Superpedestrian to prioritise employment for refugees over “gig workers”

A social enterprise company that supports people to get back into the workforce is partnering with micromobility operator Superpedestrian to offer shared e-scooter schemes in cities across Australia.

Good Cycles, a not-for-profit organisation that originally began as a mobile bike shop, has been providing entry-level employment opportunities for young people, refugees and those that have fallen on hard times since 2015. Placements include work in maintenance, cleaning, and repairs for predominantly e-bike, car share and e-cargo bike schemes.

“Good Cycles gives people a second go,” says Mitchell Price, Asia Pacific Regional Director at Superpedestrian (pictured above). “They train those people who’ve had a life a little bit harder than most and gives them the skills they need so that they can have meaningful employment.”

The partnership would see workers from Good Cycles repairing Superpedestrian e-scooters, moving e-scooters around a city, and being part of parking and COVID patrols.

“Superpedestrian could have gone down an alternative approach and paid gig economy workers and got a perfectly acceptable response but you don’t always get the quality output when you take that approach,” explains Gordon Oakley, Commercial Manager, Good Cycles.

Pedestrian and rider safety

Good Cycles, which has supported a number of safe riding and safe scootering trials for nearly 10 years, was also drawn to Superpedestrian for its focus on pedestrian and rider safety.

“From our perspective, safety is really important,” said Oakley. “But the fact that we’ve been asked, not just to move widgets around on the street but to really get involved at a strategic level, made the decision very easy.”

With many tenders in Australian cities including Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra up for renewal, plus Perth to open its first ever tender, the partnership couldn’t be timelier. Despite this, Price says it has taken many years to identify, build and align with strategic partners like Good Cycles.

“All the cities love Good Cycles,” says Price. “We know that most of these cities, have already used Good Cycles for some of their other projects. The fact that we’re working together builds trust, and emphasises that we are an authentic brand.”

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