CycleOn - bike safety & vitality for elderly

Cycling is an important means of transportation in the Netherlands, especially for the elderly. It keeps them healthy and  contributes to social inclusion. On the other hand, accident data shows that elderly are at high risk on their bicycles. To improve their safety, the Dutch national government developed the program CycleOn (Doortrappen in Dutch).

The program motivates elderly cyclists to live a healthy life and continue taking pleasure in cycling, whilst emphasising safety measures. The CylceOn program collaborates with representatives of local social networks. It also connects interventions that promote safety to activities such as sports activities and even bridge drives.

The local social networks are crucial to the success of CycleOn. Local partners are motivated by a local coordinator and by organisations which are active in more than one municipality. Regionally the municipalities are enlisted and the local coordinators are supported in their actions concerning CycleOn, for example through the subsidisation of interventions. Nationally, a digital platform has been developed which is accessible for the elderly, for the local partners and for the regional and local coordinators as well. Interventions and communication tools with the look and feel of CycleOn can be uploaded and downloaded.