Bike to Work

Through the Good practice Bike To Work the municipality of Imola gives companies that have delivered the home-work travel plans the possibility to access an app that workers must download by indicating their home address, work address and the company for which they work. The app tracks the work-home journeys of workers, calculating the actual kilometers and the CO2 not produced and every third month make a transfer to the worker’s bank account.

The aim is to give an economic incentive to workers who choose to cycle to work. The incentive is calculated on the basis of the actual kilometers traveled in the home-work journeys and is tracked through a geo-referenced app. This good practice is promoted and financed by the Emilia Romagna Region through the municipalities that, with funding, must define how to achieve it.

The practice of the mileage incentive aims to break the habits related to home-work travel through a lever of economic incentive. Workers download an app with which the actual homework route is traced and the kilometers that are made by bicycle are verified. Every three months the app recognizes the economic value of the worker in relation to the kilometers made. Each worker can be recognized up to a maximum of 50 euros per month. This good practice was mentioned by the workers in the Transit-questionnaire.

The steps to implement the practice are the following:

• Carry out the coordinated communication project (1 month)
• Create the site and video tutorials (2 months)
• Choose and buy the app (2 months)
• Create the mobility manager table (1month + periodic meetings every 3 months)
• Launch of good practice (press conference, social media, communication campaign) 2 weeks
• Monitor good practice (every month)

This practice could be interesting for municipalities who already have a widespread cycling network and need to find a mechanism that triggers change. The interest from workers have been very high and also from companies. The app is very simple and allows you to accurately track movements, quantify the kilometers made and make payments directly. These features are important factors for companies to join.

If you are interested in this practice, please read more in the background analysis (pp. 64).