Workers Who Bike to Work Get Sick Less

Of course biking and other physical activity is a healthy thing, and that’s obviously good. What’s really good now is that there are now economic reasons for employers to encourage their employees to commute on a bicycle. The Dutch (no surprise there) love their bikes so much they did an economic study on how much money can be saved by companies that have employees bike to work: 27 million Euros (PDF link).

Main conclusions
• Employees who cycle regularly to work have less sickness-related
absenteeism than non-cyclists.
• The higher the frequency and longer the distance cycled, the lower the
rate of absenteeism.
• The potential benefit of cycling to work is considerable. It could mean
annual savings of around 27 million euros.

Recommendations
• More government measures to promote cycling and cooperation with
organizations that currently promote cycling can help convince employers
to begin or increase investments in a cycling policy.
• To develop successful programmes that promote cycling to work, more
understanding is needed of what actually convinces employees to use a
bicycle in their daily travel to work.

Bike Sharing Gone Wild

Pedal power is gaining popularity in Europ in the form of more and more cities creating their own bike sharing programs.

For mayors looking to ease congestion and prove their environmental bona fides, bike-sharing has provided a simple solution: For the price of a bus, they get a fleet of bicycles, and they can avoid years of construction and the approvals required for a subway. For riders, joining means cut-rate transportation – as well as a chance to contribute to the planet’s well-being.

The new systems are successful in part because they blanket cities with huge numbers of available bikes, but the real linchpin is technology. Aided by electronic smart cards and computerized bike stands, riders can pick up and drop off bicycles in seconds at hundreds of locations, their payments deducted from bank accounts.

“As some cities have done it, others are realizing they can do it, too,” said Paul DeMaio, founder of MetroBike, a U.S.-based bike-sharing consultant that tracks programs worldwide. “There is an incredible trajectory.”

The huge new European bicycle-sharing networks function less as recreation and more as low-cost, alternative public transportation. Most programs (though not Paris’s and Lyon’s) exclude tourists and day-trippers.

Stolen Bikes May go to Poor

Recently in Toronto over 2,000 stolen bikes were found, which is good news itself. Now, after the public has been given a chance to reclaim their bikes, community groups are championing the idea that the stolen bikes should be give to the poor. The bikes that have been stripped for their parts should be given to local non-profit bike organizations to help them run their bicycling operations.

Heaps said the city can’t get directly involved, but it has encouraged interested outside groups to raise the matter with Toronto police, who seized the bikes after arresting bike shop owner Igor Kenk and laying a series of charges related to bike theft and drugs.

“There are many people out there who cannot afford a bicycle,” Heaps said. “They probably would benefit from a second-hand bike that was safe and sound.”

One interested group is the Community Bicycle Network, but a project of that size would likely need a number of groups to get together, said its spokesperson Sherri Byer.

“Everybody would like to see (the bikes) go back into the community in some kind of goodwill manner,” Byer said in an interview yesterday.

“They could go back to community organizations and go to people on low income who need bikes. It would be nice to see something good done with them.”

Toronto police have been getting “continual requests and suggestions on just how to deal with these bikes,” said spokesperson Const. Wendy Drummond.

Bike Sharing Starts in the USA

Bicycle sharing has been around in most of the world for quite some time, now it is hitting the land of the automobile. The program is going to start in Washington DC. The symbolism here cannot be ignored.

A new public-private venture called SmartBike DC will make 120 bicycles available at 10 spots in central locations in the city. The automated program, which district officials say is the first of its kind in the nation, will operate in a similar fashion to car-sharing programs like Zipcar.

The district has teamed up with an advertiser, Clear Channel Outdoor, to put the bikes on the streets.

“There’s a lot of stress on our transit systems currently,” said Jim Sebastian, who manages bicycle and pedestrian programs for Washington’s Transportation Department. Offering another option, Mr. Sebastian said, “will help us reduce congestion and pollution,” as well as parking problems.

LED Cycling Jacket is a Winner

I have lights on my bike and I’m a safe rider; however, there is always room for improvenment. An inventor has created a jacket for cyclists that uses LED lights. The lights communicate to other cyclists and most importantly car drivers what the cyclist is doing. The jacket recently won an international design award. The BBC has the scoop.

The jacket uses an accelerometer to sense movement, changing the colour of LEDs on the back from green when accelerating, then to red when braking.

A tilt switch in the jacket also makes LEDs in the arm flash amber when the wearer lifts their arm to indicate a turn.

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