Biking to work in America

You may have tried cycling in your city during these warmer months — maybe even to work, like so many of us. Depending on where you live and work, you could’ve had a refreshing morning ride that got your heart rate up just enough. Or you may have battled cars for space on the road, only to make it to the office and discover there’s no dedicated bike parking.

Companies, whether or not they take action, play a role in how accessible cycling to work is for their team. You may wish your employer was doing more for cyclists, or you might be a decision maker that wants to upgrade your initiatives. We’ve taken action to foster cycling access for our team. And we’re pumped to show you what we’re doing, how it's going, and where it’s gotten us so far (spoiler: we were awarded gold status as a Bicycle Friendly Business*). Note that some of our initiatives are bespoke to our city of Lexington, Kentucky. Your mileage may vary. 

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*Real quick, what’s a Bicycle Friendly Business (BFB)? 

The League of American Bicyclists helps businesses create safer, healthier biking conditions for their customers and employees. They recognize businesses who foster cycling access and award them a status (from bronze to gold) corresponding to their level of commitment. There’s no single metric to meet. Instead, they evaluate each company’s efforts on its size, location, and business model. We’re one of 1,192 BFBs in the country, 11 in the state, and only four gold businesses in Kentucky.

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We Do it for Earth, Obviously

Transportation’s impact on the climate is a strong motivator for our team. Personal vehicles are one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. — and cutting back on car use is one of the most immediate ways to reduce your carbon footprint. Whether it’s a daily commute, a client visit, or a quick lunch run, those short car trips add up. We’re doing our part to reduce emissions by making cycling a more accessible and appealing option to our team. 

Environmental stewardship is part of our culture, and it’s especially important to us as a B-Corp (read more about that here). Bike-friendliness is just one part of that commitment. Our team members can opt into an app that tracks their bicycle mileage and calculates the approximate amount of CO2 kept out of the atmosphere. This might not be the right CO2 tracking solution for every company, but the technology exists to collect this data, at small and large scales.

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A Bike in a Car’s World

On the state level, Kentucky has some work to do before it’s truly bike-friendly. The League of American Bicyclists ranks Kentucky 32 out of 50 for bike-friendliness. But zoom in, and you can really tell that cycling matters to the residents of Lexington. As far as American cities go, Lexington is relatively bike-friendly. We’ve been a bronze-level Bicycle Friendly Community since 2007. We’re a work in progress, but we’re proud to have made it this far.

Bicycle-forward urban design benefits everyone. It’s far friendlier to pedestrians. It creates more room for destinations that people want to visit and less room for wide roads and parking lots that aren’t really places at all. Bikes also take up a fraction of the space of a car. When you bike to an event instead of driving, you can make room for 6 or more parked bicycles. 

If you feel like your city is more parking lot than buildings, the footprint of every car on the road is part of the problem. Strong Towns has an excellent article on the ratio of parking lots to everything else in U.S. cities (Arlington, TX is 42% parking lot). If you want more bicycle-friendly infrastructure in our towns, there’s one great way to contribute to the cause: go for a ride. 

Another reason to opt-out of car transit is that cars present greater risks to people using the street who aren’t also in a car. The driver is protected by a metal box (the car), but pedestrians aren’t. If a driver makes a wrong move, anyone who is not in a car will fare much worse than the driver themself. Bikes, on the other hand, go slower and hold less mass, making bike collisions minor by comparison. 

Every business has the power to improve the cycling conditions of their city. If you’re looking to do your part, there’s no shortage of ways to contribute. Here are a few things we’re doing right now — think about how these same approaches could apply to you and your city.

