Whanganui encouraged to bike or bus to the beach this weekend

People in Whanganui will be able to take part in a eight-kilometre ride from the town bridge to Castlecliff Beach in an event organised by The Eco School. Photo / Bevan Conley

Whanganui families are being encouraged to get out and about this Saturday for a free event to promote sustainable living.

The event, called Bike (or Bus) to the Beach, is being put on by The Eco School and is being held on Saturday, January 7.

People will either go on an eight-kilometre bike ride from the Whanganui town bridge to Castlecliff Beach, or take the bus from Trafalgar Square to the beach for a day in the sand.

Co-director of The Eco School, Nelson Lebo, said the purpose of the event was to encourage people to take up active and public transport.

The school got funding for the program from Horizons Regional Council’s climate response fund.

Part of promoting sustainable family lifestyles was normalising using public transport and active transport, which was the purpose of this event, Lebo said.

It was also about encouraging people to value the journey to places as well as the destination, which he said was the unique bonus of cycling.

“When you’re in a car, it’s just transportation, but when you’re on a bicycle with family [...] it’s not just [about] the beach, it’s the journey and the beach.

“We really want to take a mundane activity like going to the beach and say, ‘Hey, let’s make it more than that’,” he said.

In doing this, he said parents could serve as role models to kids to use cycling and active transportation more frequently.

“We’re acting as role models, so that it’s not just that you only ride your bike to school because mum and dad have gone to work, or you put the bikes on the car to drive to the mountain bike park and then go biking.”

He was unsure what the turnout for the event would be like, as rain was forecast for Saturday, but said the event would go ahead as a way to show people more sustainable ways of living.

“If we don’t offer opportunities for families to embrace more sustainable lifestyles, then there’s less of a likelihood that families will embrace sustainable lifestyles,” he said.

People looking to cycle to the beach will meet at the town bridge at 11am on Saturday, with the first bus departing from Trafalgar Square at 11.45am.

Full bus timetables are available on the Horizons website.

The school was planning similar events for the future, such as one at the Saturday markets focused on educating people on how to live a zero-waste lifestyle.