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ABN AMRO is encouraging its team to consider the impact of short car journeys into the centre of Town by providing an alternative means of transport.
Each week, the 135-strong team, travel in and out of the centre of Town dozens of times and so the Dutch bank has now provided two electric bikes as a quicker, easier and more environmentally-friendly alternative.
‘Our Admiral Park office is fabulous with some of the best views in the island but every day our team goes into the centre of town for meetings. It’s not an effective use of time to walk but we were concerned at the impact of so many short car journeys on the environment, the increase in traffic and of us taking up parking spaces which I am sure the Town traders would prefer to be used by shoppers,’ said Pim van den Heuvel, chief executive at ABN AMRO.
‘We are a Dutch bank and it is quite common in Holland for our employees to use bikes to get around and so we decided to do the same and provide two electric bikes so that our team can get in and out of Town far quicker and without any of the stress of traffic and parking, plus they will benefit from having fresh air. We are hoping that we can reduce our corporate mileage by hundreds over a year and hope other companies will be inspired to do the same.’
The two electric bikes, which have been branded with ABN AMRO logos, will be charged in the bank’s garage and will be available on a first come, first served basis for all business-related travel. Helmets have been provided to ensure staff are safe.
‘If the demand is there then we can offer it to staff if they want to go into Town during their lunch hours and purchase extra bikes. The more journeys that we can make by bike, the bigger the benefit will be,’ said Mr van den Heuvel.
