Share
The trishaws which once plied the streets of Singapore as one of the key forms of transport have almost disappeared entirely from the island nation’s streetscape. However, in recent years, new age trishaws can be spotted ferrying seniors through strategic locations such as Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. This is the work of Cycling Without Age Singapore (CWAS), a registered charity that is using trishaws as an intervention tool to engage and empower the seniors in Singapore to age actively.
Cycling Without Age is a movement that started in 2012 in Denmark. Its founder Ole Kassow had wanted to help seniors get back on their bicycles, but they were hampered by their limited mobility. He found the trishaw to be the perfect solution for the offering of free rides to the local nursing home residents, and the movement took off from there.
In 2016, Cycling Without Age opened its first Asia chapter in Singapore. Since then, CWAS has grown from strength to strength with a total of 11 trishaws currently deployed around the island, ready to be operated by its pool of 1,000 volunteers to ferry seniors on trishaw rides. Over the years, the agency has been partnering more than 70 social service agencies to engage more than 24,000 seniors through their programmes.
This year, CWAS has embarked on a new project – Active Generations, with a supportive new partner in the form of Link Together Initiatives. As one of the nine community projects being supported under Link’s flagship charity and community engagement programme and its first project in Singapore, CWAS has used the funding to purchase four new trishaws to run its programmes in the Pioneer precinct, where one of Link’s malls - Jurong Point - is located.
Deepening its collaboration with the Pioneer Residents’ Network, as well as Active Ageing Centres run by social enterprises or charities such as NTUC Health and Thye Hua Kwan Moral Charities respectively, CWAS aims to attract more senior volunteers to drive its “seniors-for-seniors” approach. Active seniors are undergoing training to learn how to be trishaw pilots to ferry elderly beneficiaries from Jurong Point to Jurong Central Park.
78-year-old Bernadette Lee, one of the volunteers who had signed up via NTUC Health Active Ageing Centre (Pioneer), had this to say about her first try at riding a trishaw: “It was an interesting experience, and it took me few tries before I got the hang of it.”
Madam Lee had nothing to worry about, as she was in the good hands of the CWAS trainers Jerome and Gavin who patiently took the time to introduce the volunteers to the workings of the electric trishaw, before letting each of them take over the riding.
To commemorate this milestone, Link held a launch event at Jurong Point in early November, with Adviser to Pioneer Grassroots Organisations, Patrick Tay officiating the flag-off as four trishaws brought elderly beneficiaries on a 15-minute ride in the mall. Beaming seniors waved to shoppers as the security led the entourage through level one of the mall. This special arrangement was made to allow the seniors to have a taste of the Active Generations Project, which will kick-off its regular weekly programme in December.
At the event, Mr Tay spoke about how heartened he was to see the partnership between the public and private sectors, to serve the community, and encouraged more active seniors to come forward as volunteers.
“We are delighted to have this opportunity to forge deeper connections with the community here in Singapore. This collaboration with CWAS will further strengthen Jurong Point’s role as a social hub, where members of the community come together to interact,” shared Annie Lee, Managing Director, Commercial (Singapore), in her welcome address at the event.
Besides the trishaw rides, the seniors also attended a hanging coconut shell planter workshop where they impressed the instructors with their nifty fingers. Seniors can look forward to more of such horticulture workshops that will be included in CWAS’s programmes at Jurong Point.
One of the 30 seniors who was present at the event was Lim Ah Moy (above), who enjoyed the trishaw ride so much she wanted to go on a second round. Madam Lim, who usually travels about with the aid of a walking stick, found the trishaw ride a good option for seniors like her, who could not walk for long distances.
As Aaron Yeoh, Chief Executive Officer of CWAS puts it, “CWAS is the sole social service agency offering recreational trishaw rides to seniors since 2017. With Link’s support this year, we are now able to extend this initiative to the Pioneer zone and beyond to empower more seniors to live their best lives.”
The success of the launch event has kicked the Active Generations project off to a roaring start, with more seniors indicating their interest in signing up as volunteers. With a ready pool of trishaw pilots and the impending arrival of the new trishaws, CWAS is well-positioned to serve the elderly residents in the precinct and beyond.
Having extended its outreach efforts to Active Ageing Centres as well as other NGOs like Dementia Singapore, CWAS targets to engage more than 1,500 beneficiaries from the entire Jurong West precinct through its regular trishaw rides and various workshops at Jurong Point during the year-long project.
Moving forward, CWAS hopes to expand its programmes at Jurong Point to create more opportunities in the form of bicycle repair clinics or bicycle coaching for children so that seniors can rediscover their interests and even build multi-generational bonds. Link’s partnership with CWAS will continue to pave the way towards multiplying the positive impact on not just the seniors, but everyone in the community at large.
