New trishaw arrives thanks to generous donors

CYCLING Without Age (CWA) Bendigo has celebrated the arrival of its first fully owned trishaw after making use of a loan vehicle since the chapter’s establishment in April last year.

The global, volunteer-led movement that originated in Copenhagen offers older community members with limited mobility free bike rides, in Bendigo’s case around Lake Weerona, for example.

CWA is active in over 40 countries with more than 2500 chapters worldwide.

A group of generous local donors helped raise the $22,000 for its purchase, which was shipped to Australia from Denmark and is considered to be more durable than previous models.

Chapter chair Pam Erny said her group had originally planned to spend around $10,000 to buy their own secondhand version.

“That was our initial aim as obviously we started off with nothing,” she said.

“But because we had that (vehicle) going around the lake and people were able to see what we were doing, we were able to get businesses and local organisations on board.”

Ms Erny added that while the group currently has enough volunteer pilots to meet demand, this won’t be the case going forward.

“The more we get it out in the community, the more people know about it, the more aged care facilities will want to get involved, therefore the more pilots we’ll need,” she said.

“Eventually we’ll probably need to get another trishaw as well, but at the moment one is enough.

“(After all) they’re not cheap – you can buy a car for the same price.”

If you’re interested in becoming a volunteer trishaw pilot, which involves three mandatory training sessions to get started, email [email protected].