Surprise! Valentine’s Day is here. While most people are going to be buying heart-shaped chocolates and going to a nice dinner, we’re celebrating a little differently. At TransitScreen, we’re enjoying the holiday of love with the commutes and transit trends we love.
As a company, we love hearing about people and companies commuting by way of biking or metro. It definitely brings butterflies when we hear about companies encouraging their employees to leave their keys at home! This Valentine’s Day, we’re going to talk about some new crushes we’re really excited about.
An endless cycle
The individual commuter we’re falling in love with is former CEO and current chairwoman of Booking.com, Gillian Tans. Tans consistently chooses her bike as her preferred method of commuting. Even as a high-powered CEO of one of the biggest travel booking sites in the world. Okay, yes, she does most of her commuting in Amsterdam, but even so, we’re here for all of it.
Another Dutch commuter we’re loving: the prime minister, Mark Rutte. Nothing makes us happier than hearing about political leaders opting for alternative forms of commuting. This isn’t just a CEO or a VP of a company — this is the prime minister of the country choosing two wheels rather than four.
Please ride responsibly
For our company commuting crush, we’re coming back to the United States. We’ve written about New Belgium Brewing before. They give their employees a bicycle on their one-year anniversary, plus $200 towards race fees or maintenance costs. Amazing, we know. But they actually go beyond providing the hardware for a bike commute.
They started Team Wonderbike in 2005 for bike lovers. Now more than 14,000 members strong, this movement is what bike commuting is all about. Members don’t need to be New Belgium employees, they just need to love biking to work (and all other errands). There’s also a forum for members to share ideas, an online carbon-offset tracker, and fundraisers for bicycle associations.
The Tour de Fat is an annual event in which cyclists dress up and enjoy festivals, parades, and beer – all while celebrating bicycling. Since its inception in 2000, the event has raised nearly $6 million for local bicycle organizations and nonprofits. Don’t worry, participants enjoy their beverages after riding.
First- and last- (Swift)mile
Our last crush is one of our new partners: Swiftmile. You may not have heard of them yet, but you might have seen them! Swiftmile makes charging stations for electric scooters and bicycles. These stations are charge scooters while clearing up any clutter that could otherwise occur – killing two birds with one stone. While scooters don’t always replace an entire commute, they make the first and last miles a lot shorter and more bearable. If you haven’t seen them in your city yet, don’t worry! The company is planning to install 1,000 stations across the US by the end of 2020.
