Almost 1.9 million kilometers were covered this year by the participants of the Slovakian campaign "Bike to Work". More than a hundred Slovak cities and municipalities participated in the competition. By exchanging the car for a bicycle, whether they went to work on foot or by public transport, they saved more than 550,000 kg of CO2.

"We take the development of bicycle transport seriously," said Slovak Transport Minister Andrej Doležal. "We have an unprecedented amount of money, more than EUR 100 million, for the development of cycling transport," he added. The campaign should help set the effective use of these funds. Its participants can send requests for infrastructure improvements to the campaign organizers.

The "Bike to Work" campaign is a competition that aims to positively influence a wide range of individuals, organizations, and institutions in cities in favour of short-distance bicycle use. In 2022, this campaign ran from June 1 to 30 for those who, in accordance with the competition statute, officially registered on the website www.dopracenabicykli.eu.

"People can collect points easily by adding one's routes to or from work on the official campaign website, then just choose their means of transport, by foot, bike or public transport," describes national cycling coordinator Peter Klučka, how it is possible to get involved in the competition. Participants can also use the mobile application, which can be downloaded from the campaign's official website. 

The electronic registration system brings an advantageous opportunity for the participating municipalities to obtain data on the most frequently used routes, which they can later use when planning the construction of a safe cycling infrastructure. At the same time, cyclists can operatively use the campaign's registration system to report deficiencies in cycling infrastructure to local road managers.

About Bike to Work Campaign in Slovakia

„Bike to Work“ is a national campaign with a main goal to support the development of non-motorized transport (especially cycling transport), with the intention of increasing the share of cycling transport on the total division of transport labour in Slovak towns and municipalities, consequently to call on local governments in Slovakia to create quality conditions for ecological modes of transport in the city, to motivate employers to build suitable conditions in their headquarters for employees commuting by bicycle (bicycle storage places, showers, changing rooms) and motivate all employees to use more of this form of alternative transport when commuting to work on a daily basis.

The coordinator and professional guarantor of the competition is the civic association (NGO) Občianska cykloiniciatíva Banská Bystrica (English "Civic Cycle Initiative Banská Bystrica"), while the Ministry of Transport and Construction of the Slovak Republic also participates in it. You can find more about the competition on the website www.dopracenabicykli.eu.