High School Bike Projects

5. Understand – Why are students not
already biking?
Now that you have a team and know the state of biking at your school, the next step is to find
out WHY people are not ALREADY on their bikes. People have reasons for the choices they
make. Sometimes these reasons are based on fears, lack of knowledge or misinformation.
The key to getting people to start thinking about biking is to:
1. Find out what’s stopping them from biking right now (barriers),
2. Find out what they see as positive outcomes of biking (benefits), and
3. Plan strategies to address those barriers while emphasizing those benefits. 10
Steps to follow
Ask your school: What are the biggest benefits and barriers to biking?
Set up discussion groups in two to four classes, from at least two different grades, led by
the classroom teacher or student leaders. We recommend three discussions (about 20
minutes each), held either back to back or on different days. At the end, give the notes to the
leadership team. 11
Discussion #1 – students brainstorm answers to the following questions (record answers
on cue cards or sticky notes, one answer per card):
1. Do you currently bike to school? If not, why?
2. What would make you or your friends want to bike to school?
3. What are the possible benefits to you or your friends if you biked to school?
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The Ten Step Handbook for High School Bike Projects