Looking back on the ABC event – Green Deal for Bicycle

Sander Buningh was the second guest to speak about the Green Deal Bicycle. He is the theme leader of regional bicycle service points. Bicycle service points are places where cyclists can go in case of a breakdown, for example for a repair, coffee, an (online) appointment or cycling clothing. The purpose of these service points is to encourage cycling for commuting. The distance from home to work is fairly low for most commuters, and there are more and more people with an e-bike. The first bicycle service points are expected to be realized in 2023.

“Make work of cycling”, was Jennifer Woltjer’s message in the third part of this evening. She is the driving force behind the theme ‘bicycle-friendly working conditions’. Over 50 percent of employees live no more than 15 kilometers from work. This distance is easy to cover with an e-bike, as she agrees with Sander Buningh’s talk. A bicycle strategy for employees contributes to the vitality of employees, and thus to lower absenteeism. In addition, it’s a lot more sustainable if employees come to work by bicycle. Do employees actually cycle more if the organization encourages this? That turns out to be the case in over half of the cases. 65% to 75% of employees indicate they cycle to work more often and leave the car at home!

Children learn to ride a bicycle at a later age then before. That affects how comfortable these children feel on a bicycle later in life. Remko Pijnaker, theme leader ‘child and bicycle’, talked about the success of a pilot of cycling lessons for children at childcare and in groups 1 and 2 by practicing with balance bikes and children’s bicycles with pedals. These bicycles were made available on loan during the pilot. Half of the children were able to make the transition from a balance bike to a bicycle with pedals after just 9 weeks. The average age at which children could cycle was 3 years and 5 months. Pijnaker said that it is important to involve the parents. Result of this project are that children are healthier, and cities are becoming more liveable. This is because both the children and the parents are more likely to choose the bicycle instead of the car!

In the last part of the evening, we talked about something completely different: data. Data are indispensable in increasing the impact of cycling. Rob Koster, theme leader of ‘impact with bicycle stimulation’, talked about how data are collected and shared. He is concerned with the question: what data are available to make an impact with more cyclists? At the moment, data are still very fragmented, which makes it difficult to monitor the impact of cycling. Koster’s goal is to bundle all data collections in order to gain more knowledge about the impact of various initiatives. The advantages, but also the disadvantages of various initiatives are all mapped out, so that the data can be used to get people on their bikes.

A successful evening ended with a pleasant drink. While enjoying a drink, those present had the opportunity to ask the necessary questions to the theme leaders and to talk.

Do you have any ideas, tips or suggestions for Green Deal Bicycle? We’d love to hear it! You can send an email to info@amecboard.com.