Cycling 100. TravelSmart fact sheet WHAT IS CYCLING 100? Department of Transport Department of Health

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1 Department of Transport Department of Health TravelSmart fact sheet Cycling 100 WHAT IS CYCLING 100? Cycling 100 provides employees with all they need to leave their car at home and start riding to work regularly. In 1999 the Department of Environmental Protection, with support from the Department of Transport's Bikewest, completed a 12 month trial in which free bikes were provided to 100 commuters who volunteered to cycle two return trips a week instead of driving their car. The project was called Cycling 100. Since then various local governments in the Perth metropolitan area and the Public Transport Authority have instigated similar projects. Cycling 100 targeted car drivers who could easily change a couple of commute trips a week to cycling. These drivers then agreed to change two return-trips a week to cycling. In response they were provided with a bike, lock, helmet, cycling information and cycling computer. If they kept to their commitment this equipment was theirs to keep at the end of the year. TRAVEL SMART For inclusion in the project drivers had to meet several criteria: They drove their cars regularly to work. They lived within kilometres of their workplace which is an easy minute ride. They were willing to replace four car trips to work each week for a year. Able to pass a series of fitness evaluations. Not considering moving employment within the next year. Willing to complete all necessary pre-screening activities. Once selected, participants had to calculate a kilometre target for their home-to-work trip distance over a one month period. Riders had to meet monthly targets over a one-year period. Cycling kilometres were monitored using a cycle computer. Routine checks were also made to ensure that the bikes were being ridden to work on a regular basis. A joint Australian, State and Territory Government Initiative under the National Partnership Agreement on Preventive Health

2 A Quick Guide to promoting Cycling 100 in your workplace 1. WHY Consider why this project is right for your organisation? Are you aiming to improve your staff s health and productivity by increasing their physical activity levels? Do you want to reduce costs related to transport and parking? Or are you aiming to decrease the organisation s carbon footprint by decreasing greenhouse gas emissions? 2. MAKE A PLAN Make a plan for how you are going to implement Cycling 100 in your organisation. Consider how many staff you are hoping to involve. 3. FUND Confirm that funding is available for this project. Benefits of more than $300 per financial year received by employees attract Fringe Benefit Tax, consider the implications for this project. 4. RECRUIT Promote the initiative to all staff. Select suitable staff members to take part. 5. PROMOTE Use this program to promote the benefits of cycling to your workforce. Launch the start of the program with a bike to work breakfast. Encourage participants to champion cycling to the rest of your organisation. Motivate participants to take part in established cycling events. 6. MONITOR Establish an easy method to monitor participants cycling rates such as: A cycling log to be filled in as part of their timesheet or an online cycle log. A bike computer. 7. CELEBRATE At the end of the project hand over the bikes and congratulate people on their achievements. Promote the achievements to all staff. Use feedback from staff to evaluate the initiative. 2

