Working Out to Work: The QBP Commuter Program
What better way to experience the pure joy and freedom of cycling than gliding past traffic jams on your way to work? And what better way to make a meaningful contribution to the health of our planet? Fewer cars on the road means less green house gases and better quality of life for all. That’s why we created the QBP Commuter Program. By rewarding employees who bike to work or use other earth-friendly modes of transport, we’re taking a small—but bold—step toward an environmentally sustainable future.
Launch Your Own Commuter Program
Bike commuters enjoy better health, an increased sense of community and pride about the work place that supports them. With a little planning and effort, you can create a thriving commuter program in your organization. We chose to focus on bicycle commuting for obvious reasons, but you can take our program and apply it to any mode you wish. We’re happy to share our knowledge and experience here. Hopefully, it will help you ease on down the road to a leaner, greener future.
See you on the trails!
How It Works: Scoring Different Types of Commuting
QBP awards credits to employees who travel to work via human power—biking, walking, running, skating, skiing, etc—or use alternative transportation options like buses, car pools or motorcycles.The more trips they log, the more credits they get. Our commuters can cash in their credits for QBP products like bikes, parts, accessories and apparel. Of course, not every organization has a warehouse full of bike products to offer. Gift cards, prizes and cash incentives are popular options that could work for you. The key is supporting and recognizing the achievements of your commuters.
Calculating Credits
Credits are determined by a scoring system awarding points to transportation modes that:
- Use bicycles, increase product knowledge and promote the products we sell—4 points
- Promote good health—3 points
- Lower environmental impact—3 points
- Reduce the need for parking—2 points
- Ease traffic congestion—1 points
Naturally, being in the bike business, we award top points to bicycles. Bike commuters ring bells in each of the five categories above, earning 13 points for riding five miles or more in a single direction. That translates into five commuter credits, totaling 10 credits for the round trip. Other forms of transportation are scored on the same scale. So while our credit system is biased toward bikes, it can easily be adapted to the suit the goals of your organization. See the table below for details.
QBP Commuter Program Score Chart
| Commute Type | Scores |
|||||
| Mode | Bikes |
Health |
Enviro |
Park |
Traffic |
Total |
| Bike over 5 miles | 4 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
13 |
| Bike under 5 miles but rider exceeds 5 miles by riding more |
4 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
13 |
| Bike over 5 miles with electric assist |
4 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
12 |
| Car Pool: Driver + 3 passengers or more* |
0 |
0 |
3 |
6 |
3 |
12 |
| Bike under 5 miles | 4 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
12 |
| Walk, skate, ski, run, etc | 1 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
10 |
| Bike under 5 miles with electric assist |
4 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
10 |
| Bike primarily with electric assist |
4 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
9 |
| Car Pool: Driver + 2 passengers* |
0 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
8 |
| Bus | 0 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
6 |
| Car Pool: Driver + 1 passenger* |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
| Motorcycles | 0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
| Car that gets more than 50 mpg |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
*NOTE: Car Pooling credits are assigned to the driver, not the passengers.
Determining Credit Values
Add up the scores for each rider, using this convenient table to calculate total commuter credits. We give people .30 cents per commuter credit for each one-way trip. So if they bike over 5 miles each direction, they receive $3.00 in commuter credits each day.
| Total Points | Commuter Credits |
| 13 | 5 |
| 11 - 12 | 4 |
| 9 - 10 | 3 |
| 4 - 8 | 2 |
| 2 or 3 | 1 |
| 1 | 0 |
Turn Up the Heat with Competition: The QBP Commuter Bike League
Want to inspire more of your employees to bike? Add a little friendly competition to the mix. After QBP launched the Commuter Bike League (CBL) in early 2007, bike commuting increased dramatically. Ten teams of riders contend to log the most trips every two weeks. Apart from helping QBP achieve its environmental goals, the CBL builds camaraderie and team spirit, bringing people together from across the organization. The League has proven so popular we had to create a waiting list for would-be road warriors. To learn more about creating a Commuter Bike League contact Doug Shidell, QBP CBL Organizer at dshidell@qbp.com. You can also read our news story on the Press & Awards page of our site.
Creating a Bike Friendly Infrastructure
QBP also provides basic infrastructural support for the Commuter Program, including bike racks, locker rooms with showers, and a tool shop where cyclists can maintain and repair their bikes. During construction of the new building, we redeveloped the entrance to Hyland Lake Preserve—which is adjacent to QBP—making its bike trails more accessible to employees. We also added eight parking spaces in our lot designated for park users.
Resources for Creating a Commuter Program
Education is part of our company’s mission, so we are glad to provide you with details and resources for structuring your commuter program. Contact Doug Shidell, director of the QBP Commuter Program, for more information: dshidell@qbp.com.
QBP Commuters Claim the High Road
Can one bike commuter really make a difference? Absolutely! Especially when working in conjunction with lots of other bike commuters. Riding an average one-way trip of 12.5 miles, our Q-Muters logged some big numbers in 2007. Between January and October we rode a collective 226,255 miles—almost as far as the moon! (Though not quite, the Big Cheese is parked about 240,000 miles from Earth). That works out to 1,178 miles a day. With all that spinning going on we cranked out some impressive stats:
• Bicyclists logged 77 percent of all QBP Commuter Credit miles
• 261 QBP employees rode a bike to work at least once this year
• More than 90 rode to work at least 20 times this year
• Riders totaled 18,616 one-way trips
Recognizing the efforts of our Commuter Bike League (CBL), we awarded 84 members with special CBL t-shirts for riding to work at least 20 times*. Only in its first year, the CBL had a huge impact on our overall commuting effort. We nearly doubled the number of miles we logged over last year and saw a 14 percent increase in employees who biked to work at least once. When the CBL was launched in February 2007, our goal was to increase bike commuting by 25 to 50 percent during the year. While that seemed incredibly ambitious at the time, now it seems pretty conservative. The miles sure do slip away when you’re having fun.
*12 other high achievers chose not to join CBL. Time on the open road was their reward. And, of course, we think that’s the greatest reward of all.