Company bikes in Germany – Are they associated with the frequency of bicycle commuting and everyday cycling?

This is an accepted article with a DOI pre-assigned that is not yet published.Company bikes have become popular in Germany in the last decade, yet little is known about company bike users and whether these bicycles are associated with higher levels of cycling. This paper aims to closing this knowledge gap by drawing on a quantitative survey among the German labour force population. With multinomial logit regression models, it explores the association of company bikes and other determinants with bicycle use for commuting trips and in everyday life. The analyses include socio-demographic and economic characteristics, household transport options, attitudes and motives for cycling, as well as weather resistance. Provision of showers and bicycle parking at workplaces and commuting distance are additionally included in a bicycle commuting model. The results show that in comparison to no or very low frequence of bicycle use, the use of a company bike is positively associated with cycling to work occasionally or most of the time but not with the most frequent bicycle commute ('always'). However, there is no indication that the availability of company bikes corresponds with more frequent everyday cycling in general. Owning an e-bike is positively associated with more frequent cycling in both models for commuting and for everyday cycling. In addition, the survey underpins the relevance of other variables associated with more frequent cycling as found in relevant literature, such as cycling-friendly attitudes and motives, weather resistance and shorter distances between home and work. These findings add to the existing body of knowledge on factors associated with frequent cycling commutes and everyday bicycle use.