Go green for business

Painted bike It is calculated that increasing the average number of cycling trips by 20% will save £87 million per year in absence from work alone.

If this figure is increased to 50%, the saving will be £217 million. In addition, many businesses suffer from parking and congestion problems, caused by too many employees driving to work.

The problems include:

congestion around the site
pressure to provide more parking spaces
upsetting residents in nearby streets
increasing the cost to the company of travel and parking
employees stuck in traffic arriving late and stressed.

Encouraging employees to cycle to work can help solve these problems. It means:

less pressure on parking spaces around the workplace
reduced costs of providing parking for employees
less congestion around the site at peak times
a healthier, less stressed and more productive workforce
an improved image locally.

There are, of course, some people who live too far from their workplace to cycle. For these people, the answer may be a mix of cycling and public transport.

Kent County Council is working with transport providers to give cyclists better facilities and easier access to public transport. Other improvements across the county include more cycle lockers, cycle access ramps and cycle parking facilities.

Cycling clearly will not be the answer for all employees, but encouraging bikes as one part of a travel plan will help to make a difference.

Travel plans are becoming popular with Kent's businesses as a way of thinking through the best way of getting staff to work in an environmentally-sound and efficient way. The overall aim is to reduce the number of car journeys, particularly those involving a single occupant - and encouraging journeys by bike can help.