National Ride to Work Day was marked at the museum with high staff participation, a celebratory breakfast, and an announcement about the museum's new bicycle fleet.
Transcript:
Narrator: It was Ride to Work Day on October 14th, and despite a drizzle of rain, Museum Victoria staff cycled in from all over Melbourne.
Anna McCallum: Not too wet!
Tim Murphy: I’ve got mudguards, there.
Bernard Caleo: ...and of course, there was a bit of a look at the sky, but Ride to Work Day really got me going, and we chanced it, which was so good, because often you think “ah no, looks like it’s going to rain, take the car,” and it doesn’t rain! And you feel like a heel. You feel like a bike riding heel. But today I feel like the whole shoe.
Mark Norman: Good turnout. Seventy-seven. Fantastic.
Narrator: This is nearly twenty more than last year, and is equal to an eighth of all museum staff. Upon arrival, participants were rewarded with a breakfast and tracked their journeys on a map. There was a mix of regular riders, newer cyclists and those returning to the saddle after a break.
Peter Lillywhite: I’ve been riding, on and off, for about thirty years to the museum.
Robin Wilson: I might need rescuing on the way home
Narrator: Maryanne McCubbin, official Ride to Work Day ambassador, loves her daily cycle to the museum.
Maryanne McCubbin: You’re outside so you can engage with your environment, unlike when you’re in a car and you sit there and you’re frustrated, and not generally a very happy person. When you’re on your bike you just don’t have that level of frustration.
Narrator: At the breakfast, she announced the museum’s new bicycle fleet.
Its aim is to reduce the use of cars and taxis by staff travelling between the museum’s four sites. The initial purchase of five bikes will test the idea, which is an initiative of the Climate Change Committee.
Maryanne McCubbin: …and it will be really interesting to see how much use it gets and whether staff take it up. But it’s a really innovative idea and good on the museum for giving it a go.
Mark Norman: The Climate Change Committee is very keen to support both the bicycle fleet proposal and the National Ride to Work Day. Now, it seems like a small event, you know, like Earth Hour, this one hour, or bicycle day is just one day. But it actually represents a lot more. If we get a large number of staff engaged, it sends a very strong message to the museum staff and senior management that we care about what’s happening with the environment, we’re trying to reduce our impact, we’d like the institution to support things like storage facilities and shower facilities, and locking areas, and sort of raise the involvement of staff in how they get to and from work. Because it’s an enormous amount of energy spent to drive a car through peak-hour traffic to park in the car park, when people often get to work quicker by riding a bike along a safe bike trail somewhere.
Narrator: Of course, there are other benefits to cycling too.
Maryanne McCubbin: You need to do a bit of maintenance occasionally but apart from that it costs absolutely nothing. So, if you’re a very disciplined person you can put the money you would save riding a bike towards a big flash holiday.
Robin Wilson: Just get out there and pedal!