Good morning everyone. As you know I've come to talk to you about the company's new plan to encourage employees to come to work by bike instead of by car. First of all, let's look at the benefits to employees.. One of the obvious benefits is financial— obviously it costs a lot to buy and run a car, and bicycles are much cheaper. Cyclists don't have to pay road tax or insurance, and the cost of buying and repairing a bike is much lower than for a car. So you'd save a lot of money by cycling. And for most employees, cycling will also reduce the amount of time it takes them to get to and from work... Certainly over the past ten or twenty years, traffic jams in the city have been getting more frequent, and worse, and now it's common for cyclists to overtake a line of cars that are stuck in traffic. The health benefits of the plan are probably well known, but I'll just run through them quickly... Studies have shown that cycling four miles a day halves the risk of heart disease, and people who cycle regularly will have a fitness level equivalent to being 10 years younger than those who don't. Another health benefit is that cycling can reduce stress, so it helps you to arrive at work or at home feeling good. Well, those are some of the benefits for employees. And of course, the company benefits too. Apart from the obvious advantage of having healthier, happier employees, who are more likely to show up on time for work because they haven't been delayed in traffic, the company can cut down on the amount of parking space it needs to provide. And the cost of land in the city is going up all the time, of course. Right... Well... let me just tell you a bit more about the plan itself. The company will lend you up to a thousand dollars to buy a bike and all the necessary safety equipment, and you won't have to pay any interest or any tax on that amount. You'll just repay it over two years. You are allowed to buy two bikes — but no more — with your loan, and that's if you live a long way from work. This allows you to cycle to your nearest station, leave one bike there, get a train, pick up the second bicycle at your arrival station, and then cycle from there to work.
Well, I hope I've said enough to encourage you to join the plan—it's a very good opportunity I think. If you've got any questions, you're welcome to ask me during the coffee break. But before that, I'll just show you a map of our area with the various cycle paths marked. Just to give you an idea how easy cycling is in this area.. There's the company in the center of the map, on the corner of Bedford Street and High Street. It's marked with an X. Right?... And the cycle routes are marked with dotted lines. So if you're coming to work from the west, you'll come along Bedford Street. The only detour you have to make is around the museum, but that doesn't take long. Then you get back on to Bedford Street, and go across High Street. Then. for those of you who are coming from the south, you come up South Street, and then before you get to High Street, you have to turn right. It's the small turning just after the library, not the one after the bookshop. And from there, it's just a couple of minutes to the office here. If you're coming in along Bedford Street from the east, it's very straightforward, you stay on that street apart from that little loop you have to do past the bus station.. ...And lastly, if you come from the north most of High Street doesn't have a cycle path. You have to turn off opposite the fire station, and cycle down there till you come into Bedford Street. So really, it couldn't be easier.. .. So if you'd like to.. |
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