Lease a Bike survey: Swapping your second car for a lease bike? Nearly 1 in 3 people working in Brussels are considering it.

If they were able to get a lease bike through work, almost 1 in 3 people working in Brussels (31 %) would consider getting rid of one family car. Such are the findings of a survey commissioned by Lease a Bike. Even though ‘company bikes’ can reduce the number of cars on the roads and deal with the shortage of parking spaces, the option is only available to 10.5 % of Brussels workers. 

The ‘company bike’ as a secret weapon against traffic jams and parking problems? According to a Lease a Bike survey it is perfectly possible! Close on one third of workers (31 %, as against 24 % of Belgian workers) would consider getting rid of one car if they were able to get their ‘dream’ bike through work. Yet, currently, only 10.5 % of workers, as against 13.9 % of Belgian workers, are able to avail of the scheme. Not quite half of Brussels workers (49.8 %, BE: 43 %) indicated that their employer wouldn’t be open to if they were to ask for it. Only 21.8 % (BE:19.8 %) of the employers might consider it, and 28.4 % (BE: 37.2 %) of the workers were unable to answer this question. Employers are mainly thought to dismiss the idea because of the cost involved (23.7 %, BE: 28.2 %), the hassle of organising it (17.6 %, BE: 15,4%) and because they are unfamiliar with the concept ‘bike leasing’ (8.2 %, BE: 9.5 %).

Another common perception is that you can only lease a bike if you’re working for a large corporation (34.2 %, BE: 40.7 %). Nothing could be further from the truth however: even the tiniest SME can avail of bike leasing.

“The notion that bike leasing is expensive, is incorrect. What’s more, this can even be done without any start-up costs for employers, and they are doing their workers a big favour. Leasing a bike is almost half cheaper for the latter than buying one, and, in addition, they can acquire the bike for a song at the end of the lease. These are the key reasons why bike leasing has become so popular this past year and why more and more workers are opting for a ‘company bike’ instead of a company car,” says Jaouad Auragh, spokesperson for Lease a Bike. “And if it helps to resolve traffic jams and parking problems, so much the better!”