Get active and be rewarded during Bike Week

Cyclists are being given the chance to win a top-of-the-range electric bike just by getting more active.

It is one of the incentives on offer during Bike Week which runs from June 9-15.

Other rewards can be earned for walking, wheeling and using public transport.

The HItravel BetterPoints app, launched in April and funded by regional transport partnership HITRANS, allows everyone who lives, works or studies in Highland, Argyll and Bute, Moray, Orkney and the Western Isles to win awards for greener and healthier journeys.

Healthy choices earn BetterPoints which can be spent at local businesses, donated to charity or be redeemed for many household-name brands.

Find out more here.

During Bike Week all journeys taken on a bicycle and recorded on the HItravel BetterPoints app will be entered into a prize draw.

There is a chance to win an e-bike made by leading manufacturer Batribike and worth £750 while another two winners can collect £50 in BetterPoints.

Regular cyclists can earn £5 in BetterPoints in a daily draw for £5, while just giving cycling a try can be rewarded, with every bike trip during the week earning a ticket into the draw for 25,000 BetterPoints (£25), with two winners guaranteed.

On top of that, if you walk, wheel, cycle or take public transport for any of your journeys you will be entered into a Bike Week prize draw to win one of 10 free monthly HI-BIKE passes to use the public e-bike service across Inverness or Fort William.

HI-BIKE is an on-street e-bike share scheme offering 90 bikes which can be accessed via an app with 24/7 access. Anyone over 16 can become a member.

Currently, there are 13 docking stations around Inverness and 12 in Fort William serving workplaces, transport hubs and residential areas.

Sheena Corcoran, smart travel choices promotion and marketing officer with HITRANS, said: “Cycling is a healthy and cost-effective way to travel for short local journeys.

“During Bike Week the HItravel BetterPoints app will reward and incentivise cycling trips making this the ideal time to download the app and get cycling to the shops, park, school or work while the days are longer and weather is fairer.”

So far, 589 users have signed up to the app. Collectively, they have cycled 20,000 miles and walked and wheeled 62,000 miles and taken public transport for 128,000 miles.

In doing so, they have completed more than 90,000 sustainable journeys, avoided 45 tonnes of CO2 and burnt over 7.5 million calories.

In 2023, more than 17% of all journeys in Scotland were under 1km and a further 25% between 1-3km.

These shorter trips offer a real opportunity for a significant shift to active travel, such as cycling, to reduce air pollution and congestion in towns and cities.

In 2022-23, car traffic increased by 11% and over a third of the population drove every day in Scotland.

Also in 2022, the highest level of licensed motor vehicles in the country was recorded at 3.1 million.

Meanwhile, the 2023 Scottish Health Survey reported that almost a third of adults (32%) were living with obesity.

Census 2022 figures used in HITRANS’ Active Travel and Sustainable Transport Behaviour Change Strategy also showed 45% of households across Scotland have access to one or more bikes for private use.

Numbers vary across the Highlands and Islands – Moray (59%), Highland (58%), Argyll and Bute (52%), Orkney (50%) and Western Isles (42%)

But according to the 2022 Census, the number of people cycling to work was 0.5% (Western Isles), 2.3% (Highland), 1.2% (Argyll and Bute), 1.4% (Orkney) and 1.8% (Moray), compared to 1.4% across Scotland.

Numbers walking to work were 4.8% (Western Isles), 8.8% (Highland), 10.1% (Argyll and Bute), 11% (Orkney) and 8.8% (Moray), compared to the Scottish average of 7.3%.

At the same time, 5.7% of people across Scotland took a bus to work, compared to 2.3% in the Western Isles, 2.2% in Highland, 2% in Argyll and Bute and Moray and 1.3% in Orkney.