Cycle2Work - how to promote?

marmitecp

This seems more relevant here than campaign.

The company I work for has decided to implement a cycle2work scheme. Chosen provider is Cycle Scheme which is pretty good as they tend to include good LBS's plus national brands such as Planet X.

The company has 34000 employees with 1000 on the site I work from. I've volunteered to help promote the scheme on site and encourage take up.

I've already enlisted the help of the most local bike shop to come onsite and were timing the launch to coincide with World Environment Day on June 5th. The LBS will be bringing in a few bikes to set up in the staff restaurant and we'll have a few stands with posters, hand out leaflets etc. We'll also have the application packs ready to give out and discuss the financials of the scheme with staff.

Has anybody got experience of doing something similar and willing to share any hints and tips?

To be honest seeing some the standard of some cyclists in this warm weather, I'm petrified that someone will be encouraged to start commuting and come a cropper, blaming me or the company in the process. With this in mind, some sort of training provider may be appropriate.

Any comments appreciated.

Jamey

It sucks that you have to think about things like getting sued but yes, I agree, promoting some sort of cycle training for inexperienced riders is a good idea. You should definitely do that.

I guess the main thing that most people want to know is how much money they can save. That's the big draw so I'd go straight in with the numbers. Tell them the retail price, the total price they'd pay, the monthly repayments... Tell them that the company almost never takes the bike back at the end and they'll probably get to keep it for next-to-nothing.

And give them the model name of the bike so when they get back to their computer they can check the retail price for themselves and see how much they really are saving.

That whole thing about "what happens at the end of the 18 months?" is the only messy bit, at least in terms of explaining it clearly and concisely... If I were you, I'd work on some easy-to-understand answers to that question. It's a little bit of a grey area and you need to be completely honest about the fact they may not end up owning the bike whilst still stressing that the chances are good that they will.

mrchrispy

a mates place want 10 quid for the bike after a year, if you decide not to keep it they'll charge to 40 quid for disposal

pitty my company cant be bothered with the 'hassel'

secretsam

posters and e-mails summarising the plus points and addressing people's issues
ditto explaining the C2Work scheme
Get a London to Brighton team going
Get work to offer an incentive, or mention the facilities that exist to make life easier (eg showers, racks, etc, if present)

HTH

spring91

Does your company have an Intranet? If so, see if you can get a site set up which you can use to promote cycling.