Paid to ride?
 

Workers Offered Cash to Get on Their Bikes




OSLO (Reuters) - Norwegian workers are being offered cash incentives to get on their bikes as part of a government drive to encourage pedal power and cut car use.



The scheme, which also aims to boost fitness, started on Monday in parts of the country and will pay municipal employees about 40 cents for every kilometer they cycle while on business.


"We want healthier employees and less sickness absence," Hans Ivar Soemme, leader of a "Healthy City" project at Sandnes municipality in southwest Norway, told Reuters. He said he did not know of any similar schemes elsewhere in the world.


Workers will get 43 cents for each kilometer they ride up to a maximum journey of 3.1 miles. The ride to and from work will not count.


Meanwhile, an estimated 75,000 cyclists rode their bikes to work on Monday to mark the annual "Bicycle to Work" campaign, many stopping for a free breakfast organized along cycle paths.


As part of a drive to make Norway's 4.5 million people healthier, the Nordic country will be the first in the world to outlaw smoking in bars and restaurants nationwide in 2004.