2015 has been an outstanding year for the European Bike2Work project. Across all Europe, a total of 290.876 people participated in the campaigns, but what is really surprising is the number of new cyclists who got involved: 65.491, 76% more than expected. With over 50 million km cycled – approximately 1250 times the equator – the Bike2Work project contributed, only last year, to save a total of 20,916 tons of CO2 emissions.

This is a huge achievement, above all considered that the project usually runs for only one month. The potential of cycling when it comes to saving money from the public health sector or saving GHG emissions is huge: if a real behaviour change was achieved, the impact of such a habit on society as a whole would be incredible, on the long term.

Geographical differences as well as cultural perception of cycling painted a diverse picture of Europe. From the experienced Danish campaigners to the passionate Croatian newcomers, the project brought forward a variety of activities tailored to different cycling levels. Through the Bike2Work project, we are pushing employers to promote cycling among their employees, creating a behaviour change and getting more people to bike to work every day.

Countries' specifics

Austria: Organised by FGM AMOR with the support of Radlobby Österreich, the Austrian Bike2Work project registered a total of more than 32,000 participants, 273% more than expected. 

Bulgaria: the Bulgarian Cycling Association is in charge of the national Bike2Work campaign. Last year, almost 50% of the participants were new cyclists, which stands for the great reach they managed to have with their campaign. 

Croatia: thanks to the great work of the Sindikat Biciklista, the actual participants registered to the campaign were more than double the expected ones: over 4,000 employees took part in the initiative, which is a huge achievement for a country where cycling reaches 6% of modal share[1].

Denmark: the Cyklistforbundet has been organising the Bike2Work campaign since 1997. Nevertheless, they have still managed to reach 3,200 new cyclists, an impressive result, considering how strong the Danish cycling culture is aready.

France: the French partner for the Bike2Work project is Nantes Métropole. Looking for a real behaviour change, the campaign focussed and registered only new cyclists.

Germany: with its 150,000 participants, ADFC ran a record breaking campaign. Not only the  expectations were of less than 20,000, almost a third of the total participants were new cyclists.

Italy: FIAB is the responsible organisation for the Italian Bike2Work campaign - and it did a great job. In Italy cycling has a 5% modal share, but the project managed to involve more people and over 1,400 new cyclists: that makes double than initially planned.

Malta: Paragon Europe, our Maltese partner, had to deal with an extremely cycling-reticent culture. However, the few participants were extremely involved: the great majority cycled to work more than 4 days per week and in just two weeks they cycled a cumulative distance of 4520.62 km.

Romania: ran by the Green Revolution Association, the Romanian Bike2Work campaign has been an absolute leader. Reaching twice the number of participants planned, of which almost the totality were new cyclists (624% above target), it boosted cycling as a habit on a national level.

Slovenia: organised by the Urban Planning Institute of Slovenia, the 'Bring happiness to work' campaign managed to have 80% of all participants being new cyclists, 126% more than expected.

The Netherlands: the Dutch Bike2Work campaign was designed by Fietsersbond to focus on long distances and e-bike usage. Running for only 5 days it reached a total of 5903 km cycled on the way to work and back. 

United Kingdom: organised by four different cycling association, the British campaign involved a grand total of 27,000 participants, more than 10% of which were not used to cycle at all before.