BIKESHARE SYSTEM PROVIDED FOR CIVIL SERVANTS

The Ministry of Commerce, Planning and Infrastructure has partnered with Cycle Cayman to pro-vide five bicycles for use by civil servants as part of a free 3 month trial BikeShare programme, which will run November 1 to January 31.

The BikeShare programme forms part of Energy Cayman, the Ministry’s twelve month campaign to embed energy efficiency into the Cayman community.

The five bicycles will be available at the Government Administration Building staff entrance for civil servants to utilise during the initial trial. Six docks will be provided to accommodate an additional bicycle which may be ridden from one of the other Cycle Cayman locations.

Civil servants can sign up on the Cycle Cayman app using their government email address to unlock the bikes and will also be able to use any of the bikes provided by Cycle Cayman around the island.

Minister of Commerce, Planning and Infrastructure, Hon. Joseph Hew said, “Following the success of ‘Car Free Day’ in 2019, which included the use Cycle Cayman bicycles, we decided to make their bikes available for a longer period of time to encourage alternative transportation, particularly amongst civil servants.

“The National Energy Policy (NEP) encourages the use of non-fossil burning vehicles as an alterna-tive mode of transportation. One of the strategies of the NEP is to encourage encouraging cycling as an alternative mode of transportation by creating bike friendly amenities where practical and to assess the public’s inclination to use them,” he said.

Energy Policy Coordinator Kristen Augustine stated, “We applaud Cycle Cayman for taking the in-novative step of creating an automated BikeShare system in Cayman and we look forward to our partnership with them by providing bikes at the Government Administration Building. We believe the BikeShare system will provide convenient, easy access for those who can use a bike for a quick trip within George Town for a meeting or to run an errand.

“We are working with the George Town Manager to determine additional locations to place bikes in George Town. We also want to encourage other businesses to consider providing free access to the Cycle Cayman BikeShare system for their staff,” she said.

The Ministry will be launching a George Town Shuttle ‘Park and Ride’ project in the near future which will work in conjunction with the BikeShare system as people will be able to take a bus to George Town and have bikes available for short trips during the day.

Cycle Cayman is an automated BikeShare system with locations at Camana Bay, at the Regatta Business Park and by the George Town Craft Market. Bikes can be taken from docks at any of its five solar powered stations and returned to any other of its stations in the system. Members of the public can also use the bikes by signing up and creating a paid account via the Cycle Cayman app.

The Ministry’s Energy Cayman initiative is to promote energy efficiency and conservation methods to residents and businesses in the Cayman Islands, while encouraging a sustainable lifestyle through responsible and innovative energy supply and consumption. It has been launched to meet the goals in the Government’s National Energy Policy which includes 70% of electricity generation from renewable sources by 2037.

For further information on the National Energy Policy, visit www.energy.gov.ky or follow @EnergyCayman on Facebook.