T5.3 Biking to work
Require municipal and large employers to provide a shower and/or changing area for employees to facilitate biking to work. Provide financial incentives for employer-sponsored bicycle programs.
Facilitate biking to work
“Determinants of bicycle commuting in the Washington, DC region” does statistical analysis on some variables and concludes that free car parking at work is associated with 70% smaller odds for bike commuting, and that people at workplaces with parking for bikes, lockers, and showers are five times as likely to ride bikes to work as people without any of those. A recent study statistically assessing the effects of policies such as bicycle lockers, locked rooms/cage, clothes storage, bike racks, and showers arrived at the same kind of conclusions about them. (Of course, it’s also possible that workplaces with a lot of cyclists for other reasons are more likely to install bike amenities…)
Financial incentives
Some examples from 3p Weekend: Top 5 Corporate Bike-to-Work Incentives in the U.S.
Clif Bar’s Cool Commute program includes a provision for up to $500 to put towards a commuter bike, or commuting-related retrofits to an existing bike. Employees who walk, bike, or carpool can earn up to 3 points per day, and then redeem the points for prizes such as massages, acupuncture, and other health services at the company’s fitness center, or they can choose to convert their points into dollars added to their paycheck.
After a year on the job, each New Belgium Brewing employee receives a free limited release Fat Tire Cruiser bike, in honor of the company’s best-selling Fat Tire Amber Ale. Employees can also borrow a cruiser for local errands and lunch breaks.
Honest Tea gives its employees who either bike or walk to work $27.50 extra in their paychecks monthly. In addition, in the summer of 2007, the company bought each of its then 52 employees Jamis bikes.
Patagonia’s Drive-Less program pays all U.S. and Canadian employees $2 per trip when they bike, walk, carpool or take public transit to work, up to two trips per day. Each employee can earn up to $500 (pre-tax) per year.
Jamba Juice’s wellness program includes health insurance premium discounts in exchange for completing challenges including participating in Bike to Work Day, attending a bicycle repair class or going on a practice ride.
Bike East Bay made three Bike Free Business awards each year from 2010 to 2015, and has a short description of each winner’s programs.