The cycling fitness app ByCycling: Automatic Cycling Tracker, wants to help its users earn a little extra money at their jobs by working with medium to large-sized employers in order to incentivize biking to work.
The idea is simple: ByCycling works directly with both its users and their employers in order to reach an agreement for the employer to pay ByCycling users for committing to work on their bikes, normally in the form of a small monetary payment. But the startup will also try to help users get paid vacation days or other smaller benefits.
“We believe the best way to have the necessary daily physical activity, when there is no time or motivation, is bike commuting; which is also the fastest, cleanest, cheapest and most efficient way of transportation within cities,” ByCycling CEO Jose Díaz said in a statement.
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ByCycling thinks its program could help people who work in bike-friendly cities spend less time in traffic. More importantly, the company wants to encourage people to be more active and healthy. ByCycling sees employers benefiting through the creation of a more happy office environment spurred by more active employees. The startup also sees its biking program helping create other ancillary, cost-related benefits for employers.
“We want to create healthy employees,” Diaz told Fast Company. “We know that companies are willing to spend some money to create a healthy lifestyle for their workforce–that way, they can save a lot of money through less sick leave and more productivity.”
ByCycling recently released its new iPhone app, and it is in the process of developing an Android app as well. Unlike other popular fitness and biking apps such as Strava, ByCycling doesn’t require the user to initiate the app in order to track their rides. The idea of not having to remember to hit start or stop on the app seems simple, but for people who might not be used to biking, especially on their commute, it could prove to be very useful.
Two years in the making, the app allows users to track their “Bike-to-Work” rides, routes, detailed stats, and total distance traveled. ByCycling also wants to encourage competition among colleagues by posting live leader boards.
The app automatically uses the user’s phone GPS to detect when they are riding their bike. ByCycling claims that with daily use, the app will drain less than six percent of an iPhone battery.
According to Fact Company, one of the first companies to test ByCycling is the Hague, Netherlands-based design firm Acato. Companies that have agreed to provide employees monthly monetary benefits for biking to work get to choose a budget, but the typically pay structure is roughly 25-30 cents per commuting kilometer. Acato says that the small biking fees add up to around $50 a month per participant.
The idea has potential to work well in bike-friendly cities around the world. But in places without bike paths or the proper infrastructure, an influx of less experienced bikers could do more harm than good.