Help me use my bike for work
14 January 2008
Hi, I'm looking for advice on using my bike for work: I'm an outreach worker for the NHS. I have been provided with a lease car for which the lease expires shortly. I have told my employer that I do not intend to lease or buy another car: instead I plan to use public transport and mainly my cycle for undertaking work.
I'm having trouble with this being taken seriously with management and wonder if you could offer any advice / examples of how to incorporate non-car based transport into effective work patterns.
Thanks!
Jo
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Comments
Help from the Government (and win a bike)
If you're interested in cycling for work, did you know that the Government has changed the legislation around purchasing bikes through business? The Green Transport Plan aims to encourage people to cycle to work through tax incentives. It could save you 50% of the cost of a new bike.
cycling in nhs
Jo,
I wish you luck and success.
I am a GP and cycle to work and on my visits when not on call for urgent calls.
My practice area is about 4 miles in diameter and we are in the middle.
We also are not an emergency service but the "what if" scenario is something that will be thrown at you. It helps to be able to detail journey times to your employer and compare them to what you would do by car or to your colleagues. For instance the initial opposition of my partners dissolved when they realised that I could get to many calls before them due to traffic/short cuts.
Your employers may have reasonable concerns that you will not achieve as much without a car. If journey times are longer would you consider meeting them halfway and starting 1/2 hr earlier for instance. It may be worth quoting the stuff about reduced sickness in cyclists but unfortunately do not have the references for you.
. If successful you will also have to contend with patients' attitudes which are variable. Normally just surprised but sometimes dismayed. and can be an initial drag on credibility. It helps to be able to look professional when knocking at the door. This can be challenging in a storm but is very achievable once you have got all the appropriate waterproof bags etc.
Have fun and remember it doesn't rain nearly as often or badly as the weathermen say.
Peter
Proving you don't need to be an essential car user
Has your NHS Trust a Health & Safety Policy on Driving? Do they honestly scutinise the real costs of car use at work and potential exposure under HSAWA? http://www.coxhepburnrisksolutions.co.uk/news/item.cfm?NewsItemID=446 (and other datasheets on driving at work).
It isn't clear what sort of outreach and what geographic area you cover - in a city the bike wins every time as you will take less than half the time to cover your appointments - as an example I had meetings on each hour between 08.00 and 11.00 at Victoria, Euston, Paddington, and Waterloo and managed all within 3 minutes of time taking around 15 minutes to travel across London each time. Only by bike is this possible.
Using public transport means that you are safer and able to use your time productively - taking/making phone calls, preparing papers for the next appointment etc. One social worker in Liverpool also noted that she was able to relate to clients far better when she turned up on a bike, and the bike could be taken inside for security - a notable politician relied on using his bike to make illicit forays wirth female friends, for this very reason - his car was never parked outside to give the game away. In resource terms on site recent work on rail stations indicates that the bicycle can deliver 7 times more passsengers to the trains for the area required by one passenger being delivered by car.
Why buy the bike yourself though - the workplace cycling tax deal does not need to provide personal bikes and it is cleaner to use the scheme to buy (or lease) a fleet of bikes for all employees to use.
A reply from Jo
Thanks, that's very interesting. Unfortunately I do not work in a city but cover a fairly rural area. However, I consider that using trains along with the bike is a realistic proposition it's just that I do not seem to be listened too as yet. I am contractually obliged to use a car so this is another area of difficulty - although to promote independence with clients we are continually told that we are not a transport service. How I would respond to 'emergencies' quickly is another point made to me by management although what these emergencies are ( I have 11 years in the post and we are also not an emergency service) have not yet been explained to me. Thanks to all for the suggestions so far.
Presuading employers
Tell them about Holland! There, the hospitals offer to finance bike purchase! Most important, tell them that they are making themselves look silly, and now a lot of people know about it.
Advice to Joe about lack of joined up thinking from the NHS
My sympathies, for a while I worked as a meter reader and resigned after they ordered me to drive everywhere. I now work as a social research interviewer and although having a car was a prerequisite of my job, I now manage without. I use public transport and sometimes bikes and work all over the place, and manage probably twice the number of calls on the national average. I find once I know the areas I can whiz round. I have a good relationship with my local second hand bike shop which means I can use cheap second hand bikes and leave them at railway stations - because I work in different areas simultaneously. Driving a car is actually bad for your health as well as causing pollution for others so they are really encouraging you to end up with sick notes! What a bad example to the people you visit - if you drive everywhere you are giivng an endorsement to unhealthy lifestyles.
Think of the money you will save the NHS not driving a car.
Cycling to work
The latest Which? magazine has an article about a related issue which I think you might find useful.
Hildegard
Link it to the public sector model
Traditionally, public sector hasn't been able to compete with the private sector on pay, so they've offered other things instead. E.g. more flexible hours, working from home, better benefits. Allowing employees this sort of control over their transport should just be another aspect of this; understanding that treating your employees well (which everyone should do, not just public sector!) is about more than just money.
Employers and cycling to work
1. See the Cycle Friendly Employers website, full of good advice, at http://www.cyclefriendlyemployers.org.uk/
2. Contact one of the Primary Care Trusts, e.g. Nottingham PCT, that has done much to promote cycling to work: http://www.nottinghamcity-pct.nhs.uk.
Be persistent and good luck!
Link the issue to health
Tell your employer that by using your bikes you and others will
a. increase your exercise and reduce your risk of cardio-vascular disease, obesity and the problems that accompany it and osteoporosis.
b. reduce traffic flows and congestion, particularly at peak times and on journeys to work and school
c. reduce vehicle emissions and the incidence of asthma
d. reduce CO2 emissions and the rate of climate change.
Get them to take up the Department for Transport Cycle to Work scheme which offers staff tax savings (equivalent to a 40% reduction) on the purchase of a bicycle and cycling equipment.
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