Whatever stage you’re at in providing end of trip facilities and fleet bikes, it’s crucial that you find effective ways to get your people involved in your bike initiatives.
This page provides plenty of ideas in how you can. It’s not a prescription, more a menu of options - pick and choose from the suggestions below depending on what will work for you and your workplace.
Probably the best advice is keep it simple and make getting about by bike fun and easy in your workplace!
Here are ideas on how to involve your people.
Research sounds a bit grand but really it’s useful to find out more about who currently rides a bike, and why, and who would like to, and why they don’t.
Sending out a short staff survey is probably the best way to get a representative view, especially for larger organisations. Check out our sample survey(external link), which can easily be turned into an online survey (e.g. SurveyMonkey). It covers how people commute, and also how they travel to local business appointments (e.g. meetings, site visits).
The results can help to inform levels of interest and ‘latent demand’ and be used to help advocate for better end of trip facilities and perhaps fleet bikes. See the Bicycle User Groups section below.
Having a regular survey is worthwhile, to gauge how travel changes over time, especially before and after any significant initiatives.
CloseGetting your organisation involved in the national (or regional) events is great way to kickstart, or reinforce, your workplace cycling activities. These events are really aimed at those people who are interested in riding a bike, but currently don’t, but they also give your regular cyclists an opportunity to encourage others.
The main event is the annual February bike month, now the Aotearoa Bike Challenge(external link). This uses an engaging website to sign-up and record rides. There is a ‘friendly’ competition for individuals and organisations, with some great prizes. It’s all about getting more people riding bikes, rather than encouraging them to do ‘heroic’ distances.
Part of the February bike month is the Go By Bike Day, and many local authorities organise events in their area. Typically they involve free snacks and drinks! Alternatively, at any time, you can organise one for your organisation, or perhaps combine with others in your office block or local area.
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Providing bike tune-ups is another way to support people who would like to get about by bike.
A major barrier to getting people on their bikes is that their bikes don’t work properly. This can be frustrating and unsafe, so kick off your in-house cycling promotions with bike and helmet safety checks. You can use the self-help guide in the resources section, or if you have the budget, get a bike mechanic to undertake safety checks and some basic repairs. Check with your local council, they may provide this service for free as part of their own cycling programme.
CloseA barrier to people getting back on their bikes is a lack of, or rusty, cycling skills. Organising some cycle skills training for the team is a great way to ensure your staff have the tools to ride safely and with confidence.
There are lots of Cycle Skills Instructors around the country, contact your local Council and Cycling Action Network (CAN) who can provide guidance on qualified cycle instructors in your region.
CloseThis is another idea which can very much be tailored to suit your workplace. You could put together an information pack for your staff, covering things like: facilities offered, incentives provided, regular events, and maps showing safe local routes.
CloseIt’s often the case that organisations provide incentives for their people to drive to work (e.g. free parking). Here are a few ideas to encourage riding a bike instead:
Once your workplace cycling programme is up and running, put in a nomination for the Bike to the Future Awards run by the NZ Transport Agency in partnership with Cycling Action Network (CAN), which include a Bikes in Business award.
And, if you’re not quite ready, the awards can still be used as inspiration for your initiatives.
CloseA Bicycle User Group (BUG) is one of the best ways of supporting and encouraging commuting by bike. It is a group of people who want to improve workplace facilities for people on bikes. You only need one or two committed bike commuters to get a BUG up and running. Again, it doesn’t have to be too formal, but it is good to have a structured approach for getting things done.
Why start a BUG? Support for cycling within the organisation can encourage decision-makers to provide better facilities for people who ride bikes. The combined voices of a number of people is much more effective than individuals trying to do everything by themselves. Typically they’ll be active members and less active ones. The latter are still important as they help provide the numbers to support your group’s ideas
What to do – find like-minds in the organisation who already ride a bike or want to ride; as a group agree on what you want your organisation to do to support this (use this guide for ideas); probably start with some easier actions, to help your group demonstrate success, and then increase your ambition; find someone in the management team who is supportive of your group and ideas; develop a proposal and present it to the relevant person(s); celebrate your successes and move onto creating the next one!
CloseTrustpower
Trustpower is a Tauranga-based electricity company. It used an office move to increase commuting by bike - by 500%!
Wilderness Motorhomes
Wilderness Motorhomes is a tourism business based in Auckland. They achieved 100% participation in the Aotearoa Bike Challenge – all 67 of their staff.
Mercury
Mercury took its e-bike promotion in-house to enable their staff to use bikes for local business travel.
Toi Tangata
Toi Tanga used the Aotearoa Bike Challenge to encourage its staff to give getting about by bike a go.
