Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands and bike rental company Hely have launched a bikeshare program with 150 shared bicycles for employees at Schiphol-East.
During the launch phase, these Hely shared bicycles can be used for free by employees of companies located at Schiphol-East. Companies can set up a business account at Hely’s website and employees can then sign up using the Hely app. There are five central bicycle parking facilities where employees can pick up and drop off the bikes. A previous bikeshare pilot was run to show that employees like to use bicycles for journeys on the Schiphol grounds, between the terminal, offices and parking lots. According to the partners, the introduction of these Hely-shared bikes is the next step toward a permanent bicycle-sharing service at the airport.
Schiphol launched this initiative to support the use of bicycles as a healthy and sustainable mode of transportation. The airport is working on creating good facilities and bike routes to the airport. These include a fast cycle route, bike parking with solar panels and a bicycle service point. Schiphol also encourages its staff to use bicycles by way of a bike plan and by compensating each kilometer cycled.
Richard Emmerink, director of strategy and airport planning at Schiphol, said, “The new shared bicycles are perfect for getting to a meeting in another building quickly, getting a sandwich during lunch or continuing your journey from the bus stop. We hope that many employees will make frequent use of bikes as an alternative to traveling by car. That will contribute to our goal of making transport to, from and at the airport more sustainable.”
For more key sustainability updates from the passenger terminal industry, click here.