The Bike2Work project got half a million people out of their cars and convinced them to shift their daily habits in favor of a more sustainable and healthier commute!

Bike2Work is an EU co-funded project lead by the European Cyclists' Federation. The main objective of Bike2Work is to encourage a significant modal shift from motorized commuting to cycling. Using a two-fold approach it targets both employees’ behavior through Bike2Work campaigns, and encourages employers to meet the needs of cyclists. The result is bicycle-friendly employers and employees’ using a more sustainable form of commuting: cycling!

Bike2Work has 12 partners from across Europe all with different experiences in Bike2Work campaigning. This Pan-European approach offers great opportunities for know-how transfer and the combining of successful campaign elements from different campaigns. Bike2Work celebrates this diversity and the knowledge-exchange it encourages because it leads to more efficient and more successful campaigns.

Thanks to the Bike2Work project, in 2015 over 20,000 tons of CO2 could be saved and over half a million participants cycled more than 145.000.000 km, that is around 3.600 times around the world!

Cycle-Friendly Employer Certification

The legacy of the project is the Cycle-Friendly Employer Certification (CFE). The cycle-friendly employer certification scheme was developed to establish a European standard for cycle-friendly companies. The certification is intended to help European companies to improve the situation for employees that cycle to work, and to acknowledge their effort they will receive the certificate “cycle friendly employer”.

What makes a Bike2Work campaign successful?

Gamification, competition and rewards are key elements in every successful Bike2Work campaign, below we gathered some key factors for a successful Bike2Work campaign

• Make it easy, fun and simple for potential participants to join in
• Try out gamification and competition Seek sponsors for prizes; remember that individual prices motivate more than team prices
• Build strong support from local and national partners, both corporate and public
• Make it possible to participate without company approval Organise inclusive events like picnics, bike parade, free repair of bicycles & kick-off events
• Work on good media coverage and clear arguments tailored to each target audience

You can download the full final Bike2Work report with more tips&tricks and background information about the project here