• Buy your bikes, parts, and repairs locally. When your company supplies bike-related purchases to your team, work with small shops in your town. We’ve partnered with Broomwagon Bikes and Broke Spoke Community Bike Shop to make bike magic happen. Leveraging your economic power and spending money locally breathes life into your bike scene and gives local businesses the capital to do more things for the community, like bike workshops and group rides.
• Sponsor a bike repair station (or other bike infrastructure) in your town. Bike repair stations provide riders with tools for quick fixes and adjustments. Reach out to your city about installing a new one along well-used bike paths. If your town already has some, investigate how you can sponsor their upkeep. We installed this model for the first time this year. Locals can find it at the Isaac Murphy Memorial Art Garden, along the Legacy Bike Trail.
• Just get out and ride. Say good morning to your neighbors while riding. Encourage kids when you see them on the bike path with you. A bike gives you a deeper emotional connection with your city by removing the physical barrier between you and your environment. Going slower will reveal your community’s nuances in a way that driving can’t. Plus, people will take note of the happy cyclist that passes by every morning.

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Health, Wealth, and Good Friends

We believe in the power of getting outside and moving your body. The health benefits of commuting with the power of your legs make it a worthwhile choice. By elevating their heart rate, bike commuters report having more energy, less stress, and more money (or at least what they saved on gas). For our team, opportunities to bike together are frequent — like mini-team building rides on our way to lunch.

Many of us would cycle without incentives. But for those who don’t own a bike, or see their lack of a tail light as a barrier, we’d rather facilitate their ability to ride than do nothing. Here’s the breakdown of all of our incentives to get people cycling:

• We offer a $200 annual tuneup stipend to each employee. This can go to repairs, parts, extra gear, a new bicycle, or whatever that person needs when they choose to apply it. 
• We offer each employee an AirTag and secure AirTag holder. AirTags don’t always prevent theft, but they do give the owner a chance to track down their missing bike if it’s stolen or moved. 
• The office is outfitted with bike amenities to make cycling easier. We have two dedicated, covered bike racks for commuters to park their ride. A bike pump and spare bike lock are available for use, and our office bathroom includes a shower for freshening up after a ride in humid Central Kentucky. We also have two spare bikes and a spare helmet for those who don’t yet own their own.
• We reimburse work-related bicycle mileage. Employees who submit their miles receive $0.25 a mile. It’s small, but it adds up for our frequent cyclists.
• Every May and September, we participate in the Bike Month Challenge. Using Love to Ride, workplaces sign up to see which company can log the most miles in their size bracket. During this time, our company offers prizes for miles logged. It’s an opportunity to earn rewards, enjoy friendly competition, and challenge yourself. 

We collected some feedback from our team so you could read firsthand accounts of how our BFB practices impact employees.

• Seven of 11 respondents said our best bike-friendly benefit is our yearly tune-up and parts stipend
• When asked how our bike-friendly workplace influences how they personally get around, three respondents said they think much more critically about whether or not to take a car. Six said they cycle more often than they would if they didn’t work at a BFB
• When asked how biking changes how we connect to our community, eight respondents reported feeling a greater sense of belonging in the communities they cycle through

We also wanted to share some quotes directly from the team:

“I've always thought the term bike-’friendly’ is a little tame for what we try to embody and embrace, honestly. We're bike-positive, bike-enthusiastic, bike-psyched lol. Beyond amenities or incentives, it feels like a great illustration of how we can leverage the organization (the company itself) to support that actual human happiness of our team. Reducing carbon footprints is the cherry on top.”

“My sense of time management, readiness before leaving for the morning, and team engagement has improved overall. It has encouraged my abilities to share more, to express admiration, and to have more interest in being at the office in-person.”

“I know that our bike friendly efforts cost both time and money. We're a small company, and those resources could certainly be used elsewhere. The commitment shows that we're prioritizing the things we care about most: our planet and our people.”

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If you’ve read to the end of this article, you might be looking for ways to expand your city’s or company’s support for cycling. We’re right there with you, exploring how to sustainably grow our incentives. We’ve outlined what we’re doing right now (and we hope you steal those ideas for your own workplace), but we’re still learning what’s possible. If you have ideas, have found success, or are hitting a roadblock, we’d love to talk with you. Let’s connect.

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