DAHON Green Award for AGFS e.V. in NRW and San Francisco Bicycle Coalition

Friedrichshafen, Germany, 28 August 2014. – At Eurobike, the leading trade show for the bicycle industry, held in Friedrichshafen, DAHON, the global market leader in folding bikes, presented the winning recipients with its “Green Award” for environmentally friendly mobility. During a press conference at the company’s trade stand, Dr. David HON, President, DAHON North America, announced the winners of the award (worth more than EUR 10,000) and presented the cheques and other prizes.

Two projects shared the main prize of USD 14,000 taking home USD 7,000 each (around EUR 5,300).
One of the winners of the main prize was the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (www.sfbike.org), one of the oldest bicycle lobby organisations in America, whose mission from the beginning of the 1970s has been to provide bike advocacy to cyclist in order to enhance the quality of everyday life in San Francisco.  The SFBC has shown dedication to making travelling in the city safer with the continued work to create bike and green lanes.

The second main prize went to Germany. The award went to the “Arbeitsgemeinschaft fußgänger- und fahrradfreundlicher Städte, Gemeinden und Kreise in Nordrhein-Westfalen e.V.” (The Association for Pedestrian and Bicycle-friendly Cities, Townships and Districts in North Rhine Westphalia), also known under the acronym AGFS. For years now, the AGFS (www.agfs-nrw.de) has been lobbying for increased bicycle and pedestrian transport and is a well-known and respected point of consultation (including outside of its home state of North Rhine Westphalia) when it comes to planning traffic in a way which promotes the environment and helps people stay active. AFGS chair Christine Fuchs received the award on behalf of the association.
“I’m pleased we have been able to impress the jury with our concept of sustainable and healthy mobility capable of meeting future needs and challenges, in which travelling by bike or on foot has a prominent place as a basic means of getting about. This tells me that we are on the right road – a road along which however we still have a long way to go. Being honoured with the DAHON Green Award is a very important sign not just to the outside world, but also to those of us who share in this vision, and it will help us succeed in completing our journey.”

The second and third prizes, each in the form of a DAHON folding bike, went to Belgium. The GBS Huizingen primary school from Breesel was successful with a project which convincingly demonstrated new “multi-modal mobility”. The headmaster of the school, which is located near a railway station, had the idea of acquiring 15 folding bikes which children can use for getting to and from school as well as in their free time and which they can take with them on the train. The third prize went to a project called “ESCape on a cycling bus!”, which involves two schools in the Brussels area. As part of their pilot project, the idea was to use a “bicycle bus” – in other words an accompanied group of cyclists with set pick-up points and departure times – aimed at ensuring children have a safe, environmentally friendly and healthy school run.
The “Green Award” is part of the DAHON “Turn a New Leaf” campaign, which awards initiatives worldwide which are designed to help eradicate CO2 in road traffic. Individuals, groups, companies and associations, as well as municipal and local authorities, were able to enter for the award with projects and initiatives they already had up and running. “We have had some fantastic feedback and lots of applications from across the world,” says DAHON founder and CEO Dr. David HON. “We are really pleased that our initiative has allowed us, as a responsible and environmentally aware company, to do our bit to change mobility behaviour.”

Equally pleased with the result is Stephanie Panne, Manager of Marketing and Communication at Berlin-based BBF Bike GmbH, which together with ZEG is an important distribution partner for DAHON in Europe. “Folding bikes are an ideal solution within modern multi-modal mobility, which no longer focuses primarily on the car to the exclusion of all else. That’s why we foresee strong market development in the future in this area. Particularly in Europe.”
About the AGFS

The AGFS (The Association for Pedestrian and Bicycle-friendly Cities, Townships and Districts in North Rhine Westphalia) lobbies for and promotes better active short-trip mobility (known as “Nahmobilität” in German). To be “nahmobil” involves engaging in physically active, independent personal mobility: on foot, by bike, by pedelec or using some other type of activity-promoting transport. The common aim of its members is to create cities and towns which are alive, liveable and sustainable. They should have living and open spaces in which people can move freely and where they will actually enjoy spending time. Spaces which invite individuals to engage in healthy movement and where physical activity is once more fun to engage in.

About DAHON

With its introduction in 1982 of the DAHON folding bike – the prototype of most of the modern folding bikes of our times – DAHON unleashed a folding bike revolution. Today DAHON is acknowledged across the world as the folding bike brand leader. Since then and for three decades now, DAHON has followed a path of innovation and continuous technological refinement in creating high-performing quality bikes for people who combine an active lifestyle with environmental awareness. Based in California, USA, DAHON has offices, production plants and agreements with assembly plants and distribution partners throughout the world.
You can find more information on DAHON products at www.dahon.com