Finland: Kuopio values employee cycling

Kuopio is a city located in the region of Northern Savonia, Finland. Its population of 105 229 makes it the ninth biggest city in the country. Kuopio was part of the joint WHO/EC project on promoting networking and action on healthy and equitable environments for physical activity (PHAN) which ran from February 2010 to January 2013. As part of this project, officials from the municipality used the HEAT to estimate the value of cycling done by their employees.

An online survey was used to estimate the number of people cycling and duration cycled. A number of assumptions were made including the number of people cycling and average duration cycled over a four-week period.

As a result, the annual number of prevented deaths varied between 0.29–5.66, and the current value of the average annual benefit, averaged across 10 years, varied between €396 000 and €7 604 000.

The results of the HEAT were used to help secure agreement for the promotion of commuter cycling, especially during the winter, with particular consideration given to winter maintenance and storage services.

Future use of the HEAT includes a project to promote cycling among large employers situated close to an existing cycle route perceived to be dangerous.