3 Getting started WHY Cycling 100 is guaranteed to increase the number of staff commuting by bike to your workplace. This benefits both the participants and employer environmentally, socially and economically. It is important to identify which of these benefits are important to your organisation. This will enable you to define the goals of your project, refine it and then measure its success (or not) in terms that matter to your workplace. Are you aiming to: Send a message to your staff, and also the community about your organisation s commitment to promoting health through physical activity? Contribute to the wellness and productivity of the organisation s staff? Increase the number of cycling champions in the organisation? Decrease greenhouse gas emissions? Decrease the number of car bays used by staff and make them available to clients or visitors? Increase awareness and support for improving cycling facilities? Reduce the need for additional car parking for staff? PLAN Create a project plan that includes a timeline, the size of your target group, a budget and communications strategy (i.e. start thinking about how you are going to promote your project right from the beginning). This would also be a good time to get quotes from local bike stores for the equipment. Think about how you can best adapt the program to suit your organisation. Organisations who have run their own Cycling 100 projects have included the following adaptations: Reducing the fitness screening. Generally participants have only had to complete a medical with a general practitioner before embarking on the project. Not doing a follow up fitness test at the end of the year. If working with an external business consider retaining this final test. Employers are persuaded by Occupation Health and Safety and staff often give fitness as the main reason they take up cycling. Implementing the program in settings other than the local government workplace. The City of Melville offered a version of Cycling 100 to local businesses in the Canning Bridge precinct as part of the SMARTi Program. The City of Subiaco is doing a version of Cycling 100 with people who shop in Subiaco as part of the Subiaco Active Shopper Challenge. Reducing the ride requirements participants at the City of Fremantle committed to ride for only 3 trips a week (one and a half return trips). Lending participants bikes for an eight week period. Sharing the cost of the bicycle with the employer. Instigating a Buddy System so the Cycling 100 member can encourage and support others considering active travel. PROFILE: Town of Victoria Park I found Cycling 100 was a great way to get more staff cycling. The incentive of a free bike really motivated people to get involved and ride further than they thought possible. When we introduce the program at Vic Park we had increasing staff numbers and limited parking. Cycling 100 guaranteed a certain number of staff would be leaving their car at home and leaving a car bay free. Dorte Hansen, TravelSmart Officer, Town of Victoria Park

4 Funding and recruiting FUND The main cost of this program is in the provision of a bike and accessories. It is recommended that a good quality bike is provided so as to give participants a positive experience. In 2008 the City of Stirling spent $650 per person to provide each participant with a bike, lights, a lock, a cycle computer, bike maps and a helmet. Depending on quantities you may be able to negotiate a discount with a local bike shop. TIP: It is recommended that a good quality bike is provided so as to give participants a positive experience. You will also need to consider budgeting for health checks and promotional activities. The original Cycling 100 program provided before and after health checks so they could provide evidence of the health benefits of the program. Depending on the aims of the project your organisation may also want to do this. To maximise participation, achievement and the promotional opportunities of this project it is recommended you also budget for some promotional activities such as bike workshops and bike to work breakfasts. Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) must be considered when designing this program for employees. If an employer is providing a benefit (i.e. a bike and accessories) worth more than $300 in one financial year to an employee they may be liable to pay FBT. This can double the cost of the program, your organisation may be prepared to pay this or they may not. If you are planning on delivering a Cycling 100 program, or similar, it is recommended that you consult with your finance section regarding the tax implications. The City of Stirling purchased bikes and accessories for their staff worth $650 then the employee had to pay $350 towards their bike. Their contribution was deducted from their wage over 26 pay fortnights. On completing the program, if the employee had met their riding targets they were provided with a cash bonus. The cities of Melville and Subiaco adapted the program for local businesses (Melville's SMARTi program) and for local shoppers (Subiaco s Active Shopper Challenge). The City of Melville applied for a private tax ruling through the Australian Taxation Office to exempt SMARTi from FBT on the bicycles supplied to participants. Providing bikes to people outside the organisation may change the FBT implications, check with your finance section. RECRUIT Congratulations your program has been funded and you have the green light to go ahead and recruit participants. The key steps in recruitment are: Promoting the program to the workforce. The completion of a medical with a general practitioner. Completing a screening questionnaire. Getting people interested and wanting to take part in your program is vital to its success so promote widely within you organisation/workforce. Make sure you sell the personal benefits of taking part in the program such as; increased personal fitness, saving money, avoiding congestion and parking hassles and that cycling to work is an easy way to fit exercise into your life. Requiring participants to complete a medical with their GP clearing them to participate in the programs lessens the risk to the organisation. A brief screening questionnaire is a useful tool to assess their suitability for participation. Use the survey to find out how far participants live from the workplace, their current cycling proficiency, if they have any long-service leave due and their current travel habits. People who live within 5-15 kilometres of their workplace which is an easy minute ride are more likely to complete the program. If one of the aims of your program is to improve the health and fitness of participants you may wish to consider including a fitness appraisal as part of the recruitment process, with another one to be done on completion of the program. Cycling 100 originally required participants to undergo a fitness appraisal as part of the recruitment process to enable them to assess if riding regularly to work would improve participant s health and fitness. If you include fitness tests make sure they are consistent for all staff involved and that the organisation contracted to complete the fitness test has the capacity to provide a comparison test at the end of the program. 4

