ORGANISATIONS in York have teamed up to provide two-wheeled help for jobseekers.

Future Prospects and The Bike Rescue Project have joined forces to help unemployed people attend interviews and new employment more easily.

The Bike Rescue Project has donated two fully refurbished bikes to Future Prospects so jobseekers working with a Future Prospects adviser can travel to interviews and work more easily.

The bicycles are offered on a short-term loan. This is to help new recruits on the first few transitional weeks at work while they are getting used to a different routine or trying out their new schedule and unfamiliar route to work, said Colette Gray, manager of Future Prospects.

She said: “We know that people sometimes struggle to take up vacancies on the outskirts of York when they have no private transport and we wanted to raise the profile of cycling as a solution to this.”

Mark Gell, director of the Bike Rescue Project York, said that cycling was an easy way to expand the distance possible to travel to a job and help people access workplaces that public transport doesn’t reach.

He said: “Cycling to work helps people manage their morning commitments like the school run, by having more flexibility and cutting the time it takes for them to reach their workplace.

“Even a novice cyclist will be cycling at an average of about 10mph – that’s five miles in 30 minutes.”

If the project is successful, Future Prospects can then support people to access an affordable loan, supported by York Credit Union or Bike Rescue Project’s buy back scheme, to purchase their own bike.

City of York Council is also offering group cycling proficiency sessions for people who are using Future Prospects’ services, to build up their confidence when riding a bike.