“Bike Friendly Building": Barcelona's badge to encourage civil servants to pedal to work

More than a fifth of city council workers cycle to their office

Certifying a building as being “bike friendly” might raise some eyebrows, but this is a very real initiative that exists in the city of Barcelona. It is specifically applied to buildings owned by the city council which are also the office places of local civil servants.

The aim of the badge is to encourage Barcelona public employees to take a two-wheeler and have a regularly sustainable commute to their workplace.

Since there is an approval involved that means that there are certain criteria that the buildings must meet in order to deserve the seal. There are, in fact, 38 such requirements divided into six themes:

• Bike and personal mobility vehicle (PMV) accessibility to the building
• Indoor or closed parking for bicycles and PMVs
• Outdoor parking for bicycles and PMVs
• Signage on bicycle and PMV access to the building
• Complementary services for users
• Policies to promote cycling and PMVs at work

At the time of writing, 30 municipal buildings in the Catalan capital have already received the certification badge and another 31 are in the process of evaluation. You can consult a map and a list of both groups of buildings here.

Part of the Barcelona government’s bicycle strategy

The audits of the buildings are just a part of a grander city strategy to promote cycling to work as a viable and environmentally conscious commuting option.

Other initiatives in the strategy include things like free loan of bicycles, mechanics training, and the organization of cycling outings.

In 2022, a mobility survey was carried out among City Council workers to find out current mobility habits and to help draw up the Barcelona City Council Travel Plan.

The results showed that 76% of municipal employees use sustainable modes of transportation on their way to work and back home. 21.2% of all employees used bicycles to get to their office.