Coming up – Health Happens Here in the Workplace, April 30th at Microsoft in Mountain View
This second annual workplace wellness conference will shine the spotlight on how companies can incorporate active transportation into commute, facilities and wellness programs to improve employee health, retention and productivity! Register Today
Biking and walking are good for our health, the environment, and our pocket-books.
- Health: Active transportation builds exercise into our daily routines, reducing obesity and related diseases. Getting around on our own power also reduces air pollution. In addition, more active and physical mobility for adults and children enhances better mental and emotional well being. Traffic injuries and fatalities are also dramatically lower in countries with high levels of bike and pedestrian activities. Want to learn more? Check out this recent presentation to our Transportation Committee by ChangeLab Solutions and this brief from Active Living Research.
- Green: Active transportation is low impact on the environment – promoting walking and biking is critical to achieving GHG emission reductions and addressing climate change.
- Cost Effective:Active transportation makes financial sense — for individuals, companies, developers, and the public sector!
- The average American household spends an entire three months’ pay on transportation each year. Promoting active transportation such as walking and biking can bring these costs way down.
- From reduced health care expenses to lower parking costs, it really pays to promote biking to work. The Harvard Business Review found that employee wellness programs really make financial sense, and that employee weight loss improves companies’ bottom line. Also, free parking is expensive! Companies pay about $750 per employee per year to provide free parking, and it costs the same to build parking for 75 bikes as it does for just 4 cars. Read The High Cost of Free Parking (PDF Format) by Donald C. Shoup at the University of California Transportation Center for more information. Check out this summary of how companies benefit from promoting bike commutes from our friends at the Silicon Valley Bike Coalition!
- Currently, biking and walking make up 12 percent of trips, account for 14 percent of transportation-related fatalities, but cost just 1.6 percent of our federal transportation dollars. Moreover, bike and pedestrian facilities don’t cost much to maintain, are virtually free to “operate” and create more jobs per $1 spent than traditional road projects — making them a smart public investment.
- A study from the Outdoor Industry Foundation found that bicycling contributes to $133 billion dollars to the U.S economy and supports 1.1 million jobs in the U.S.
- The average American household spends an entire three months’ pay on transportation each year. Promoting active transportation such as walking and biking can bring these costs way down.
For all these reasons and more, the Silicon Valley Leadership Group advocates for and promotes biking and walking. We encourage increased member company participation in Bike to Work Month, as well as active commutes year round. We also advocate for bike and pedestrian programs and projects at the local, state and national level.
For more information on biking to work, check out Bike to Work 2013!
