TIME

In the developing world, where autos rarely exist, a commuting day of 10 miles traveled on foot takes 4 hours; the same trip by bicycle takes 1 hour. .....Imagine what can be done with 3 extra hours of time.*

Additionally, the average person can walk 2.5 miles in 1 hour – this equals access to an area of approximately 20 square miles. By bicycle, that same area would be equivalent to 310 square miles.*

CAPACITY

Riding a bicycle increases one's carrying capacity by 5 times. Heavier loads can be transported much easier with a bike than when walking.*

DISTANCE

Over equal units of time, one can ride a bicycle 4 times the distance as one walking.*

EFFORT

As time increases, effort to travel increases. Riding a bicycle requires less effort, allowing one to travel farther in less time.*

*Data supplied by World Bicycle Relief

How a Bike Can Change Your World

The bicycle is a simple sustainable form of mobility that can multiply a person's efforts and efficiencies in so many ways. The bicycle offers a low-investment, low-maintenance, emission-free means of transportation to communities working to break free from poverty. Project Rwanda is working to improve the economic development of Rwanda with the bicycle as a tool of empowerment and as a symbol of hope.

The ability to transport goods like coffee cherries and water is critical to the livelihood and economic development of Rwanda. Jay Ritchey, project manager for Texas A&M's SPREAD program, explains how the coffee cooperatives work:

"There is a washing station hub in the middle of thousands of small-holder coffee farmers. Some farmers live 5 or even 10 kilometers away from the washing stations and they need to get their picked coffee from their little farm to the washing station (where they process the coffee) as soon as possible, within hours preferably. Now imagine thousands of people trying to do this at once, along these muddy steep roads in the middle of the rainy season. The cooperative can only afford a few trucks to assist these farmers. These trucks can cost upwards of $1,900 USD a month, and that comes out of the farmer’s pockets.... In addition, every hour that passes of the coffee cherries not being processed the worse their quality becomes."

Project Rwanda's Coffee Bike program offers Rwandan cooperatives a solution to their transportation issues. Rather than expensive, seasonal and inefficient trucks, individual farmers will be able to privately own a bicycle. A bicycle will help decrease the transportation time of the coffee cherries from 6-12 hours down to 2-4 hours, translating into an increased premium price of $0.15 to $0.20 per pound.