Bike2Work project got half a million people out of their cars

Approximately 300 companies in 12 European countries became cycle-friendly in 2015–2016, bringing over half a million commuters on their bicycles.

“Since the 20th of February, 2017 any of these companies, governmental or non-governmental organizations can get certified for being Cycling Friendly Employer (CFE)! ‘With our project partners we delivered this scheme that can now be easily adopted in all the EU Member States” — said ECF Development Director, Kevin Mayne. The European employer certification scheme was launched today in the Permanent Representation of Malta to the EU during the closing conference of European Bike2Work project.

For the past two years, ECF together with other twelve project partners worked on Bike2Work project, funded by the European Union. The main objective of Bike2Work was to encourage a significant modal shift from motorized commuting to cycling. The project targeted both: employees and the change of their commuting habits through Bike2Work campaigns, as well as employers, convincing them to meet the needs of cyclists. As a result, diverse Bike2work campaigns were organised in participating countries, and results went far beyond impressive emissions savings (more than 20.000 tons of CO2 saved in one year!); across the board, employers endorsed bike to work schemes and commuters cycled to work more than 145 million kilometers — that is 3600 times around the Earth!

https://citiesofthefuture.eu/barcelona-needs-swift-action-against-pollution-a957f66ae3cd

The next step is to proliferate these success stories around Europe with a European Cycling Strategy that will bring together best practices for European businesses. In addition, one harmonized European Strategy would provide common policy recommendations for all the Member States, encouraging national governments to take policy initiatives that favor cyclists (such as kilometric reimbursement recently adopted in French law). “Cycling greatly benefits employees and employers, but it also delivers on some of the main EU priorities” — concluded ECF Policy Director, Ádám Bodor.

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