Cycling, with or without an electric drive, is popular. However, currently only 1% of working Dutch people ride a business bicycle or e-bike. While more than 70% of the professionals are open to it. 92% of this group would like to see this facilitated by the employer. This is evident from a survey by ALD Automotive among almost 1.500 professionals, in which the interest in a company bicycle and the knowledge of the tax rules were mapped. 

'Our research shows that only 18% of employers promote the use of the bicycle or e-bike, says Lonneke van der Horst, Marketing & Innovation Director of ALD Automotive. So here is a great opportunity for business cycling. A barrier is the tax regulations: a third of the 1.500 respondents experience this as 'very difficult'. Almost half do not know what the options are with regard to leasing a bicycle or e-bike '. 

So there is still a lot of potential for the lease bike, concludes ALD Automotive. 'Because 92% of the professionals who are open to a lease bicycle indicate that they would like to arrange this via their employer. The preference is then for business leasing, especially among lease drivers, this form of leasing is the most popular. 47% of lease car drivers see a bicycle or e-bike as a nice addition to the car, so that they can see how they want to travel every day, 'says Van der Horst.  

Eliminate ambiguity surrounding tax rules

More than half of the Dutch people surveyed have heard of the lease bicycle, but are not yet familiar enough with it to know how it works exactly. From this year on, employees will pay an additional 7% for a lease bicycle. But almost half of the surveyed employees (46%) do not know this. 36% find the tax rules surrounding lease bicycles so unclear that it is even seen as a barrier.

ALD Automotive notices that not only employees have questions about tax regulations. 'We are seeing an increase in applications for a lease bicycle from the business community, but we also notice that a company bicycle leads to questions.' For the company bicycle, an employer may not pay an untaxed travel allowance for the kilometers that are ridden on the company bicycle made available, but you may reimburse the kilometers that the employee travels with his own means of transport. This combination leads to a lack of clarity on how to implement this in practice. There is still work to be done by government and providers to further clarify the scheme and provide more information on how employers can apply it in practice. '

Healthy, sustainable and less traffic jams

"By removing as many barriers to business cycling as possible, we are working on the common interests of employees, employers and the government," says Lonneke van der Horst. The study shows that health is the leading motivation (81%) for professionals to cycle to work. This is followed by 56% who consider the bicycle a cheaper alternative to cars or public transport and 43% who regard the bicycle as a sustainable alternative. Healthy employees, sustainable mobility and fewer traffic jams ultimately help us all '.

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