Bicycle Friendly Business
According to the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, San Francisco has seen a 43% increase in bicycle ridership since 2006 and 6% of all in-city trips are now made on a bicycle. And according to Transportation Alternatives, bicycling is the fastest growing mode of transportation in New York City with an increase of 35% from 2007 to 2008. No matter where you look, bike commuting is on the rise.
With this growing interest in bike commuting, more and more employers are offering incentives to those who give up the car and ride their bike to work. Yahoo, for example, provides company-owned loaner bikes, lockers, showers, onsite bicycle care, and free tune-ups to all of their employees. Discovery Communications (parent to the Discovery Channel) reimburses employees up to $350 toward the purchase of a new bicycle, while also providing secure bike parking.
The League of American Bicyclists has added a “Bicycle Friendly Business” program to accompany their more well-known “Bicycle Friendly Community” program. (You can view the full list of Bicycle Friendly Businesses by clicking here.) Following is an overview of how award recipients are chosen:
What is a Bicycle Friendly Business?
A Bicycle Friendly Business (BFB) is a corporation, organization, association, or nonprofit that actively promotes bicycling for transportation, recreation, exercise, and sport. A BFB practices social responsibility by weaving bicycling into the business culture and gives employees the opportunity to be active stewards of their personal and environmental health through bicycling.
The Bicycle Friendly Business program evaluates applicants’ efforts to promote bicycling in four primary areas: encouragement, education, engineering, and evaluation. Examples of these measures include:
Engineering
Safe cycling access; bike racks for employees and guests; showers and lockers for commuters and lunchtime riders.
Education
Bike-safety programs; mentorship for new commuters; and equipment tutorials.
Encouragement
Benefits for bike commuters; paid mileage for trips made by bike; loaner bikes for errands and short trips; and earn-a-bike programs.
Evaluation
An assessment of what’s already being done and what to aim for in the future; in-house bike coordinators; and target ridership numbers. This is also the section to highlight your business’s unique programs and policies that promote and celebrate bicycling—from loaner bikes for short trips and in-house spin classes to supporting charity rides and sponsoring bike-racing teams.
What types of incentives does your employer offer bike commuters at your workplace? Do you have access to showers and secure bike parking? Are you offered reimbursements for purchasing bicycles and accessories? Do your company’s commuter benefits extend to include bicyclists? In general, do you feel as if your employer is doing enough or would you like to see more incentives and support? Let us know in the comment section below.
6 Responses to “Bicycle Friendly Business”
I would like to point out that SF is exploding with bicycles WITHOUT any improvement to our bicycle infrastructure on years! We have not had a single new bike lane, sharrow, lane signage… nothing. It is all a factor of people getting out and riding. Without meaning to be, every person that rides is an example for everyone else and it grows.
I just spent a week in San Francisco (and a weekend bicycling with my brother around Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Mountain View, and Los Altos), and I definitely noticed a LOT more bicyclists than the last time I was there. I was also impressed with the decent network of bike paths available in Silicone Valley.
On the topic of bike-friendly businesses, many of my colleagues in our Washington, DC headquarters bike to work, and fortunately the building management allows them to bring their bikes into the office with them (there is no secure bike parking outside or in the basement). We’re an environmental consulting firm, so a lot of our staff are interested in green transportation to begin with, but we also have a “Do Your Part” program in which staff can calculate their carbon footprint, pledge to reduce it, and track their progress over time. Biking to work is one of the strategies people are using to reduce their footprint.
Also, every year during our holiday charity auction, a group of staff who regularly cycle to work auctions off a training session on urban cycling and bike maintenance.
With some encouragement the company I work for has moved a way towards helping, I am the cyclescheme.co.uk co-ordinator. Cyclescheme is one of the non profit making organisations in the UK that helps administer the UK’s tax incentive scheme to allow employees of companies purchase a new bike and necessary accessories with a discount of up to 50%. During my tenure as co-ordinator we have installed bike hoops (in place of 5 car parking spaces) in all of the car parks we have, they have all been installed next to the entrances. Each of the five buildings already had showers and changing facilities. The missing one now is space to hang damp or wet clothes depending on the variable weather we have in Aberdeen. Yesterday, ironically when I did not take my bike, the racks outside my office window were full for the first time and a number of comments were make jokingly about having to increase the number of racks again! In a company of approx 500 in the 2 years that I have been co-ordinator we have issued 46 vouchers. I know that only a few of these vouchers issued lead to committed bike use for commuting, but its a start.
@Brad
I love the idea of your company’s “Do Your Part” program. I’d be curious to know more about what tools are available to staff to calculate their carbon footprint and track their progress.
@Iain
Cyclescheme looks like a great program. It must be nice to see full bike racks… :-)
Alan: We originally developed the Do Your Part program for the National Park Service and the National Parks Conservation Assocation, and now are using it in-house to set our own goals and track our footprints, as well as adapting it for some other organizations and agencies. You can see the original program at: http://www.doyourpartparks.org/