Skip to content
  • Happy Health
  • Happy Mindset
  • Animal Wonders
  • About Us
    • Team
  • Subscribe
Menu
  • Happy Health
  • Happy Mindset
  • Animal Wonders
  • About Us
    • Team
  • Subscribe
Happy News

Fighting Loneliness With Free Bike Rides

John Seigel-Boettner, a 70 year old coordinator in Santa Barbara, rides a special three wheeled electric bicycle called a trishaw that has two extra seats upfront where elderly riders sit and enjoy the scenery while he pedals them around town. He’s part of Cycling Without Age, a movement that started in Copenhagen in 2012 when a Danish man named Ole Kassow borrowed a rickshaw and offered an elderly gentleman from a care home a ride, inspired by watching his own father become increasingly isolated after developing multiple sclerosis. The simple idea spread across the world and today the program spans more than 3,600 chapters and 50,000 volunteers in 41 countries including 25 U.S. states, all sharing five guiding principles of generosity, slowness, storytelling, relationships, and without age. Studies have shown that participants experience real improvements in mood and well being after rides, with one comprehensive study measuring a striking shift in life satisfaction that’s greater than that of the world’s happiest nations.

In Santa Barbara, Seigel-Boettner coordinates 60 volunteer pilots and 17 trishaws, with riders ranging from a five year old boy on a feeding tube who wanted to ride to school with his friends to 97 year old Elizabeth Wright who has been riding with him for many years and waves to her favorite street musician as they pass. The owner of Wright’s senior home asked to purchase a trishaw after seeing the first ride because it was the first time he ever saw some of the residents giggle and laugh. While the trishaws cost anywhere from 10,000 to 15,000 dollars each, Kassow points out that when you consider the impact of one trishaw and how much money people otherwise spend on elder care, it’s actually not a lot. For Seigel-Boettner, each ride is a chance to bridge the gap between older people and everyone else, and he says he comes back from each ride completely changed because society is missing that connection.

PrevPreviousFifth Jaguar Spotted In Arizona
NextThis Church Plans To Build And Help Those Without A HomeNext

Recent Articles

Happy News

Communities Across America Are Banning AI Data Centers And The Number Just Jumped From 8 To 78

May 10, 2026

According to the U.S. Data Center Moratorium Tracker, communities across the country have been pushing back against the rapid expansion of AI data centers with growing success, with the number of active bans and moratoriums jumping from just 8 in May 2025 to 78 today, including 50 active restrictions and

Read More
Happy News

An Alaska Animal Shelter Lets You Borrow A Dog For 48 Hours And It Is Leading To More Adoptions

May 10, 2026

The Anchorage Animal Care and Control shelter in Alaska launched a program in spring 2025 called Tails on Trails that has since become one of the most talked-about shelter initiatives in the country, pairing volunteers with a shelter dog for 48 hours and sending them out to explore the trails

Read More
Happy News

Scientists Gave Monkeys A Reward-Free Video Game And They Played Nearly 100 Rounds Anyway

May 10, 2026

Researchers at Kyoto University’s Institute for the Evolutionary Origins of Human Behavior set out to test whether curiosity in Japanese macaques follows the same pattern observed in humans, and what they found should resonate with anyone who has ever gone down a late-night internet rabbit hole for no practical reason

Read More
« Previous Next »
  • Privacy Notice
  • Accessibility Notice
  • Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
  • Unsubscribe
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Privacy Notice
  • Accessibility Notice
  • Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
  • Unsubscribe
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
Copyright © 2026 HappyNews.