Commuter bikes have become extremely popular in Stalatube. Our employees Lauri Salo and Sami Turunen came up with the idea of a company bike and started to promote the idea. The idea was immediately supported by the employer and took off. Today almost 50% of the Finnish workforce have an employee bike.
We have calculated the savings in emissions from two employees who commute to work using the company bike as a rule. The emissions calculations are for the commuting trip only and do not take into account, for example, the charging of the e-bike. In the example calculation, one person commutes by bicycle and the other by electric bike and these are compared to a trip using a petrol car. Below you can see the emissions caused by the journeys made during the year.
| Electric bike | Petrol car | Bicycle | Petrol car | |
| Distance | 6240 km | 6240 km | 2880 km | 2880 km |
| Total emissions | 12 kg CO2e | 940 kg CO2e | 0 kg CO2e | 420 kg CO2e |
Our employee Juha Nurmivaara has been commuting by electric bike all the way from Nastola for over a year. He travels 34 kilometers a day and the journey takes only about 30-40 minutes each way.
When you get home, it’s nice to know that you’ve already done your workout for the day if you don’t have the energy in the evening, says Juha.
Juha cycles to work in summer and winter. The enthusiasm for cycling is still there on weekends, when Juha makes longer cycling trips.
The employment advantage lowered the threshold to buy a more expensive electric bike and you can go longer distances on an e-bike with a lower threshold. My fitness has increased significantly and I have lost 26 kilos of weight over the year, says Juha.
Our employee Maiju Taylor also cycles to work every day, but she hasn’t given up her original bicycle yet.
Cycling has become a habit and I know that once I get an electric bike, there’s no going back to the old days, laughs Maiju.
For her, too, the weather conditions are not an obstacle.
The more challenging the weather, the more of a winner I feel. I’m also really grateful to my employer for the good shelter for the bikes and the good changing rooms at work that support commuting cycling, says Maiju.
Taking advantage of the work bike benefit can bring significant savings compared to buying a bike directly for yourself. You can save up to €1,000 on a company bike purchased through a leasing agreement compared to the direct purchase price of a new bike.
This year we are also taking part in the Kilometrikisa Challenge, where you pedal and accumulate kilometres in teams. All the kilometers pedalled add to Stalatube’s Kilometrikisa record and of course to your fitness, as well as raising euros for the Red Cross in the Chain Reaction Campaign.
Just put on your helmet and a smile – safe kilometers for all!