Office notebook. “I replaced the metro with the bicycle during the 2019 transport strike. Avoiding the crowds during the Covid was one more reason to adopt the official bicycle, for 20 euros per month. Let it rain, let it wind, despite the sometimes worried comments from my entourage, every morning I go through the door with my bike and park it at the end of the courtyard, just at the entrance to the office ”, testifies Selma Khaled, 25, employee of a small company in the heart of Paris.
If everyone is not a fan of the bicycle, the “bobos” no longer have a monopoly. The little queen meets the needs of a growing population in urban areas. With a median distance from home to work of 5.2 kilometers in the main French agglomerations, it seduced a first escape of employees.
The function bike has just passed its first stage, confirmed on April 13 during the publication of the results of the sustainable mobility package barometer, launched in February by the government to assess the involvement of employers in this system. A little over 1,000 companies including L’Oréal, Michelin, Norauto, Atos, LCL and Arte, took part in the inventory carried out by the Ministry of Ecological Transition, the Ministry of Transport and the Ecological Transition Agency (Ademe). Even if the sustainable mobility package (FMD) is not the priority for HRDs, 20% of the companies questioned have implemented it. For nine out of ten companies, the use of this device benefits the bicycle.
“Replaced every three years”
Entered into force on May 11 2020 on the occasion of the first deconfinement, the sustainable mobility package is accessible to all employees – CDI, CDD, temporary, part-time, apprentices, trainees. It allows the employer to cover all or part of the mobility costs, whether he chooses to acquire a fleet of bicycles made available to employees or to co-finance the rental of an individual bike, exempted in the limit of 500 euros per employee and per year from 2021. A financial advantage which, combined with the costs of teleworking equipment deductible from income up to 550 euros, can save the employee more than 1,000 euros per year.
Many providers of mechanical and electric bikes fleets quickly took the right wagon by investing in this new market: Starbolt, Tim Sports, 2R Aventure, Bee.Cycle, Azfalte, ID Movnig, etc. “I was in contact with Tim Sports before the confinement to introduce sports activity into the company, says Jérôme Malaize, CTO of dubbing company Dubbing Brothers. The Covid gave us the opportunity to prevent employees from taking public transport to Plaine-Saint-Denis. We cover 70% of the cost of the bike which is revised every six months and replaced every three years. This is a real advantage and it allows to have employees who arrive on time. All our employees who are less than 15 kilometers away were interested ”.
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