The disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is prompting some to take a look at their driving habits and whether there are ways to curb car dependence. As a business, what can you do?

Promote biking to work. Granted, this may not be possible for everyone, and it depends on the location of your company. But, if you’re located in an urban setting, it could be quite feasible for workers living nearby.

Your business can help by providing a safe place for employees to store their bikes during the workday. That could be a bike rack in the front of the building or possibly an indoor space. Also, set aside an area where employees can freshen up and even shower after biking to work. In the summer, they’ll appreciate this (and so will their co-workers).

Offer incentives to employees who bike to work – a free bike helmet or a gift card for biking a certain number of miles.

Promote public transportation. Again, this depends on your location and the availability of subways, buses or trains. If those are accessible to your employees, encourage their use by making schedules and maps readily available. You may also offer to reimburse employees for a portion of the public transportation costs as an incentive.

If public transportation isn’t available to everyone, encourage employees to carpool – especially great for employees who live in the suburbs and drive into downtown for work.

It doesn’t take much effort for your business, but the impact is large. Take a look at these stats from BicycleUniverse.info:

• If every commuter car in the U.S. carried just one more person, we’d save 8 billion gallons of gas a year.
• Using a bicycle to commute four days a week for four miles (one-way) saves 54 gallons of gas annually.

Some more good information on how to start a bike-to-work program is available in this article from Inc. magazine.