Promoting cycling

 

Promoting cycling and how it can contribute to mobility management


Cycling is one of the most efficient ways to travel distances up to 8km. In the context of site based mobility management, cycling can involve a variety of measures including:

 

  • Providing facilities such as secure cycling parking, lockers and showers to make it easier for employees to commute by bicycle;
  • Subscribing to a public bike hire scheme to enable employees to use bikes during the working day;
  • Providing free of charge cycle maintenance and cycle training;
  • Providing pool bikes to enable employees to cycle for work trips during the day;
  • Providing low cost financial loans or lease scheme to help employees buy a new bicycle;
  • Establishing a cycle miles or points scheme to reward cycling to work;
  • Paying a cycle mileage rate for journeys made for work purposes.

 

Cycling can also be part of an overall package of measures to reduce car trips. For example, it can make the links from home to station and from station to workplace. OPTIMUM² sites that have implemented various kinds of cycling initiatives include:

 

Edinburgh Business Areas and Hospitals 

Lancashire Hospitals

Royal Devon and Exeter Hospitals

Gelre Hospitals

Goudse Poort Business Park

Ede Business Area

Southwark Business Areas

 

 

 

 

When should you consider cycling?

 

Cycling measures could be usefully implemented at your site if:

 

  • There are sufficient number of your employees / visitors who live within an 8km radius or your site is within 5km of a rail station;
  • You have some space available for cycle parking (or could adapt space from another purpose);
  • Access to your site and the surrounding area is considered safe for cycling (but see below for steps you can take if you think this is not the case).

 

Promoting cycling to and from your site or area is most effective when measures are also being taken by the relevant local authority. However, dedicated cycling lanes are not necessarily required to increase cycling trips.

 

 

What can cycling achieve?

 

Cycling has a number of benefits including:

 

  • Reducing car use and the resulting congestion;
  • Cycling can provide a door to door alternative to short car trips, as well as short trips made by taxi's;
  • Reducing overcrowding on peak time public transport services. In urban areas where capacity on public transport may be severely reduced at peak times, cycling can be an alternative commuting mode, even if only used for some of the time;
  • Reducing CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions (so reducing your organisation’s carbon footprint). When just considering cycle journeys, cycling is a zero carbon activity, with no fuel requirements. It can therefore be part of an overall strategy to reduce CO2 organisation wide;
  • Providing a low cost form of physical activity. As a moderate form of exercise and if carried out at least 5 times a week for 30 minutes, cycling has been proven to help prevent chronic health conditions such as coronary heart disease, strokes and type 2 diabetes triggered by obesity. It can easily be made part of the working day and not dependent on health club membership or sporting equipment';
  • Saving money through reduced employee absence from work. Research has shown the cyclists enjoy better health and therefore take less time off work due to illness. In England, a recent report calculated that this might equal a saving of £47.68 per adult cyclist per year (Macdonald 2007).

 

From the employee point of view numerous reasons for biking can be named. Click here, for a list of 40 reasons to bike to draw from for promotion material.

 


How do I implement cycle promotion measures and what will it cost me?


Different cycling measures require different implementation strategies. Those tested by OPTIMUM² are set out below, with links to further information where appropriate.

 

Parking & other facilities
Simple cycle parking solutions such as those used in Southwark and Hilversum Media Park can be installed on public or private land. Check if there is some specific guidance for your area on how best to locate these, see for instance the Cycle Parking Guide by Transport for Londen. 
Average cost for installation: £100 (€150) per stand. Royal Devon and Exeter Hospitals installed secure cycle parking sheds. These were place near the main entrance to the hospital and other visible locations. Lancashire Teaching Hospitals installed cycle parking bins or lockers in key locations on their site.

 

Bike hire systems
There are number of different bike hire systems available with different cost implications. These enable short term hire either free of charge or at a very reduced cost. Access to the system can be via a mobility card such as in the case of Goudse Poort or the Dutch national OV Fiets system used in the Ede business park. A review of 20 bikehire systems available throughout Europe was carried out for the Goudse Poort and Ede sites in 2005. Click here for the detailed report or here for an outline.

There are also a number of city wide schemes. Examples include the Velib’ in Paris and  Bicing in Barcelona. Since then, more city wide schemes have been introduced.

 

Pool bikes
Having a number of bicycles available for use by employees during the working day can be an effective way to reduce public transport or taxi costs. Setting up a pool bike scheme requires thinking about insurance, safety and booking systems. The Southwark pilot set up a pool bike scheme and has produced a detailed guidance.

 

Cycle maintenance sessions
Providing specialist cycle maintenance sessions at your site can be a cost effective way to reward cyclists and reduce the risk of accidents. This generally requires hiring cycle mechanics from a local cycle shop or cycle training organisation. In Southwark, cycle maintenance sessions were offered to businesses and public sessions were held. The average cost per 2 hour session (average 10 bikes serviced) € 25.

 

Bike miles reward scheme
Rewarding employees every time they cycle to work requires some way to track cycle movements to your site. At the Gelre Hospitals, they are considering the implementation of a rewarding system: cyclists will be asked to use their staff swipe pass to enter the cycle parking area and points will then automatically be added to their Bike Miles account. See for more information www.trappers.net.

 


References

http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm85.htm

Macdonald, B. (2007) Valuing the benefits of cycling: A report to Cycling England. SQW, London.