Bike Wise Month may be over, but it lives on in our hearts.
Happy Museum cyclists Carolina, Kane and Tom
We had a blast with it this year, largely due to Facilities Manager Tom Csima and our Responsible Operations (RO) team. They jumped on it as an opportunity to up our game, bike-wise.
Tom put together a survey for Museum employees asking how we get to work and what barriers keep us from biking to work. Based on those answers, the RO team is working on changes to make it easier and more appealing for us to bike in, including moving the employee bike racks to a more sheltered area.
A full employee bike rack on Go by Bike Day
Kane (one of our Collection Officers) and Tom offered staff free bike repair advice in our workshop Go By Bike Day (10 February). If you participated in the Go By Bike Day breakfast in the Octagon, you might have run into Tom!
Otago Museum Facilities Manager Tom Csima at Go by Bike Day breakfast in the Octagon
Andrew, our developer, and Annah, one of our designers, whipped up this amazing bike map of Dunedin. It shows bike routes to the Museum from all over town, plus approximate times (that actually take into account the hill factor), PLUS which buses take bikes. So helpful!
And now I can’t use the excuse of “but it will take me foreeeeeeever to bike to work” because Tom can now point to the map and tell me that it will take 22 minutes.
Bike map showing travel times to the Otago Museum from around Dunedin
We closed out the month by borrowing some bikes from Upcycles for our staff social to try out.
Having a quick hoon around the staff parking lot on a borrowed Upcycles bike
And did you know? We recently got visitor bike racks for the Reserve! There’s now a place for you to lock up your bike outside the Museum if you want to pedal on over for a visit.
It’s all a part of our push to be more environmentally friendly and accessible for visitors. I’ll leave you with an actual, unsolicited quote from Tom: “This combines two of my favourite things, Health and Safety and Sustainability!”
He speaks for us all.