More than 30,000 teachers, civil servants avail of Greens’ cycle to work scheme

More than 30,000 teachers and civil servants have availed of the cycle to work scheme initiated when the Green Party was in government and which aims to encourage workers to leave their cars at home.

Figures across 14 of the 15 Government departments show that 6,715 civil servants and 24,317 teachers and staff in a variety of schools bought bicycles and used the tax relief scheme since its introduction in 2009.

The Department of Transport was the only Government department for which figures were not available from the Revenue-assisted scheme. Minister for Transport Shane Ross said his department had sought a report from the National Shared Services Office (NSSO) which provides human resources services across the Civil Service.

Demand for the initiative spiked during recession years from 2011 to 2013 and the latest statistics show a rising interest in 2019 and during the first quarter of this year.

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The figures were released as it emerged from coalition formation talks that the Green Party secured provision for €360 million to be spent annually on walking and cycling infrastructure.

Tax exemption

Under the scheme there is an exemption from benefit-in-kind tax where an employer buys a bicycle and safety equipment up to €1,000 for an employee to use to travel to work.

The equipment includes helmets, lights, bells, mirrors and locks but not child seats or trailers. The employee pays the cost back over a year through salary reductions.

Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy who sought the information in parliamentary questions praised the public service for showing a lead "because you want all sectors of society in trying to assist in changing our ways".

The statistics show the largest demand in the Department of Agriculture where 1,343 staff applied for the scheme with peak demand of 219 in 2012. So far this year 25 employees have applied for the scheme.

The Department or Rural and Community Development, established in 2017, had least interest with just 13 applicants including six last year and two to date this year.

Department of Education figures show 665 directly employed staff availed of the scheme while 24,317 teachers and staff in primary, voluntary, community and comprehensive schools also participated.

A number of departments included the cost of the scheme among them the Department of Social Protection where 1,153 employees availed of the scheme with an average spend of €809 each on a bicycle and equipment.

‘Match the desire’

In the Department of Justice 902 employees bought bicycles under the scheme while in Foreign Affairs there were 442 participants with highest demand in 2011 during the recession when 53 people applied for the scheme and 20 to date this year.

A total of 516 employees availed of the scheme in the Departments of Finance (187) Public Expenditure and Reform (138) and two linked State agencies - the Office of General Procurement (40) and the NSSO (151).

In Defence 280 staff availed of the scheme while 108 Department of Health employees participated with an average spend of €894 in 2013 when five employees participated and €752 in 2015 when 21 availed of the initiative.

Ms Murphy stressed the need to “build a cycling network rather than bits and pieces, to match the desire people have to safely cycle. It’s the unsafe locations or spots or pinch points that put people off.”

“We’ve a quality bus corridor for example on the N4 and there’s a cycle lane included in it. There isn’t anything more inappropriate than a double decker bus and a bike being mixed and you’ll see in other countries where they actually segregate the cycle lane.”

The Kildare North TD said more people come into the city every day on bikes than come in on the Luas and it demonstrated that “for a relatively small investment you can get a very big return”.