the national Zero Carbon Britain report of 2018; and we were selected by the Eden Project to feature in their 2019 Earth Story programme as a “project of the future”.
We work strategically across York. We pursue a culture of constructive cooperation and positive advocacy towards making York a better place for walking and cycling, a #cityforpeople. We are an integral part of York’s community, working with multiple community partners, businesses, education and City of York Council. We are part of the leadership team for the exciting city-wide One Planet York movement – working to make York a more sustainable, resilient and collaborative city.
We are always looking for volunteer champions to help with our work, so do email yorkbikebelles@gmail if you are interested in being part of our friendly team.
