TELEMATICS and Transaid charity endeavour combine for the four members of the telematics and transport management solutions provider Microlise team for Cycle South Africa.
Organised by international development charity Transaid, the event will see a team of 40 riders from across the industry come together in March 2017 to complete a 450km route over just five days and raise money that will fund Transaid projects across the developing world.
Microlise announced it was becoming a corporate member of Transaid at the Microlise Transport Conference in 2015. Since then, Microlise has worked with Transaid to utilise telematics as part of projects run by the charity, such as a bicycle ambulance initiative in Zambia which takes pregnant women to medical facilities.
Another type of project that will benefit in future is that of driver training programmes, which seek to improve the standards of HGV drivers in a number of African countries, where fatalities and injuries related to road traffic incidents are extremely high.
Microlise telematics technology will be used to track the Cycle South Africa team during the event, allowing supporters to keep tabs on the progress made by the team as it travels the 450km route.
“Microlise has been using its expertise in vehicle tracking to support Transaid’s efforts to better monitor and evaluate its programmes,” commented Gary Forster, CEO of Transaid.
“In Tanzania this is taking the form of tracking units for training vehicles to measure the safe and fuel efficient driving of trainers and trainee drivers alike, while In Zambia we are exploring the use of tracking devices on bicycle ambulances to better understand the distances they cover, gather accurate data in real time and trial this as a pilot for potential scale up on other programmes.”
“Those of us back in the UK will track the Cycle South Africa team closely as they embark on this difficult challenge, which we hope will raise significant funds to allow us to continue our vital work in the developing world.”
The Microlise team of four individuals are from across the business and include head of marketing Jonathan Dolby, products portfolio manager Mike Lockwood, field service engineer Mark Young, and Jennifer Walton, a business analyst and Microlise’s Transaid ambassador.
Jennifer said: “Cycle South Africa will certainly be a tough challenge for the four of us, as well as the rest of the riders in the group. But we’re up for the challenge and committed to raising a healthy sum for Transaid, which does such great work improving standards and developing transport infrastructure where it is most needed.”
To sponsor the Microlise team, click here.
