Brussels – February 20, 2017
On February 20th, the Permanent Representation of Malta to the EU hosted, together with the European Cyclists’ Federation ECF, the final conference of the EU-funded project Bike2work: the main objective of this project was to encourage a significant modal shift from motorised commuting to cycling in several EU countries. Using a two-fold approach, the project targeted both employees’ behaviour through Bike2Work campaigns and encouraged employers to meet the needs of cyclists. The result is bicycle-friendly employers and employees’ using Cycling as a more sustainable form of commuting. The Austrian Mobility, the Bulgarian and Croatian Cycling Association, the Italian Federation of Friends of the Bicycle, the Green Revolution Association and the Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia contributed – together with ECF and other project partners – to a great project outcome. More info can be found at the following link.
During the final conference, CONEBI presented how Speed-EPACs can contribute to make more people cycle to work: Speed-EPACS make it possible for a bigger group of daily commuters to cycle to work and for longer distances. A study of the Cycling Embassy UK shows that a commuter is willing to cycle about 3km per day on average, which makes it possible to reach about 40% of the daily commuters. We see however that, with an EPAC (up to 25km/h) the distance a commuter is willing to cycle to work doubles reaching about 6km. With a Speed-EPAC, the distance doubles again and one is willing to cycle about 12km to go to work: in this perspective, almost 80% of the daily commuters can be reached.
Therefore, EPACs and Speed-EPACs offer great opportunities for the Bike2Work project and, on a broader level, constitute one of the best sustainable clean means of commuting for long distances.