5 Promote, monitor, celebrate PROMOTE As part of the launch of the program run a bike workshop/breakfast for participants. At this event you can organise for tips on riding, route planning, maintenance, puncture repair and cycling laws to be provided. This not only ensures your riders are ready to go but mitigates some of the organisation s risk. There are a number of organisations in Perth that now provide these sorts of workshops for a fee. MONITOR As you are providing participants with a significant asset you will need to monitor that they are keeping to their ride commitments. Other organisations have used bike computers, a ridelog on their time sheets or a webbased cycle-log. According to people who have run the program previously, at least one of your riders will fail to meet the agreed target or will leave the organisation before the project ends so plan for it. How your organisation responds to this is up to you but others have dealt with it in these ways: Incentives At the City of Stirling riders are rewarded at the end of the year with a cash bonus if they have kept to their targets. The size of the bonus depends on how much they have ridden. Written Agreements In the Contract of Participation (or Memorandum of Understanding) have the rider agree to either purchase the bicycle at full price or return it to the city if they leave the organisation or if they fail to meet their target. PROFILE: City of Nedlands and 'Bike Doctor' sessions A Bike Doctor is a great add-on to your cycling event as they can provide both technical expertise and practical demonstrations answering cycling related questions and providing participants with a hands-on opportunity to learn how to do some of those small maintenance jobs like changing tyres or adjusting the breaks. They can even offer a bike diagnostic service. Christie Downie, Sustainable Planning Officer, City of Nedlands Lesson the Risk The cities of South Perth and Belmont chose to just lend the bike to riders. This meant if they failed to meet their targets then the local government was not out of pocket. CELEBRATE At the end of the project hand over the bikes and congratulate people on their achievements. Evaluate the project and assess whether or not you wish to run it again. Promote the successes to the organisation. 5

6 Things to think about... What is the organisation's liability if a staff member gets injured riding to work? This is a voluntary project. Employees participate at their own risk. To mitigate some of that risk you may want to provide participants with a cycling proficiency course. It is also recommended that you investigate the insurance options available to participants. Consult with the insurance representative at your organisation as, some workplaces do provide insurance for the commute trip. If the employee is a union member they may be covered for the to and from work trips. Membership to some cycling groups provides insurance coverage for riders. Further information on insurance coverage for cyclists is available from the Department of Transport at: Who is responsible for repairs during the year? What if the bike is faulty? Bikes that are ridden regularly will get flat tyres and require routine maintenance. You need to make it clear to the rider that they are responsible for maintaining their bike. Having said this you can make it easier for them by: Including some basic bicycle maintenance tips as part of your cycling proficiency course. Negotiating at least one free service with the bike shop you bought the bikes from. Providing your cyclists with the contact details for the shop that you bought the bikes from. Organising bicycle maintenance sessions at work or as part of another work activity. Equipping people with the knowledge of how to repair their own bike will mean that flat tyres and loose brakes can be easily fixed by participants themselves. What happens if people get sick or injured? How do you deal with annual leave and long service leave? What about bad weather? You need to account for these factors when calculating your yearly targets. Remove four weeks for annual leave. In the original project they took another couple of weeks out for bad weather and to give the participants a bit of room for unanticipated events (for instance acting in somebody s position that has a commute vehicle). Try and weed out people who are due for long service leave in the recruitment process by asking about it in the recruitment questionnaire. Or if you prefer you can just factor that time out when calculating that person s average. CONTACT Department of Transport 140 William Street Perth WA 6000 Telephone: (08) travelsmart@transport.wa.gov.au Website: Published by the Department of Transport, November 2013 The information contained in this publication is provided in good faith and believed to be accurate at time of publication. The State shall in no way be liable for any loss sustained or incurred by anyone relying on the information. 6