The fifth year of the nationwide Bike to work competition has finished with the last day of May more successfully than ever before. 7,260 participants formed in 2,475 teams, from 1,156 companies and institutions in 25 cities rode together almost one and half million kilometers which is almost 35 times the distance around the globe. The competition has proven that the interest of Czechs in city cycling grows rapidly each year.
“We are very happy that there are more and more cities, people and companies newly participating in the campaign each year,” says Lukáš Eršil, Bike to work general coordinator. And the numbers show that he is right. The total amount of participants has increased more than six times compared with the first year of the competition (there were only approx. 1,200 participants in 2011) and the number of cities involved increased even more – from two to 25 cities.
All the Bike to work participants have spared approx. 210 tons of carbon dioxide and hundreds tons of other dangerous pollutants which would have been emitted in the air if these people had used cars instead of bikes. However, this is not the only way the competition changes our environment. There are more and more companies supporting their employees in this sustainable and considerate way of transport and more local politicians improving conditions for cycling in their municipalities and regions thanks to this nationwide campaign.
At the beginning of June final ceremony is organized in each of the participating towns and those who rode their bikes the most frequently or the longest distances in May are rewarded. Each year, companies with the best conditions for their “cycling employees” are rewarded with the “Bike-employer of the year” title and receive valuable prizes.
Companies that have deployed the most participants into the competition this year were ČSOB bank with 271 participants and Komerční banka with 178 participants. Thanks to strong media partners like Czech Television, Radio Expres, magazine Velo and the auspices of the City of Prague Bike to work was able to offer great visibility also to its partners (TNT, the Dutch Embassy, TDK, ABRA, ING and others). We hope that many people will retain bicycle as the main transport means also after the competition and that the next year will be even bigger.
Thank you for joining us and ride with us next year!
