Hāereere Wāhi Mahi Toitū
Sustainable workplace travel

New ways to move around the capital

New transport infrastructure programmes like Paneke Pōneke are making it easier for people to choose more sustainable transport options. Workplaces can help rethink how we use our transport network to get to and from work.

Benefits of sustainable travel 

Improves staff health and wellbeing 

Walking and biking boosts physical fitness and enhances the mental well-being of your workforce. 

Reduces workplace emissions  

Transport makes up approximately 56.2% of the city's overall emissions, so changing how we travel has a big impact in Pōneke. Moving your workplace to more sustainable transport can help reduce city emissions and meet your workplace's sustainability goals. 

Reduced costs 

Encouraging sustainable transport options can help reduce fleet and fuel costs. Staff commuting sustainably also reduces their individual travel costs.

How we can work with you

Our team has a wealth of knowledge about sustainable transport opportunities for Wellington workplaces. We can connect you with helpful people and resources, as well as discuss ways to encourage active and public transport to reach your workplace goals in sustainability, carbon-emissions reduction or staff well-being.

Let’s kōrero. Email us at sustainable.transport@wcc.govt.nz to set up a time to chat, or to receive our email updates.

Workplace commuting survey

To understand your staff’s current commuting habits and opportunities for other travel choices, we recommend running a workplace travel survey – along with other ways of data collection, such as assessing your physical site and policies. Check out NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi's travel planning toolkit for further information.

You can now use our staff commuting Microsoft Forms survey, complete with branching questions and automatic results presentation for your workpace. Alternatively, use our list of questions (121KB DOCX) to set up your own survey using your application of choice.

Get survey template

Help your team travel more sustainably

Facilities for active commuting

As safe bike and scooter routes and walking improvements are implemented across the city to make active commuting safer and easier, workplaces can do their bit by providing:

• changing rooms and showers
• storage such as lockers
• a place where people can dry wet rainjackets and rainpants
• sufficient, secure, and accessible parking for bikes and scooters.

For useful links to examples and advice, please refer to the resources section.

Fringe benefit tax exemptions 

Bikes, e-bikes, scooters, electric scooters, public transport and micromobility share services are exempt from fringe benefit tax where they are being used for commuting to and from work. Businesses can take advantage of this to help support their staff to commute more sustainably at a reduced cost.

NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi has guidance for employers on how to set up e-bike purchase support schemes.

Ride-to-work staff benefit programmes: Workride and The Wheel Deal

To make it easy for employers to provide a ride-to-work benefit to staff, Workride and The Wheel Deal provide employers free access to their programmes. They help workplaces manage administration of the programme and ensure tax compliance.

Staff are able to select any new bike, e-bike or scooter from any retail store participating in the programme. The chosen bike can be used almost immediately, while a salary sacrifice allows the employer to recoup the cost in full over the course of 12 months.

Find out more on the Workride website and the Wheel Deal website.

Workplace e-bike fleets and public share micromobility 

Local bike shops in Wellington can help with setting up a fleet of e-bikes for your staff to use, as well as providing short-term hires or longer term subscriptions for staff looking to trial riding to work. See bike shops in Wellington (Google Maps) .

Staff can also make use of public e-scooter and e-bike share schemes operating in Wellington.

Upskill your staff

Bikespace

Bikespace is our free bike workshop on the waterfront. It includes a mock bus bike rack for people to practice putting their bike on the bus. The Mobile Bikespace – a cargo bike kitted out with everything needed to do repairs on the run – can visit your workplace and help your team become more bike savvy. To book a workspace visit or find out more, email bikespace@wcc.govt.nz.

Note: From 9 November 2024, Metlink has temporarily stopped the use of bike racks on its buses until further notice, following guidance from the NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi.

Pedal Ready 

Pedal Ready offers free cycle skills training and they can visit your workplace. Find out more on the Pedal Ready website.