Employer-provided bicycle benefit and changes in commuting and overall physical activity: A quasi-experiment among...

This study aimed to evaluate whether an employer-provided bicycle benefit changes commuting behavior and overall physical activity in a municipal workforce.

Surveys from the Finnish Public Sector study in 2022 (pre-intervention) and 2024 (post-intervention) were used. The preregistered primary analysis was an intention-to-treat analysis. Employees in a municipality offering a bicycle benefit were propensity score-matched 1:2 to controls from a municipality without the benefit. Additional analyses included a per-protocol analysis (ie, the adopters) and an analysis of non-adopters (ie, nudge impact). Changes (2024 versus 2022) in weekly commuting kilometers were analyzed with propensity score-adjusted Poisson generalized estimating equation models.

In the intention-to-treat analysis, commuting by bicycle increased in the intervention group [rate ratio (RR) for 2024 compared with 2022=1.16, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.04-1.30] compared with controls (RR 0.93, 95% CI 0.80-1.09; P for group × time interaction 0.02), corresponding to a 2.4 km weekly increase. Car commuting decreased (RR 0.89, 95% CI 0.83-0.96 versus RR 1.00, 95% CI 0.94-1.07; P=0.02), corresponding to a 7.7 km/week reduction (≈236 km/year) and ≈26 kg reduction in CO2e per person annually. No changes were observed in winter commuting or overall physical activity. Effects were larger among participants with optimal health and work ability. Among adopters, summer cycling increased by 14.4 km/week (RR 1.64, 95% CI 1.35-2.00). Non-adopters showed no changes.

Availability of bicycle benefit increased bicycle commuting in summer weather and reduced car commuting, but effects were concentrated among healthier employees and adopters, suggesting that complementary measures may be needed to achieve broader health and climate impacts.