Highlanders get opportunity to win e-bike by choosing greener ways to travel
Cyclists across the Highlands and Moray have an opportunity to win a top-of-the-range electric bike — simply by choosing greener ways to travel.
As part of Bike Week, which runs from 9–15 June, active travellers can earn rewards for walking, wheeling, cycling, or taking public transport — with some prizes up for grabs.
The campaign is being driven through the HItravel BetterPoints app, launched last month by regional transport partnership HITRANS.
The app, available to anyone who lives, works or studies in Highland, Argyll and Bute, Moray, Orkney and the Western Isles, allows users to collect points for making more sustainable travel choices.
These BetterPoints can then be spent in local shops, donated to charity or redeemed for popular retail vouchers — making every healthy journey count.
During Bike Week, every cycling journey logged in the HItravel BetterPoints app will be entered into a prize draw. The grand prize? A £750 e-bike from manufacturer Batribike.
Two additional winners will also scoop £50 in BetterPoints, while daily draws throughout the week offer regular riders the chance to pocket £5 in BetterPoints.
There’s more: any journey made by walking, wheeling, cycling or public transport during Bike Week automatically enters users into a draw to win one of 10 monthly HI-BIKE passes.
HI-BIKE, the public e-bike share service operating in Inverness and Fort William, gives users 24/7 access to 90 electric bikes across 25 docking stations in both cities.
Sheena Corcoran, Smart Travel Choices promotion and marketing officer at HITRANS, says there’s never been a better time to start cycling:
“Cycling is a healthy and cost-effective way to travel for short local journeys.
“During Bike Week, the HItravel BetterPoints app will reward and incentivise cycling trips, making this the ideal time to download the app and get cycling to the shops, park, school or work while the days are longer and weather is fairer.”
Since the app’s launch, 589 users have already signed up, recording over 90,000 sustainable journeys.
Collectively, they’ve cycled 20,000 miles, walked or wheeled 62,000 miles, and used public transport for 128,000 miles — avoiding an estimated 45 tonnes of CO₂ and burning over 7.5 million calories in the process.
According to Scotland’s 2022 Census, 45 per cent of households own at least one bike — but usage varies widely across the region.
In Moray 59 per cent have bike access with 1.8 per cent cycling to work. In Highland 58 per cent have bike access with 2.3 per cent cycling to work.
