{"id":24619,"date":"2016-03-17T04:19:58","date_gmt":"2016-03-17T04:19:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145710.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=24619"},"modified":"2016-03-17T21:25:48","modified_gmt":"2016-03-17T21:25:48","slug":"milan-offers-cash-cycle-incentive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/milan-offers-cash-cycle-incentive\/","title":{"rendered":"Milan to Offer Cash-to-Cycle Commuter Incentive"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Italy, officials are targeting pollution<\/a> with a different strategy. As reported<\/a> by the Guardian<\/em>, Milan<\/a>, the ‘economic powerhouse of Italy,’ and home to countless Vespas and Fiat500s, looks to bring the bicycle back in force by paying citizens to cycle to work.<\/p>\n

As a city with a history of being auto-centric, a grave pollution problem, and erratic driving habits, Milan seems like an unlikely candidate for ‘Bike City of the Year.’ However, after reaching dangerous levels of pollution along with other areas of the country, Milan announced in December the beginning of a \u20ac35 million (approximately $39 million) fund dedicated to ‘sustainable mobility solutions.’ This came after a mandated period when all traffic ceased<\/a> due to rising concerns about pollution.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 Daniel Steger<\/a> for openphoto.net<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Milan’s councilor for mobility Pierfrancesco Maran will be one of many competing for the state cash \u2013 looking to improve the city’s bike infrastructure and build upon a successful bike sharing<\/a> program.<\/p>\n

\u201cReimburse those who go to work by bike; a project similar to the one in France<\/a>,\u201d says Maran.<\/p>\n

Maran is referring to a system the French tried in 2014<\/a> in which commuters were paid per kilometer if they cycled to work. A similar situation is being used in the small town of Massarosa in Tuscany where it has been reported<\/a> that 50 people are eligible to take part.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe software exists; it\u2019s not 100% flawless but no one\u2019s thinking of giving large sums,\u201d Maran says in regards to implementing a similar system on a much larger scale. His office suggests using an app to log user’s cycling.<\/p>\n

Eleanora Perotto, mobility manger for Milan’s Polytechnic University, has been advising Maran on how to effectively implement such a system.<\/p>\n

How does an app verify that someone is actually cycling to work as opposed to driving? Milan’s traffic could make this difficult. \u201cIn the city, those who travel by bike are almost faster than cars,\u201d Perotto said. Simply collecting a person’s traveling speed may not be effective.<\/p>\n

\"FreeImages.com\/Enzo
FreeImages.com\/Enzo Forciniti<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Perotto supports the cycling initiative in Milan but admits she does not cycle to work due to the distance and strenuous nature of the trip. This squarely presents the difficult task of changing people’s habits and attitudes toward cycling and transportation in general. Sometimes, money just is not a strong enough incentive to make this change. The French system failed to produce outstanding results with a small percentage of people signing up out of the 8,000 eligible.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, it seems that infrastructure and safety concerns around cycling are major contributors when it comes to people’s cycling decisions. Ralph Buehler, an associate professor in urban affairs and planning at Virginia Tech,<\/a> suggests that a pay-to-bike system in itself is not enough to change most people’s transportation habits. He suggests several different incentives working together.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t provide a safe cycling environment, you will only get a very small group of people,\u201d Buehler said. \u201cJust paying people alone will not have that much of an effect, because you don\u2019t get to that part of the population which are \u2018enthusiastic but concerned\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FreeImages.com\/fcl1971\"
FreeImages.com\/fcl1971<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A program in Belgium sees more employees cycling to work when companies offer incentives. However, the incentives are coupled with incentives to drive, such as company cars, which detracts greatly<\/a> from the potentially effective cycle-to-work scheme.<\/p>\n

It seems that throwing money at people to get them to take up cycling will not be enough. Removing financial incentives to drive<\/a>, safe and accommodating infrastructure<\/a>, combined with financial incentives for cyclists seems to be a grouping that is getting results despite the relative ease and comfort of driving.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Italy, officials are targeting pollution with a different strategy. As reported by the Guardian, Milan, the ‘economic powerhouse of Italy,’ and home to countless Vespas and Fiat500s, looks to bring the bicycle back in force by paying citizens to cycle to work. As a city with a history of being auto-centric, a grave pollution …<\/p>\n

Milan to Offer Cash-to-Cycle Commuter Incentive<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":144,"featured_media":24628,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,20],"tags":[1279,615,362,1633,1634,367,192,759],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/2-5.jpg",802,542,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/2-5-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/2-5-300x203.jpg",300,203,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/2-5-768x519.jpg",768,519,true],"large":["https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/2-5-800x541.jpg",800,541,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/2-5.jpg",802,542,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/2-5.jpg",802,542,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Kyle Park Points","author_link":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/author\/kylepoints\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"In Italy, officials are targeting pollution with a different strategy. As reported by the Guardian, Milan, the ‘economic powerhouse of Italy,’ and home to countless Vespas and Fiat500s, looks to bring the bicycle back in force by paying citizens to cycle to work. As a city with a history of being auto-centric, a grave pollution…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24619"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/144"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikocity.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}