Steven Fagard, staff member mobility management at the province of Flemish Brabant, will be seconded to Brussels Airport for two years to boost bike commuting.
Traffic density around the capital is increasing year after year, negatively impacting both airport accessibility and air quality in the region.
For many years, Brussels Airport Company as airport operator has been trying to bring about a modal shift. The ambition is to reduce the percentage of employees and passengers coming to the airport by car to 50% by 2040 in favour of more sustainable alternatives.
Brussels Airport wants to further strengthen its role as multimodal hub. Today, the airport is easily accessible by train from all corners of the country and is served by over a thousands buses a day. In a few years' time, we will also have a tram service from Brussels. The airport also heavily invested in bike infrastructure, as the bike is gaining popularity for commuting, and that offers opportunities for the employees of the various companies at Brussels Airport.
In order to stimulate an even greater use of bicycles, the province of Flemish Brabant and Brussels Airport have, as part of the Stargate project, appointed Steven Fagard a biking manager. Steven has been staff member mobility management at the province of Flemish Brabant since 2010 and will join Brussels Airport for a two-year period. The airport employs some 24,000 persons for whom the bike may be an alternative they haven't considered yet. By mapping the missing links and the needs of future bike commuters and through awareness campaigns, Brussels Airport wants to make the bike a worthy alternative for commuting.
Since 2021, the airport is connected to the F3, the busy cycle highway between Leuven and Brussels, by the so-called S-bend. The challenge is to convince a growing number of employees to use that infrastructure when travelling to and from the airport.
Mapping the bike commuting potential
“You may not immediately associate an airport with cycling, but two previous visits with our 'DoThe Bike Test' campaign demonstrated that there is enthusiasm and potential. There are many cycle ambassadors working here who can encourage their colleagues to take the bike more frequently. As biking manager, I want to ensure that all conditions are provided to make that as pleasant and safe as possible," says Steven Fagard.
Brussels Airport already provides bike parking facilities with charging points for electric bicycles, and within new developments such as Brucargo Central much attention is paid to cycle infrastructure and accessibility.
Today, around 4% of the employees of the companies at Brussels Airport come to work by bike; the biking manager will now further map the bike commuting potential at the airport and propose concrete measures to further improve the infrastructure and sign-posting and also develop actions to stimulate the use of the bike.