Western Cape Premier Alan Winde set the wheels in motion Tuesday 16 June when he hopped on his bicycle and joined a crowd of bikers, including cycles adapted for special needs, to help create Hermanus as a safe environment for those who opt for non-motorised modes of transportation.

“Our cities have been built around cars, but that is going to change,” Winde told a varied and vibrant crowd gathered on the playground at the waterfront. “This amazing town of the future starts now.”

Winde was among around 200 participants in the Hermanus Community Ride & Run to help realise safer streets and promote greater mobility for people, especially children. The majority rode bicycles while others walked, ran, or rode bikes specially equipped for the handicapped the 6 km to the New Harbour and back. A shorter leg of the journey was available for physically challenged riders, small children and infants in strollers.

The initiative originally was launched by Laetitia Jansen van Vuuren, who is behind the push to create safe bicycle paths in Ward 3, together with the Overstrand Mobility Centre, a relatively new NGO. The project is comprised of several stages, the first of which focuses on providing inexpensive bicycles and the skills, safety instruction and paths to ride them. It works with the support of the Overstrand Department of Mobility, which had a table at the Waterfront providing brochures on road and bicycle safety for children.

Ruth Mackenzie, a Rotarian and one of five directors of the Overstrand Mobility Centre, said the NGO is working together with the Municipality to improve mobility, especially in children, and create awareness of using non-motorised transport in and around Hermanus.

The dream is to create safe bicycle paths so that children can ride their bikes to school and cyclists can move safely through the city. Winde has said in the past that he enjoys cycling to Hermanus until he reaches the traffic circle into town, where it becomes unsafe.

The first step is to provide inexpensive bicycles to use, rent or buy and the skills to ride them, Mackenzie said. Plans to build a Bicycle Hub for all cycling needs are underway at the Mount Pleasant Sports Field in Hermanus. The centre is based on the Langa Bicycle Hub at Langa township in Cape Town and will include sales of bicycles, equipment and hands-on learning. Members of the Rotary Club of Hermanus were on hand to help with organisation, registration and marshalling of riders as well as to ride.

Mackenzie brought and shared her passion for the project with the club, which has joined in with enthusiasm and dedication for the upliftment of the greater Hermanus community.