Children take a tour to encourage cycling

YOUNG cyclists took to the capital’s streets with their colourful bicycles as part of an educational initiative to encourage cycling.

Infants at the Atmosfer Education Centre were surprised as Lefkoşa Mayor Mehmet Harmancı joined them with one of the municipality’s Velespeed rental bikes for a tour around Kermiya.

The 60 children were under the protection of Lefkoşa municipal traffic wardens, who closed off traffic so the children could ride safely on the roads.

Atmosfer Education Centre director Seren Tunalı Başkut told Cyprus Today: “The children were so happy to see the mayor arrive with his bike.”

“They said, ‘Look, he’s riding his bike too.’ We contacted the municipality to rent their bikes for our teachers, and thankfully Mr Harmancı did not turn down our invitation for him to take part also.”

Cyprus Today reported that Lefkoşa Turkish Municipality launched Velespeed — a 1.5 million-euro bike hire scheme — in May. Similar to systems in London and Paris, bikes are available at 43 docking stations across the capital, which can be found on the CycleFinder mobile phone app.

Mrs Başkut — a child psychologist — who runs the centre with her husband, said this was their second cycling event as part of their summer school, after a successful first in 2017, and they want to make it an annual activity. They aim to get sponsors on board for a bigger organisation next year.

“Our aim is to instil in children the cycling culture that is present in European countries. In Europe, children start cycling from primary school age, riding to school and back. Why shouldn’t we have this? Raising cultured, innovative, and courageous children is in our hands,” she said.

Mrs Başkut added: “We want to thank Mayor Mehmet Harmancı and the Lefkoşa Turkish Municipality traffic wardens for their support and interest in this activity.”