Our Bike to Work campaign was organized in frame of the Life-Cycle project from 2008-2011.

Objective of the project

The LIFE CYCLE partnership of 10 groups in 9 countries aims to make cycling the natural means of daily transport. Together, public health and city officials, transportation experts and cyclists groups focus on changing sedentary lifestyles into active ones by adding physical activity to daily routines. Promoting a physically active lifestyle, LIFE CYCLE fights the growing obesity and overweight trends. LIFE CYCLE is all about cycling, from kindergarten through retirement. From early childhood, cycling becomes an enjoyable part of life. Later kids get to school by bike. Then people bike to work or to shops and keep on cycling as long as possible to stay healthy and mobile in high age as well. This way, the project is creating a life-long approach for cycling to prevent lifestyles to become dominated by motorised transportation through adding physical activity to mostly sedentary lifestyles. Part of the EU’s Public Health Programme, LIFE CYCLE will produce a manual showing how to carry out tested actions so that you too can create a lifetime of cycling.

Approach of the project

The main objective of LIFE CYCLE is displaying high ambitions and high expectations to the project’s work. The approach used to fulfil both takes up problems and potentials from the fields of public health and mobility and creates a simple and efficient mean to foster physical activity: it is reintegrated into daily transport routines by changing people’s mobility behaviour and their perception in favour of cycling. People do not even have to spend additional time for it. The key element is to include 30 min of moderate physical activity in people’s daily life.

The two key words for LIFE CYCLE are ‘perception’ and ‘motivation’.

To change the mobility behaviour of people, the mainly subjective perception of the different modes of transport needs to be put on an objective level. To point people at the real performance it needs the creation of a positive image for cycling as early as possible as well as its maintenance during life. But changed perception on its own might not be enough to realise a behaviour change. This needs practical experience. Motivating users to test cycling is therefore elementary. LIFE CYCLE is based on a motivational approach providing people in their respective life phase with tailored actions to start or keep cycling.

Partners of the project

• FGM-AMOR, Austrian Mobility Research (coordinator), Graz, AT
• European Cyclists’ Federation, Brussels, BE
• Allgemeiner Deutscher Fahrrad Club, Bremen, DE
• CTC, Charitable Trust, Guildford, UK 
• Fietserbond, Berchem, BE
• Verkehrs-Club Liechtenstein, Vaduz, LI
• Hungarian Cyclists' Club, Budapest, HU
• Municipality of Aveiro, Aveiro, PT
• Municipality of Krakow, Krakow, PL
• Institute of Public Health of the Republic of Slovenia, Ljubljana, SI

Project Website

http://www.lifecycle.cc